ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS GREG ABBOTT

The Honorable Susan Combs Texas Comptroller ofPublic Accounts Post Office Box 13528 Austin, Texas 78711-3528

Dear Comptroller Combs: January 12,2012 Opinion No. GA-0906 Re: Whether section 74.501 ofthe Property Code prohibits the Comptroller from making direct payments of unclaimed property proceeds to certain persons (RQ-0988-GA)

You request an opinion regarding who may receive direct payments ofunclaimed property proceeds under section 74.501 ofthe Property Code. l You tell us that the Office ofthe Comptroller ofPublic Accounts ("the Comptroller") "has recently received a significant number ofunclaimed propertyclaims from claimantswhohavepurchasedunclaimedpropertyorunclaimedpropertyrights in proceedings before various courts of competent jurisdiction throughout the United States." Request Letter at 1. You also explain that your office has had a longstanding policy ofnot making direct payments to "assignees, transferees or purchasers ofunclaimedproperty." Id. You therefore ask us to opine on whether, by enacting section 74.501 of the Property Code, the Legislature prohibited your office from paying claims to the purchasers ofunclaimed property or unclaimed property rights. Id. Your office is prohibited by subsection 74.501(e) "from paying assignees or any other type ofpurchaser ofunclaimed property or unclaimed property rights." Id. Subsection 74.501(e) expresslyprohibits the Comptrollerfrom makingpayments for unclaimedpropertyto the following individuals: (l) a creditor, ajudgment creditor, a lienholder, or an assignee of the reported owner or ofthe owner's heirs; or (2) a person holding a power of attorney from the reported owner or the owner's heirs.

lSee Letter from the Office ofthe Texas Comptroller ofPublic Accounts, to Honorable Greg Abbott, Attorney General ofTexas at 1

- 2 (July 28, 2011), https :llwww.oag.state.tx.us/opinlindex_rq.shtml ("Request Letter").The Honorable Susan Combs

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TEX. PROP. CODEANN. §74.501(e) (West2007) (emphasis added).2 Youdefinetheterm "assignee" as used in subsection 74.501(e)(1) to include an individual who has purchased for value the unclaimedproperty ofanother and ask whether this definitionis legally supportable. RequestLetter at 1-2. We note at the outset that the Comptroller is charged with implementing and enforcing the statutory provisions relating to unclaimedpropertyunderthe Property Code. See TEX. PROP. CODE ANN. §§ 74.701-.710 (West 2007 & Supp. 2011) (Title 6 "Unclaimed Property, Chapter 74, subchapter H, "Enforcement"). According to the Texas Supreme Court, an agency's interpretation of a statute it is charged with enforcing is entitled to "serious consideration," so long as the construction is reasonable and does not conflict with the statute's language. R.R. Comm 'n ofTex. v. Tex. Citizens for a Safe Future & Clean Water, 336 S.W.3d 619,624 (Tex. 2011). Keeping this rule in mind, we analyze the Comptroller's construction ofthe word "assignee." The word "assignee" is not defined within the Title 6 ofthe Property Code, which addresses unclaimed property. See TEX. PROP. CODE ANN. §§ 71.001-76.704 (West 2007 & Supp. 2011).3 When the Legislature does not provide a specific definition for a word, we rely on the plain and common meaning ofthe word. Tex. Lottery Comm 'n 

### v. First State Bank of DeQueen, 325 S.W.3d 628,635 (Tex. 2010). Multipledictionaries define "assignee"broadlyto mean anyperson "towhom a right or property is legally transferred." I OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY 713 (2d ed. 1989); WEBSTER'S NINTH NEW COLLEGIATE DICTIONARY 109 (9th ed. 1990); see also Johnson 

### v. StructuredAssetServs., L.L.c., 148 S.W.3d711 ,721 (Tex
.App.-Dallas2004, no pet.) (describing "assignment" as "the transfer or setting over of property, or some right or interest."). These definitions do not specify how or why the transfer takes place, other than to require that the transfer be legal. Ittherefore appears that a reasonable construction ofthe word "assignee" could include a person to whom property is transferred based on a purchase ofthe property for value, regardless of whether that transfer is also incorporated into a court order. As the agency charged with enforcing section 74.501, the Comptroller's reasonable construction of the word assignee, as used in that statute, would likely be shown deference by the courts.

2We note that subsection 74.501(f) allows the Comptroller to make an exception for individuals who have "a claim for child support arrearages" in specific instances. See TEx. PROP. CODE ANN. § 74.501(f) (West 2007).
3Por purposes ofother statutes, the Legislature has defined "assignee" in various ways. See, e.g., TEX. PROP
. CODEANN. § 64.001(a) (WestSupp. 2011) (defining "assignee" as "aperson entitled to enforce an assignmentofrents") ; TEX. Bus. & COMM. CODE ANN. § 23.01(2) (West 2009) (defining "assignee" as "an assignee for the benefit of creditors"); TEx. UTIL. CODEANN. § 39.302(1) (WestSupp. 2011) (defining "assignee" as "any individual, corporation or other legally recognized entity to which an interest in transition property is transferred. other than as security, including any assignee ofthat party"). These definitions are each limited to use in the chapter in which they are found and provide little guidance for use outside ofthose chapters.The Honorable Susan Combs

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### SUMMARY As the agency charged with implementing and enforcing Property Code section 74.501, the Comptroller's construction ofthe word "assignee," as used in that section, would be shown deference by the courts so long as it is reasonable and not contrary to the plain language of the statute. A reasonable construction of the word "assignee" could include a person to whom property is transferred based on a purchase ofthe property for value.

DANIEL T. HODGE First Assistant Attorney General DAVID J. SCHENCK Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel JASON BOATRIGHT Chair, Opinion Committee Virginia K. Hoelscher Very truly yours,

Assistant Attorney General, Opinion Committee