2010 Tennessee Code
Title 66 - Property
Chapter 29 - Abandoned or Unclaimed Property
Part 1 - Uniform Disposition of Unclaimed (Personal) Property Act
66-29-104 - Property held by banking or financial organizations or by business associations.

66-29-104. Property held by banking or financial organizations or by business associations.

The following property held or owing by a banking or financial organization or by a business association is presumed abandoned:

     (1)  Any demand, savings, or matured time deposit made with a banking organization, together with any interest or dividend thereon, excluding any charges that may lawfully be withheld, unless the owner has, within five (5) years:

          (A)  Increased or decreased the amount of the deposit, or presented the passbook or other similar evidence of the deposit for the crediting of interest;

          (B)  Corresponded in writing with the banking organization concerning the deposit; or

          (C)  Otherwise indicated an interest in the deposit as evidenced by a memorandum on file with the banking organization, providing such memorandum is one which is routinely kept according to customary banking practices;

     (2)  Any funds paid toward the purchase of shares or other interest in a financial organization or any deposit made therewith, and any interest or dividends thereon excluding any charges that may lawfully be withheld, unless the owner has within five (5) years:

          (A)  Increased or decreased the amount of the funds or deposit or presented an appropriate record for the crediting of interest or dividends;

          (B)  Corresponded in writing with the financial organization concerning the funds or deposit; or

          (C)  Otherwise indicated an interest in the funds or deposit as evidenced by a memorandum on file with the financial organization;

     (3)  (A)  Any sum payable on checks certified or on written instruments issued on which a banking or financial organization or business association is directly liable, including, by way of illustration but not of limitation, certificates of deposit, drafts, money orders and traveler's checks, that, with the exception of money orders and traveler's checks, has been outstanding for more than five (5) years from the date it was payable, or from the date of its issuance if payable on demand, unless the owner has within the time period corresponded in writing with the banking or financial organization or business association concerning it, or otherwise indicated an interest as evidenced by a memorandum on file with the banking or financial organization or business association. Any sum payable on money orders that has been outstanding for more than seven (7) years after its issuance, or any sum payable on traveler's checks that has been outstanding for more than fifteen (15) years from the date of its issuance, unless the owner has within the time period corresponded in writing with the banking or financial organization or business association concerning it, or otherwise indicated an interest as evidenced by a memorandum on file with the banking or financial organization or business association;

          (B)  No sum payable on a traveler's check, money order or similar written instrument, other than a third-party bank check, may be subjected to the custody of the state as unclaimed property unless:

                (i)  The records of the issuer show that the traveler's check, money order or similar written instrument was purchased in this state;

                (ii)  The issuer has its principal place of business in this state and the records of the issuer do not show the state in which the traveler's check, money order or similar written instrument was purchased; or

                (iii)  The issuer has its principal place of business in this state and the records of the issuer show the state in which the traveler's check, money order or similar written instrument was purchased and the laws of the state of purchase do not provide for the escheat or custodial taking of the property or its escheat or unclaimed property law is not applicable to the property;

          (C)  Notwithstanding any provision of this part to the contrary, any outstanding check, draft, credit balance, customer's overpayment or unidentified remittance issued to a business entity or association as part of a commercial transaction in the ordinary course of a holder's business shall not be presumed abandoned if the holder and such business entity or association have an ongoing business relationship. An ongoing business relationship shall be deemed to exist if the holder has engaged in a commercial, business or professional transaction involving the sale, lease, license, or purchase of goods or services with the business entity or association or a predecessor-in-interest of the business entity or association within the dormancy period immediately following the date of the check, draft, credit balance, customer's overpayment, or unidentified remittance giving rise to the unclaimed property interest. As used herein “dormancy period” means the period during which the holder may hold the property interest before it is presumed to be abandoned. A “transaction between the holder and a third party insuror of another” is a commercial transaction which constitutes a business relationship between the holder and the insuror. A “predecessor-in-interest” is a person or entity whose interest in a business entity or association was acquired by its successor-in-interest, whether by purchase of the business ownership interest, purchase of business assets, statutory merger or consolidation and includes successive acquisitions by whatever means accomplished;

     (4)  (A)  Any surplus amount resulting from the sale or disposal of safe deposit box contents by banking institutions pursuant to § 45-2-907, if the proceeds cannot be credited to an existing customer account upon sale, and any unsold contents. Any credit of these proceeds to a customer account will not be considered as account activity under subdivisions (1) and (2);

          (B)  For any person, other than a bank, savings and loan association or savings bank, any funds or other personal property removed from a safe deposit box or any other safekeeping repository or agency or collateral deposit box on which the lease or rental period has expired due to nonpayment of rental charges or other reasons that have been unclaimed by the owner for more than two (2) years from the date on which the lease or rental period expired; or any surplus amount arising from the sale thereof pursuant to law that has been unclaimed by the owner for one (1) year; and

     (5)  Property described in subdivisions (1)-(4), without regard to any activity or inactivity within specified abandonment periods, whose owner is known to the holder to have died and left no one to take the property by will and no one to take the property by intestate succession.

[Acts 1978, ch. 561, § 3; T.C.A., §§ 64-2903, 66-29-103; Acts 1983, ch. 78, § 4; 1984, ch. 544, § 1; 1986, ch. 539, § 11; 1993, ch. 195, § 1; 1994, ch. 773, §§ 2, 3; 2001, ch. 231, § 1.]