TEIEA'ITORSEY GENERAL 

Ma.rch 5, 1962 

Honorable Jesse 

State Treasurer 

James Opinion No. W-1264 

State Treasurer’s Office 

Austin, Texas 

Dear Mr. James: 

Re: Whether Section 4 of Article 

3272a, V.C.S., and the certlflcatlon of the State Treasurer to the Attorney Genera.1 

would prohibit a holder of 

property subject to the provisions of said Article, 

from making restoration of 

such property to its reported 

owner at any time subsequent 

to the 120 day interval from 

the date the report was received by the State Treasurer 

and the date the suit referred 

to in Section 4 is finally 

adjudicated. 

Your question is whether Section 4 of Article 3272a., 

Vernon’s Civil Statutes, prohibits a holder of property subject 

to the provisions of that statute from restoring such property 

to its reported owner between the expiration of 120 days from 

the date the report was received by the State Treasurer and the 

date the suit referred to in Section 4 is finally adjudicated. 

Apropos of your in 

of subsections (a), (b) and 9 

ulry we quote the relevant parts 

g) of Section 4 of Article 32723.: 

“(a.) All personal property reported under the 

provisions of this Article remaining unclaimed at 

the expiration of one hundred and twenty (120) Gys 

from the date upon which the report by the holder 

of such property was received by the State Treasurer, 

shall be deemed to be abandoned, and shall escheat 

to, and the title thereto vest in, the State of Texas, 

and the State Treasurer shall so certify to the Attorney General. 

“(b) The Attorney General shall immediately 

institute an action in a District Court of the 

county in which the holder resided or is domiciled 

to judicially determine that such property has escheated to the State. The suit shall be brought 
Honorable Jesse James, page 2 (WW-1264) 

as a class action, and may include the pro,perty 

reported by more than one holder from the same or 

other counties, and the sworn petition shall state 

that the action is brought by the State of Texas 

upon the relation of the State Treasurer by the 

Attorney General for the pur,pose of escheatlng and 

vesting the title in the State of Texas of the 

property therein described, stating the description of the property which has escheated to the 

State, the name of the person or holder possessed 

thereof and the names of the person or persons 

claiming, or last known to have claimed, such 

property, if any such names are known, all of 

which information shall be separately listed in 

parallel columns, and t,he facts and circumstances 

in consequence of which such property is claimed 

to have escheated, praying that such property be 

eschea.ted, and the title thereto vested in the 

State of Texas. The petition shall not be subject 

to objections as to the misjoinder of parties or 

misjoinder of causes of action. 

“(g) If it appears to the Court that the property described in the petition has be& actually 

abandoned, and that there is no person entltled~ to 

it, judgment shall be rendered declaring such propertv escheated and vestlne: the title thereto in the 

Stake of Texas. Tine Judgment shall also direct the 

holder of the property so described, which has been 

actually abandoned and escheated and the title thereto 

vested in the State, to deliver such property lmmediately to the State Treasurer. If no person or 

claimant to any property described in the petition 

shall appear and answer within the time provided for 

entering such appearance and answer ‘oy the Texas 

Rules of Civil Procedure, the Court shall render 

judgment by default as to such property in favor of 

the State of Texas. If the Court should find that 

such property has not been actually abandoned a.nd 

therefore should not be escheated and the title 

thereto vested in the State of Texas, and that the 

title to such property should vest in the person or 

persons claiming the title to or an interest in such 

property, the Court shall direct such property to be 

delivered to the person or persons lawfully entitled 

to possession thereof.” (Emphasis supplied) 

From the foregoing, it is seen that at the expiration 

of the 120 day period the property is automatically deemed to be 

abandoned. While the statute says that it “shall escheat to, 
Honorable Jesse James, page 3 (WA1264) 

and the title thereto vest in, the State of Texas", it is obvious that the property does not actually become the property 

of the State uniess and until a final adjudication to that 

effect is made by t'ne Courts. This evident from Section L!(g) 

quoted above. 

It is equally clear that the judment of the Ccurt 

would reiate back to the expiration of the 120 da.y period when 

ti; property was first deemed abandoned and escheated. Therefore, after the expiration of the 120 day period the holder who 

released the property to anyone without the concurrence of the 

proper authorities runs the risk of being held accountable to 

tha State for the value of such pro~perty by virtue of a subsequent judgment declaring the property to have been the property 

of the State at the time the holder released the property. 

It follows that after the expiration of the 120 day 

period, the holder serves in the capacity of custodian of the 

property pending a determination as to the ownership of the 

property by the proper authorities. Tha.t is to say, the holder 

does not have it within his power to decide whether the reported 

owner, or anyone else, is the rightful ownc of the property. 

T'nls determination must be made by the Stata Treasurer, on whose 

relation the suit is brought, and the Attorney General, whose 

duty it is to prosecute a. suit to escheat the property, unless 

he is convinced that the rightful owner has appeared to claim 

the property, and, the Court, if the Attorney General proceeds 

to place the matter before the Court. 

Thus, by necessary implication, the holder is prohi:?- 

ited from turning the property over to the "reported owner" ;1nisst 

it is pursuant to the advice and consent of the State Treasui-er 

and the Attorney General, whose duty it wlli be to ask the consent of the Court where such consent is necessary. Your questio;; 

is answered accordingly. 

SUMMARY 

Under Article 3272a, Vernon's Civil Statutes, the 

holder is prohibited from releasing property to its 

reported owner after the ex~plratlon OF 120,days from 

the date the report was received by the State Treasurer, 

unless such relea.se is made pursuant to the advice and 

consent of the State Treasurer and th? Attorney Genera3 

of Texas. 

Very truiy yours, 

WILL WILSON 

Attorney General of Texas 

Byrd;: L22z- :' 

Assistant 
-. , 

Honorable Jesse James, page 4 (W-1264) 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE 

Howard W. Mays, Chairman 

Milton Richardson 

Iola B. Wilcox 

James Broadhurst 

REVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

BY: Houghton Brownlee, Jr.