2006 Louisiana Laws - RS 6:325 — Transfer of contents of safety deposit boxes, money and other property by bank to heirs or their representatives, executors, or administrators; authority

§325.  Transfer of contents of safety deposit boxes, money and other property by bank to heirs or their representatives, executors, or administrators; authority

A.  A bank may deal with safety deposit boxes or money, on deposit or otherwise, and other property in its possession standing in the name of a deceased person or in which the latter had an interest in accordance with its contract with its customer until the bank receives notice in writing addressed to it of the death of the customer.  After receipt of such notice in writing and upon proper authority and upon obtaining a receipt therefor, any bank may transfer the contents of a safety deposit box or any money and other property in its possession standing in the name of a deceased person or in which the latter had an interest to the succession representative, the surviving spouse, heirs, or legatees of the deceased.

B.  The letters of the succession representative or the judgment recognizing and putting the heirs in possession issued by a court of competent jurisdiction and accompanied by letters of tutorship or curatorship of the heirs who are not sui juris shall constitute proper authority for making the transfer which, when so made and receipted for, shall be full protection to the bank as to any heir, legatee, creditor, or other person having rights or claims to funds or property of the decedent.

C.  Conclusive proof to the bank of the letters or judgment and of the jurisdiction of the court rendering them shall result from copies thereof, duly certified when rendered by a court of this state, or certified according to the Acts of Congress when rendered by a court of any other state, or certified according to the law of the place when rendered by a court of any possession or dependency of the United States, or certified according to the law of the place with the genuineness of the certification attested by a consular agent of the United States when rendered by a court of any foreign country.

D.  The receipt to be obtained by the bank may be in any form, but it shall be signed either by the succession representative accompanied by a certified copy of the letters or by the heirs or the legal representatives of the heirs who are not sui juris accompanied by a certified copy of the judgment recognizing and putting the heirs in possession and by a certified copy of the letters of tutorship or curatorship of the legal representatives of the heirs who are not sui juris.

E.  Repealed by Acts 2004, No. 42, §2.

Acts 1984, No. 719, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1985; Acts 2004, No. 42, §2.