Section 1. Be it enacted &c., That whenever any person, firm, association, bank, national bank, trust company, or other corporation whatsoever, shall hold or be possessed of any items of money or property which are or shall be made escheatable by any act of the General Assembly, the Auditor General may and shall, after such items have been reported to or otherwise ascertained by him, and after notice and advertisement of such items shall have been given and made as required by the provisions of the act under which such items are escheatable, if the number and nature of the items of such escheatable property so held or possessed are in his opinion such as to make such action desirable, suggest to the Attorney General that, instead of proceeding for the escheat of such items in the manner prescribed by the act under the provisions of which such items are made escheatable, the Attorney General apply by petition to the proper court for an order upon the person, firm, association, bank, national bank, trust company, or other corporation, holding or possessed of such items of moneys or property, directing the payment of the same into the State Treasury to the credit of the Commonwealth, together with interest thereon actually accrued to the date of the issue of said order, or, if the property consists of chattels or securities, that the same be sold in such manner as the court shall direct, and the proceeds thereof be similarly paid into the State Treasury; all amounts and proceeds so paid to be subject to being refunded as hereinafter provided. It shall not be necessary, in instituting proceedings under the provisions of this act, to await the expiration of any period which the act making such items escheatable requires to elapse between the reporting or ascertainment of such items and the institution of proceedings for the escheat thereof.
If the said moneys or property are held by the person, firm, association, bank, national bank, trust company, or other corporation, in any fiduciary capacity whatsoever, then the said application shall be made to the court having jurisdiction of his or its accounts. If the said moneys or property have been paid into or deposited in and are in the custody of any court, the application shall be made to the court having custody of such moneys or property. If the said moneys or property are held by any prothonotary, clerk of orphans' court, or any other officer of any court, the application shall be made to the court of which he is an officer. In all other cases, the application shall be made to the court of common pleas of the county in which the person holding or possessed of such items has his residence, or the firm, association, bank, national bank, trust company, or other corporation, holding or possessed of such items, has its principal office.
Whereupon the Attorney General shall file a petition in the proper court, praying for the making of such an order, and apply to said court to set a day for a hearing upon such petition, and for a preliminary order that service of a copy of the petition and of notice of the date set for said hearing be made upon the person, copartnership, association, bank, national bank, trust company, or other corporation holding or possessed of said items. If at said hearing it shall appear to the said court that, since the reporting of or the ascertainment of said items by the Auditor General, any such items have been claimed by persons lawfully entitled thereto, or any such items are so claimed at said hearing, or that said items were not properly subject to escheat under the provisions of any act of the General Assembly, the court shall order said items or the amounts thereof to be delivered or paid to said claimants, or to remain in the possession of the person, firm, association, bank, national bank, trust company, or other corporation, as the facts shall warrant, and shall order the amounts of all items not so claimed to be paid into the State Treasury to the credit of the Commonwealth, or, if such items consist of chattels or securities, that the same be sold in such manner as the court may direct and that the proceeds thereof be similarly paid into the State Treasury.
It is the purpose and intent of this act that moneys subject to escheat, sought by the Commonwealth to be ordered paid into the State Treasury without escheat, under the provisions of this act, shall be forthwith ordered by the proper court to be so paid, whenever application for such an order is made by the Attorney General after the respective periods provided by existing law making such moneys escheatable shall have expired respectively, and after the notices by mail and by advertisement required to be given by the act making such moneys escheatable shall have been given, without any further notice whatever to depositors, beneficiaries, or creditors.
Upon the payment of the amounts of such items or the proceeds thereof into the State Treasury in compliance with said order, the said person, firm, association, bank, national bank, trust company, or other corporation shall be relieved from all liability for the amounts so paid.
(1 amended Apr. 21, 1921, P.L.211, No.117; Pen. par. repealed June 3, 1971, P.L.118, No.6)