(a) Except as otherwise provided in § 66-29-113, property is presumed abandoned if it is unclaimed by the apparent owner at the time specified for the following property:

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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 66-29-105

  • Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
  • Apparent owner: means a person whose name appears on the records of a holder as the owner of property held, issued, or owing by the holder. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
  • Business association: means a for-profit or nonprofit corporation, joint stock company, investment company other than an investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 ( 15 U. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Holder: means a person obligated to hold for the account of, or to deliver or pay to, the owner of property that is subject to this part. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Insurance company: means an insurer, not-for-profit hospital and medical corporation regulated under title 56, chapter 29, health maintenance organization, fraternal benefit society, or any person or entity required to obtain a certificate of authority or similar license from the department of commerce and insurance under title 56 in order to issue or enter into contracts of insurance in this state. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
  • Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
  • Money order: means a payment order for a specified amount of money and includes, but is not limited to, an express money order and a personal money order on which the remitter is the purchaser. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Municipal bond: means a bond of evidence of indebtedness issued by a municipality or other political subdivision of a state. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
  • Owner: includes :
    (A) A depositor, for a deposit. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Payroll card: means a record that evidences a payroll card account, as that term is defined in 12 C. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Person: means an individual, estate, business association, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency, instrumentality, or other legal entity. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Property: means tangible property described in §. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
  • Utility: means a person that owns or operates for public use a plant, equipment, real property, franchise, or license for the following public services:
    (A) The transmission of communications or information. See Tennessee Code 66-29-102
  • Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(1) A traveler’s check, fifteen (15) years after issuance;
(2) A money order, seven (7) years after issuance;
(3) A state or municipal bond, a bearer bond, or an original-issue-discount bond, three (3) years after the earlier of the date the bond matures or the date the bond is called or the obligation to pay the principal of the bond arises;
(4) A debt of a business association, three (3) years after the obligation to pay arises;
(5) A payroll card or demand, savings, or a time deposit, including a deposit that is automatically renewable, three (3) years after the earlier of maturity or the date of the last indication of interest in the property by the apparent owner; provided, that 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 a renewal at or about the time of the renewal;
(6) Money or credits owed to a customer as a result of a retail business transaction, other than in-store credit for returned merchandise, three (3) 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 (3) 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 death of the insured or annuitant, three (3) years after the earlier of the date:

(A) The insurance company has knowledge of the death of the insured or annuitant; or
(B) The insured has attained, or would have attained if living, the limiting age under the mortality table on which the reserve for the policy or contract is based;
(8) Property distributable by a business association in the course of dissolution, one (1) year after the property becomes distributable;
(9) Property held by a court, including property received as proceeds of a class action, one (1) 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 (1) year after the property becomes distributable;
(11) Wages, commissions, bonuses, or reimbursements as to which an employee is entitled, or other compensation for personal services, other than amounts held in a payroll card, one (1) year after the amount becomes payable;
(12) A deposit or refund owed to a subscriber by a utility, one (1) year after the deposit or refund becomes payable;
(13) Property payable or distributable in the course of the demutualization of an insurance company, three (3) years after the earlier of the date of last contact with the policyholder or the date the property became payable or distributable; and
(14) All other property not specified in this section or § 66-29-106, § 66-29-107, § 66-29-108, § 66-29-109, § 66-29-110, or § 66-29-111, the earlier of three (3) years after the owner first has a right to demand the property or the obligation to pay or distribute the property arises.
(b) Notwithstanding § 66-29-113, property 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, is presumed abandoned without regard to any activity or inactivity within specified abandonment periods.
(c)

(1) Notwithstanding any provision of this section 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 is not presumed abandoned if the holder and such business entity or association have an ongoing business relationship. An ongoing business relationship is 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. A transaction between the holder and a third-party insurer of another is a commercial transaction which constitutes an ongoing business relationship between the holder and the insurer.
(2) As used in this subsection (c):

(A) “Dormancy period” means the period during which a holder may hold a property interest before it is presumed to be abandoned; and
(B) “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, consolidation, or a successive acquisition by whatever means accomplished.
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