. 

NonoPable Jesse James 

State Treasur4r 

Trea#ury Department 

Austin, Texas 

Dear Mr, James: 

October 26, 1961 

Opinion No, W- 1180 

Re: Whether the Deport0 required by H,,B* No. 5, 

57th Le lelature, 

Called 8 

let 

eeslon, being 

the amendment to the 

Tsxas Ercheat Statutes, 

to ba made by holders 

of personal property 

include only pxroperty 

due persone whoae last 

TX% resMenos was in 

. 

This re,fera to your r4cent 3,4tter posing fiv4 quastiiona with 

respect to Muse Bi31 No,. 5, Act4 57th Leg., 1st C,, S. 3961, Ch. 

21, P. 25. 

Your first quesW.on foLlow4: 

1 l m,e definition of personal property in the 

eaoheat statute Is limited to pronerty held by a person or bepeflclaiy whose laet Known residence was 

in Texas. Therefore, should the report by the holder 

lnolude only amounts due Persons whose last known realdenoe wae Iti Texas?” 

House Bill No. 5 adds to the present 44ch4at e$etut44 a new 

article aenomhated Article 3272a. After requlr* every person 

holdingl personaZ property sub eot to esoheat to lW4 a r4 

of with the Stete Treasurer, &I 4 4rtlcl4, ln SeetiolD 1 

vldem Ln :pax?t : 

fb 

“The term ‘personal propertyj, Includes, but is 

not linsJ,~ed~ to.?. money, .,. ,I f . and a31 other pprsonal 

property and 1~%1%4V14tits thereto, whether tangible or 

Intangible; and whether held within this State, or 

without the State for a Per6on or beneficiary whose 

last known address was in this Sitate,” (lQnph&sis 

supplied) 
Honorable Jsrse JnmH, plj4 2 (MfI4160) 

_’ 

3x4 ~Ze@sL~W~, ;La ow opinlori, Intended by this deiinition 

bf personaJ, propert 

eschedt whloh is he 1 

to, inolude a31 peraonal property sub,jeotto 

d 14 this State, regardlees of the Isat:,knom 

realdeki.or the ben4?ioiary OF (LzWon ,Sor whom the pro&q& is : 

held, and that held outside the ii tate for a peraon~.or~~~Pehe 4’ ofary’ 

w&me last knowr,rssidenoe ued tn thle State. 

Zt is’ desnonstr4W.y 03~4 that the ppaee “for a p-son or 

benefkw, whqa lqt &nom r4aldence was In. this- Stat4’ modlflee only the word@ h43.d c *. . wIthout the State”, and lk!& the 

worde “held;w&thhin t-h%@ State'. The position Of the larf coma 

In the provision quoted above is Indicative of the 14 Ir3atlve 

Intent as to+ this. Is;ltferz It, segregatea the phrqse “for a per- ‘, 

aoDor: bsneficlary~whose la@ known’ reeidence was .in, t&Is State” 

with the words, “oy Pithout the State”, Beyond that; socording 

to: standard rules of gramaF, the phraae “or without the State” 

would ‘have been followed by a oomma, as In the aaee of all,,:parenthetitiq ,,exJ)rel)bl~ono, 1E the, rords “for. 8’ peynoq or benefic+ary. whose .$a##, known res2dcyloe was, ID this, Stqte 

tkided to qualify the phrase ‘inthin this State! P 

had b&m, inAalde fro; the Soxego$$~& $3 the oontrak had b,4wl &ntended 

by the. L4&4%4$UTO,j )rcl, :.+!&!I Uxg4Ct tQ riFld the pDotir&Dn” @awn 

83 a8 to ol&i%ly sst So&h such contrary intention, ior example, 

a8 follown: 

%?JS tern ~+#!4oaal property’ lncludee but ts 

not 12mited to, mney . .“. and all o.ther’ pemQna1 

DroDertv and Inorements thereto held~ for a Demon 

eneilo$ary whoare known i?esldenoe mm 

St t h th 

-&k&vi:h~ o”f 

1 it lble, and whetetza xa’ 

Moreover, Article 3272a elsewhere demonstratee that th4 ‘etatute contemplates.. the report* of property.. regardless OS. the 

State of the beneflcd.ary*s Last loldw~ residence.. Seotlon; $0 remove8 all doubtin thla rerrptii3t by taking away, under certein epeclfled oondl~lons, the atatutefs presumption of abandoDnent in 

the case ,of ; property which is subject to the protielons 

of this artloie’etnd is held fo’r or owned or dietributable to an 

owner aoee last ktio%m ree&ldence ia In another State bx a holder 

who ie subject to the jurksd;lc,tion of thie State . , 6. The quo- : 

ted protialon recogD&es that personal property which ia held~by 

persons in tNe State and dirlled bypersons whose laat knoun residense la outaide of thla Stat4 is Dequlred to be reported and 18, 

under. certain conditions, subject to escheat by virtue of this 

article, AocozWngly, your .Xlrrst question 16 ‘answered in the ne- 
Honorable Jeese James, page 3 (~~-1180) I 

gatlve . 

Your. second qu*atictn Is as follows: 

"2. *e report ‘of mineral proceeds is to aonsist 0S a list of. all credits grotiped ~a8 to. .the nountiers Srom.wh$eh the cpedited proceed&were QePlved. 

!LhereSore, should the ‘report of mineral proceed& ‘,by 

the holder be llm$ted to proceeds froni produotion 

Sro~ Tqras i3ountles?” 

.!l%e, relevant portion 0: Article 3272a reads an Sollows: 

“Section 2 * Form of Report. . . 

,I 

. t . 

‘(c) In the case OS mineral proceeds, a 1 

OS all credits @uped as to.th& countler Sm 

the ored.ited .x?roceeda were derived Including ‘b 

which have theretosore been chapneh off'or'dfripored 

of In anymanner except by payment to -the ownes thereof; giving the name and lasHmown address OS the 

owner; the fraotlonal mineral Interest of t& o@nar; 

description and location of the land or ledsb.lhroa 

which the 091, gas or> other ml&al wa8. p’tidQ6cd; the 

nsme of the person, firm or corpofiatlon ORB0 operated ‘~ 

the oil or gas well or mine; the period OS timefledurl.ng 

which such proceeds accumulated land the prfce for II&$& 

such oil, gas, or other mineral was sold, each duch 

several ownerships to be given an ldentlfylng niamber. 

The nature and identifying number, If any, OP descrlption’of the property, and the amount &ppMbUq from the 

records to be due, except ‘that Items of valkie. under 

Ten Dollars ($10) each may be reported in aggregate.;” 

(ibuphasis added). 

There Is nothI@ ln’the above language, or fn the balance 

of the article, to indicate that the Legfslature was referring 

to Texas counties only. We must assume theri that the section 

mems counties irrespective of the State In which such counties 

‘are eltuated. This is the only construction which would be 

consistent with the fact that the article applies to certain pro- 

,perty held without. the State of Texas as well aa to that held 

wlthln the State of Texas. Acaordingly, your second queation~ is 

answered in the negative. 
Honorable 3esse James, page 4 (,#-1~8b) 

Your thlro question is as Sollows: 

, 

"3. ‘The report of 3nlneral proeeeds is tc, inelude thedescrlptlon end location of the land or 

lease Srom’whlch the 011, ges or mlneral was produced, WI11 the Slle~.nuabar of the holder an.d the 

style of the property be a suSSlclent description?” 

This article does requlre a “descrlptlon an’d location of’ 

the land or lease from which the ofl,,gas or mAnera was produced”, The article does not, specify that t3e description and, 

location must be a legal or metes and ,bounds description and 

location. On the other hand, It does not say that a mere reference to a deskriptlon,and location ls sufflclent, In this sftuatlon the obvlouspurpose of the reporting is to present lnformation whlch!ls, without further Investigation, sufflclent to 

put claimants on notlce that the property is subject to es&eat 

and sufficient to enable the State to bring suit TV determine 

judicially that such property haa escheated,’ TS-.erefore, It would 

be counter to the purpose of the article to cc’mpel the State and 

other claimants to search private records and files In order to 

identify the property and Its source. ,In our oainfon, the report 

must, therefore, ~present information whlc,h Is, at least, suSflclent to enable one to Identify and locate the proper.ty by referring to the public records of the county and state in which 

the property is situated and ,without having to refer to the files 

of the holder or to any other private files, ;+3xc; your third 

question is answered’ in the negative, 

Your fourth question Is as follows: 

“4* The report of the tineral proceed!e 1.2, t.o include the ~nsme of the, pereon, firm OP cc~~rp~ratlon ivno 

operated the 011 or gas well or mine. Will t.rie name 

of the last operator be sufficient?" 

In our opinion, Section 2(c), quoted abcve; mesh; tl-a cperator of the oil or gas well or mine at ?“:e time il :‘ mineral proceeds were produced and this would, of course9 incl.&z more than 

one operator if there was mor;e than one operator dilr:ng such period. Your question Is, therefore, ansrerel In t%e negative., 

The fifth question follows: 

“5 * The report of mineral proceeds is t.o include 

the price for which the oil, gas or other minerals 

was sold. Does ‘pricel mean the total amount of money 
Honorable Jesse James, page 5 (WW-ll$O) 

received for the minerals sold for each owner listed 

in the report?” 

fines 

Webster’s New International Dictionare, Second Edition, dethe word “price” es follows: 

“1 . Value; estimation; preciousness; excellence, 

worth. . . 

2. In the broadest sense, the quantfty of one 

thing that is exchanged or demanded in barter or sole 

of another; the exchange value of one tP&Pg expressed 

in terms of units of another thing; in the narrower 

and more coxtunon sense the amount of money given, or 

set as the amount that will be given or received, in 

exchange for anything; specif., the amount at which 

actual current transactions take place in the market”. 

In our opinion, the Legislature here used the word ‘yprlce” 

in the more common sense, as denoting the amount of money received for the minerals rather than the amount of money received per unit sold. It la our further opinion that the total 

price was intended to be reported, as distinguished from the 

pPlce from time to time received on various sales of minerals. 

Asaertainment of the varying unit pric,e of minerals does not 

seem to us to be the purpose of the article and such information would not appear to be of material benefit in identifying 

the mineral proceeds. Accordingly, your final question Is 

answered in the affirmative. 

SUNMARY 

Under House Bill No. 5, 57th Legislature 

1961, First Called Session, reports by holders of 

personal pro 

tF 

erty to the State Treasurer are to 

include : 1 certain personal property held within this State, regardless of the last known ad?rsss 

of the person or beneficiary for whcm t?&e property 

Is held, and that held without the State 1,311 s person or beneficiary whose last known addreec: wa,cj in 

this State; (21 mineral proceeds from .eounties 

outside of Texas as well as colntle:: within *-Ma 

State; (3) a description and location cf’ 3;s lease 

and property from which oil, gas or m%tlerals was 

produced, which is sufficient to enable a person to 

identify and locate the lease and land by referring 
Honorable Jesse James, page 6 (WW-1180) 

to the public records of the county in which 

the property Is situated and without having 

to refer to the files of the holder;, (4) 

the name of all operators of the oil or gaa 

well or mine during the period in which tinerals were produced; and (5) the total 

amount of money received for minerals sold 

for each owner listed in the report. 

Very truly yours, 

WICL LEON 

Attor y General of Texas 

KGB/rd 

APPROVED; 

OPltMON COM!XTTEE 

W. V. Geppert, Chaiman 

Vernon Teofan 

Gordon Cam 

W, Rey Scruggs 

Ben Herrison 

RwlEwED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

BYI Houghton Brownlee, Jr.