Virginia Code 55.1-2504: Traveler’s checks and money orders.
A. Except as otherwise provided in this section, any sum payable on a traveler’s check that has been outstanding for more than 15 years after its issuance is presumed abandoned unless the owner, within 15 years, has communicated in writing with the issuer concerning it or otherwise indicated an interest as evidenced by a memorandum or other record on file prepared by an employee of the issuer.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 55.1-2504
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Escheat: Reversion of real or personal property to the state when 1) a person dies without leaving a will and has no heirs, or 2) when the property (such as a bank account) has been inactive for a certain period of time. Source: OCC
- in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Virginia Code 1-257
- State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
Except as otherwise provided in this section, any sum payable on a money order or similar written instrument, other than a third-party bank check, that has been outstanding for more than seven years after its issuance is presumed abandoned unless the owner, within seven years, has communicated in writing with the issuer concerning it or otherwise indicated an interest as evidenced by a memorandum or other record on file prepared by an employee of the issuer.
B. No holder may deduct from the amount of any traveler’s check or money order any charges imposed by reason of the failure to present those instruments for payment unless (i) there is a valid and enforceable written contract between the issuer and the owner of the property pursuant to which the issuer may impose those charges and (ii) the issuer regularly imposes those charges and does not regularly reverse or otherwise cancel those charges with respect to such property.
C. Any sum payable on a traveler’s check, money order, or similar written instrument, other than a third-party bank check, described in this section shall not be subjected to the custody of the Commonwealth as unclaimed property unless:
1. The records of the issuer show that the traveler’s check, money order, or similar written instrument was purchased in the Commonwealth;
2. The issuer has its principal place of business in the Commonwealth, and the records of the issuer do not show the state in which the traveler’s check, money order, or similar written instrument was purchased; or
3. The issuer has its principal place of business in the Commonwealth, the records of the issuer show the state in which the traveler’s check, money order, or similar written instrument was purchased, and the laws of the state of purchase do not provide for the escheat or custodial taking of the property, or its escheat or unclaimed property law is not applicable to the property.
D. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the provisions of subsection C relating to the requirements for subjecting certain written instruments to the custody of the Commonwealth apply to sums payable on traveler’s checks, money orders, and similar written instruments presumed abandoned on or after February 1, 1965, except to the extent that those sums have been paid over to a state prior to January 1, 1974.
1984, c. 121, § 55-210.3:02; 2019, c. 712.