Chapter 36, Chapter 36

(a) A person having the right to designate the recipient of property transferable upon the occurrence of a future event may revocably nominate a custodian to receive the property for a minor beneficiary upon the occurrence of the event by naming the custodian followed in substanc…

A person may make a transfer by irrevocable gift to, or the irrevocable exercise of a power of appointment in favor of, a custodian for the benefit of a minor pursuant to section nine of this article.

(a) A personal representative or trustee may make an irrevocable transfer pursuant to section nine of this article to a custodian for the benefit of a minor as authorized in the governing will or trust. (b) If the testator or settlor has nominated a custodian under section three …

(a) Subject to subsection (c), a personal representative or trustee may make an irrevocable transfer to another adult or trust company as custodian for the benefit of a minor pursuant to section nine of this article in the absence of a will or under a will or trust that does not …

(a) Subject to subsections (b) and (c) of this section, a person not subject to section five or six of this article who holds property of or owes a liquidated debt to a minor not having a conservator may make an irrevocable transfer to a custodian for the benefit of the minor pur…

A written acknowledgment of delivery by a custodian constitutes a sufficient receipt and discharge for custodial property transferred to the custodian pursuant to this article.

(a) Custodial property is created and a transfer is made whenever: (1) An uncertificated security or a certificated security in registered form is either: (i) Registered in the name of the transferor, an adult other than the transferor or a trust company, followed in substance by…

For purposes of this article, unless a different meaning clearly appears in the context: (a) "Chief executive" means the Superintendent of the State Police; the chief natural resources police officer of the Division of Natural Resources; the sheriff of any West Virginia county; o…

As used in this article: “Administrator” means the State Treasurer. “Apparent owner” means a person whose name appears on the records of a holder as the person entitled to property held, issued, or owing by the holder. “Business association” means a corporation, joint stock compa…

(a) In this section, payment or delivery is made in “good faith” if: (1) Payment or delivery was made in a reasonable attempt to comply with this article; (2) The holder was not then in breach of a fiduciary obligation with respect to the property and had a reasonable basis for b…

(a) If property other than money is delivered to the administrator under this article, the owner is entitled to receive from the administrator any income or gain realized or accruing on the property at or before liquidation or conversion of the property into money only as provide…

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, the administrator, within three years after the receipt of abandoned property, shall sell it to the highest bidder at public sale at a location in the state which in the judgment of the administrator affords the most favorable mar…

(a) The administrator shall record the name and last known address of each person appearing from the holders reports to be entitled to the property, and the name and last known address of each insured person or annuitant and beneficiary and with respect to each policy or annuity …

(a) After property has been paid or delivered to the administrator under this article, another state may recover the property if: (1) The property was paid or delivered to the custody of this state because the records of the holder did not reflect a last known location of the app…

(a) A person, excluding another state, claiming property paid or delivered to the administrator may file a claim on a form prescribed by the administrator and verified by the claimant. (b) Within 90 days after a claim is filed, the administrator shall allow or deny the claim and …

A person aggrieved by a decision of the administrator or whose claim has not been acted upon within ninety days after its filing may maintain an original action to establish the claim in the circuit court of Kanawha County, naming the administrator as a defendant. If the aggrieve…

(a) The administrator may decline to receive property reported under this article which the administrator considers to have a value less than the expenses of notice and sale. (b) A holder, with the written consent of the administrator and upon conditions and terms prescribed by t…

substantial commercial value; immunity from liability. If the administrator determines after investigation that property delivered under this article has no substantial commercial value, the administrator may destroy or otherwise dispose of the property at any time. An action or …

(a) The expiration, before or after the effective date of this article, of a period of limitation on the owner's right to receive or recover property, whether specified by contract, statute or court order, does not preclude the property from being presumed abandoned or affect a d…

(a) On or before September 1, of each year, each law-enforcement agency which has unclaimed stolen property in its possession shall file an unclaimed stolen property report with the Treasurer which identifies all unclaimed stolen property in its possession at the time the report …

(a) Property is presumed abandoned if it is unclaimed by the apparent owner during the time set forth below for the particular property: (1) Traveler’s check, 15 years after issuance; (2) Money order, seven years after issuance; (3) Stock or other equity interest in a business as…

(a) The administrator, or the administrator's designated agent, may require a person who has not filed a report, or a person who the administrator believes has filed an inaccurate, incomplete or false report, to file a verified report in a form specified by the administrator. The…

(a) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (b) of this section, a holder required to file a report under section seven of this article shall maintain the records containing the information required to be included in the report for ten years after the holder files the report, …

The administrator may maintain an action in this or another state to enforce this article. The court may award reasonable attorney's fees to the prevailing party.

(a) The administrator may enter into an agreement with another state to exchange information relating to abandoned property or its possible existence. The agreement may permit the other state, or another person acting on behalf of a state, to examine records as authorized in sect…

(a) A holder who fails to report, pay or deliver property within the time prescribed by this article shall pay to the administrator interest at the annual rate of twelve percent on the property or value thereof from the date the property should have been reported, paid or deliver…

Records of abandoned property kept by the administrator are available for inspection and copying only by an owner of such property as to the particular property he or she owns, or by his or her personal representative, next of kin, attorney at law, or such person entitled to inhe…

This article does not apply to property held, due and owing in a foreign country and arising out of a foreign transaction.

(a) An initial report filed under this article for property that was not required to be reported before the effective date of this article but which is subject to this article must include all items of property that would have been presumed abandoned during the ten-year period ne…

On or before July 1, 1997, the administrator shall promulgate emergency legislative rules in accordance with the provisions of section fifteen, article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code. The administrator shall propose legislative rules for promulgation in accordance with…

This article shall be applied and construed to effectuate its general purpose to make uniform the law with respect to the subject of this article among states enacting it.

(a) Notwithstanding any other section of this article or any other section of this code to the contrary, United States savings bonds held or owing in this state by any person, or issued, or owed, in the course of a holder’s business, by a state or other government, governmental s…

Tangible personal property held in a safe deposit box or other safekeeping depository in this state in the ordinary course of the holder's business and proceeds resulting from the sale of the property permitted by other law, are presumed abandoned if the property remains unclaime…

Within thirty days of the receipt of an unclaimed stolen property report, the Treasurer shall send a response to the law-enforcement agency submitting it. For each item identified in the unclaimed stolen property report, the Treasurer shall either require that it be delivered to …

This article may be cited as the "Uniform Unclaimed Property Act".

If any provision of this article or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of this article which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the p…

This article shall take effect on July 1, 1997.

(a) Not later than six months after the end of the state’s fiscal year, the administrator shall compile and publish a report on the West Virginia Treasury website. The report must contain the following information about property deemed unclaimed for the preceding fiscal year for …

Except as otherwise provided in this article or by other statute of this state, property that is presumed abandoned, whether located in this or another state, is subject to the custody of this state if: (1) The last known address of the apparent owner, as shown on the records of …

(a) Within ninety days of receipt of the treasurer's response required by section three of this article, the law-enforcement agency shall dispose of all items identified in the treasurer's response in the manner set forth in this section. (b) If the treasurer's report requires th…

(a) Except as provided in section three of this article, subject to the duty to return firearms to innocent owners pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, all firearms, as defined in section two, article seven, chapter sixty-one of this code, that are forfeited or abandoned t…

A holder may deduct from property presumed abandoned a charge imposed by reason of the owner's failure to claim the property within a specified time only if there is a valid and enforceable written contract between the holder and the owner under which the holder may impose the ch…

(a) The treasurer shall promptly deposit in the General Revenue Fund of this state all proceeds of any public sale of unclaimed stolen property conducted by the treasurer under subsection (b), section four of this article. (b) Before making a deposit to the credit of the General …

A record of the issuance of a check, draft or similar instrument is prima facie evidence of an obligation. In claiming property from a holder who is also the issuer, the administrator's burden of proof as to the existence and amount of the property and its abandonment is satisfie…

If a law-enforcement agency delivers, sells or donates any item of unclaimed stolen property in good faith and in accordance with the provisions of this article, the law-enforcement agency and its chief executive, officers and employees involved in the delivery, sale or donation …

(a) A holder of property presumed abandoned shall make a report to the administrator concerning the property. (b) The report must be verified and must contain: (1) A description of the property; (2) Except with respect to a traveler's check or money order, the name, if known, and…

(a) Except for property held in a safe deposit box or other safekeeping depository, upon filing the report required by §36-8-7 of this code, the holder of property presumed abandoned shall pay, deliver, or cause to be paid or delivered to the administrator the property described …

(a) The State Treasurer may allow, consistent with the provisions of this section, security personnel to carry a concealed firearm while performing his or her official duties. (b) Security personnel employed by the State Treasurer may carry a concealed firearm approved by the Sta…

(a) Publication of bulletin. — (1) The administrator shall publish a bulletin no later than November 30 of each year, listing the names of the apparent owners of up to 15,000 properties recently paid or delivered to the administrator. The bulletin must be published in a newspaper…

This article shall be known and may be cited as the "West Virginia time-sharing act."