The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 27 : Property

Chapter 018 : Unclaimed Property

Subchapter 002 : PRESUMPTION OF ABANDONMENT

• § 1469. Indication of apparent owner interest in property

  (a) The period after which property is presumed abandoned is measured from the later of:

  (1) the date the property is presumed abandoned under this subchapter; or

  (2) the latest indication of interest by the apparent owner in the property.

  (b) Under this chapter, an indication of an apparent owner’s interest in property includes:

  (1) a record communicated by the apparent owner to the holder or agent of the holder concerning the property or the account in which the property is held;

  (2) an oral communication by the apparent owner to the holder or agent of the holder concerning the property or the account in which the property is held, if the holder or its agent contemporaneously makes and preserves a record of the fact of the apparent owner’s communication;

  (3) presentment of a check or other instrument of payment of a dividend, interest payment, or other distribution, or evidence of receipt of a distribution made by electronic or similar means, with respect to an account, underlying security, or interest in a business association;

  (4) activity directed by an apparent owner in the account in which the property is held or in another account of the owner’s held by the same business association or financial organization, including accessing the account or information concerning the account, or a direction by the apparent owner to increase, decrease, or otherwise change the amount or type of property held in the account;

  (5) a deposit into or withdrawal from an account at a financial organization, including an automatic deposit or withdrawal previously authorized by the apparent owner other than an automatic reinvestment of dividends or interest;

  (6) subject to subsection (e) of this section, payment of a premium on an insurance policy;

  (7) in the case of any demand, savings, or matured time deposits with a banking or financial organization, including deposits that are automatically renewable, the holder has sent the owner by first-class U.S. mail a statement of account or other associated mailing from the bank or financial institution, which has not been returned by the U.S. Postal Service as undeliverable. In the event the mailing was returned as undeliverable, the property shall be considered abandoned three years after the return, unless the owner during that three years takes any action described in subsection (b) of this section; and

  (8) any other action by the apparent owner that reasonably demonstrates to the holder that the apparent owner knows that the property exists.

  (c) An action by an agent or other representative of an apparent owner, other than the holder acting as the apparent owner’s agent, is presumed to be an action on behalf of the apparent owner.

  (d) A communication with an apparent owner by a person other than the holder or the holder’s representative is not an indication of interest in the property by the apparent owner unless a record of the communication evidences the apparent owner’s knowledge of a right to the property.

  (e) If the insured dies or the insured or beneficiary of an insurance policy otherwise becomes entitled to the proceeds before depletion of the cash surrender value of the policy by operation of an automatic-premium-loan provision or other nonforfeiture provision contained in the policy, the operation does not prevent the policy from maturing or terminating. (Added 2019, No. 93 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. Jan. 1, 2021.)