2021 Georgia Code
Title 44 - Property
Chapter 12 - Rights in Personalty
Article 5 - Disposition of Unclaimed Property
§ 44-12-193. When Property Held, Issued, or Owing in Ordinary Course of Holder's Business Presumed Abandoned
Except as provided in Article 17B of Title 10, all tangible and intangible property, including any income or increment thereon, less any lawful charges, that is held, issued, or owing in the ordinary course of the holder's business and has remained unclaimed by the owner for more than five years after it became payable or distributable is presumed abandoned, except as otherwise provided by this article. Property is payable or distributable for the purpose of this article notwithstanding the owner's failure to make demand or to present any instrument or document required to receive payment.
(Code 1981, §44-12-193, enacted by Ga. L. 1990, p. 1506, § 1; Ga. L. 1992, p. 1237, § 1; Ga. L. 2006, p. 720, § 3/SB 195.)
The 2006 amendment, effective July 1, 2006, substituted "Except as provided in Article 17B of Title 10, all" for "All" at the beginning of the Code section.
Cross references.- Disposition of personal property left with a financial institution possession of which is taken by Department of Banking and Finance, § 7-1-172.
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
"Lawful charges" against dormant checks, money order, and drafts.
- O.C.G.A. § 7-1-358 and a related regulation do not allow assessment of service charges only against dormant deposit accounts; thus, charges against dormant checks, money orders, and drafts qualified as "lawful charges" and were properly withheld from the Department of Revenue when funds were remitted under the Unclaimed Property Act, O.C.G.A. § 44-12-190 et seq. First Union Nat'l Bank v. Collins, 221 Ga. App. 442, 471 S.E.2d 892 (1996).
Gift certificates not presumed abandoned.
- Assessment of dormancy fees on gift cards and certificates and refusal to honor them after one year did not violate O.C.G.A. § 44-12-205 of the Georgia Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act (DUPA), O.C.G.A. § 44-12-190 et seq; as the cards and certificates had not been unclaimed by the plaintiffs for more than five years when the complaint was filed, they were not presumed abandoned, and DUPA did not apply. Simon Prop. Group, Inc. v. Benson, 278 Ga. App. 277, 628 S.E.2d 697 (2006), aff'd, remanded, 281 Ga. 744, 642 S.E.2d 687 (2007).
