West Virginia Code 36-8-23 – Interstate agreements and cooperation; joint and reciprocal actions with other states
(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 section twenty of this article. The administrator by rule may require the reporting of information needed to enable compliance with an agreement made under this section and prescribe the form.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 36-8-23
- Administrator: means the State Treasurer. See West Virginia Code 36-8-1
- 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
- Holder: means a person obligated to hold for the account of, or deliver or pay to, the owner property that is subject to this article. See West Virginia Code 36-8-1
- Owner: means a person who has a legal or equitable interest in property subject to this article or the person's legal representative. See West Virginia Code 36-8-1
- Person: means an individual, business association, financial organization, estate, trust, government, governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity. See West Virginia Code 36-8-1
- Property: means tangible personal property described in section three of this article or a fixed and certain interest in intangible personal property that is held, issued, or owed in the course of a holder's business, or by a government, governmental subdivision, agency or instrumentality, and all income or increments therefrom. See West Virginia Code 36-8-1
- State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See West Virginia Code 36-8-1
(b) The administrator may join with another state to seek enforcement of this article against any person who is or may be holding property reportable under this article.
(c) At the request of another state, the administrator's attorney may maintain an action on behalf of the other state to enforce, in this state, the unclaimed property laws of the other state against a holder of property subject to escheat or a claim of abandonment by the other state, if the other state has agreed to pay expenses incurred by the Attorney General in maintaining the action.
(d) The administrator may request that the Attorney General of another state or another attorney commence an action in the other state on behalf of the administrator. The administrator may retain any other attorney to commence an action in this state on behalf of the administrator. This state shall pay all expenses, including attorney's fees, in maintaining an action under this subsection. With the administrator's approval, the expenses and attorney's fees may be paid from money received under this article. The administrator may agree to pay expenses and attorney's fees based, in whole or in part, on a percentage of the value of any property recovered in the action. Any expenses or attorney's fees paid under this subsection may not be deducted from the amount that is subject to the claim by the owner under this article.