The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 27 : Property

Chapter 018 : Unclaimed Property

Subchapter 002 : Presumption of Abandonment

• § 1461. When property presumed abandoned

  Subject to section 1469 of this title, the following property is presumed abandoned if it is unclaimed by the apparent owner during the period specified below:

  (1) a traveler’s check, 15 years after issuance;

  (2) a money order, seven years after issuance;

  (3) a state or municipal bond, bearer bond, or original-issue-discount bond, three years after the earliest of the date the bond matures or is called or the obligation to pay the principal of the bond arises;

  (4) a debt of a business association, three years after the obligation to pay arises;

  (5) a payroll card or demand, savings, or time deposit, including a deposit that is automatically renewable, three years after the maturity of the deposit, except a deposit that is automatically renewable is deemed matured on its initial date of maturity unless the apparent owner consented in a record on file with the holder to renewal at or about the time of the renewal;

  (6) money or a credit owed to a customer as a result of a retail business transaction, three years after the obligation arose;

  (7) an amount owed by an insurance company on a life or endowment insurance policy or an annuity contract that has matured or terminated, three years after the obligation to pay arose under the terms of the policy or contract or, if a policy or contract for which an amount is owed on proof of death has not matured by proof of the death of the insured or annuitant, as follows:

  (A) with respect to an amount owed on a life or endowment insurance policy, three years after the earlier of the date:

  (i) the insurance company has knowledge of the death of the insured; or

  (ii) the insured has attained, or would have attained if living, the limiting age under the mortality table on which the reserve for the policy is based; and

  (B) with respect to an amount owed on an annuity contract, three years after the date the insurance company has knowledge of the death of the annuitant;

  (8) property distributable by a business association in the course of dissolution, one year after the property becomes distributable;

  (9) property held by a court, including property received as proceeds of a class action, one year after the property becomes distributable;

  (10) property held by a government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, including municipal bond interest and unredeemed principal under the administration of a paying agent or indenture trustee, one year after the property becomes distributable;

  (11) wages, commissions, bonuses, or reimbursements to which an employee is entitled, or other compensation for personal services, other than amounts held in a payroll card, one year after the amount becomes payable;

  (12) a deposit or refund owed to a subscriber by a utility, one year after the deposit or refund becomes payable; and

  (13) property not specified in this section or section 1462, 1463, 1464, 1465, 1466, or 1467 of this title, the earlier of three years after the owner first has a right to demand the property or the obligation to pay or distribute the property arises. (Added 2019, No. 93 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. Jan. 1, 2021.)