2023 Tennessee Code › Title 66 - PROPERTY (§§ 66-1-101 — 66-38-101) › Chapter 29 - ABANDONED OR UNCLAIMED PROPERTY (§§ 66-29-101 — 66-29-306) › Part 1 - UNIFORM UNCLAIMED PROPERTY ACT (§§ 66-29-101 — 66-29-184) › Section 66-29-134 - Payment or delivery of property to treasurer

(a)
Except as otherwise provided in this section, upon filing a report under §
66-29-123
, the holder shall pay or deliver to the treasurer the property described in the report. Property paid to the treasurer must be remitted through an electronic funds transfer as prescribed by the treasurer. The treasurer may waive the requirement to submit payment by electronic means for holders who demonstrate in writing that compliance would be too costly or oppressive to the holder.
(b)
Any unclaimed checks held by the state that were derived from one hundred percent (100%) federal funding must not be delivered to the treasurer under this part if such delivery would render the state ineligible for future federal funding. Upon written request and for good cause shown, the treasurer may postpone the payment or delivery upon such terms and conditions as the treasurer deems necessary and appropriate.
(c)
If property in a report under §
66-29-123
is an automatically renewable deposit and a penalty or forfeiture in the payment of interest would result from paying the deposit to the treasurer at the time of the report, the date for payment of the property to the treasurer is extended until the date when payment would no longer result in a penalty or forfeiture if the holder informs the treasurer of such date.
(d)
Except for military medals, tangible property must not be delivered to the treasurer at the time of filing the report. The treasurer shall review the report of such property and be given the opportunity to decline to receive any such property reported if the treasurer determines that the value of the property is less than the cost of giving notice and holding sale, or the treasurer may, because of the small sum involved, postpone taking possession until property of a sufficient value accumulates. Unless the holder of such property is notified to the contrary within one hundred twenty (120) days after filing the report required under §
66-29-123
, the treasurer is deemed to have elected to receive custody of the property and the holder thereof shall, at the end of such one hundred twenty (120) days, pay or deliver such property to the treasurer.
(e)
Notwithstanding any provision of this section to the contrary, contents removed from any safe deposit box, safekeeping repository or agency, or collateral deposit box described in §
66-29-109
, except for military medals, must be sold or disposed of by the holder in accordance with §
45-2-907
, or pursuant to instructions received from the treasurer, and the proceeds, less reasonable costs of sale and storage, must be remitted to the treasurer within sixty (60) days of sale. Military medals must be retained, and reported and delivered to the treasurer, in accordance with §
66-29-109(b)
.
(f)
If property reported to the treasurer under §
66-29-123
is a security, the treasurer may:
(1)
Make an endorsement, instruction, or entitlement order on behalf of the apparent owner to invoke the duty of the issuer, its transfer agent, or the securities intermediary to transfer the security; or
(2)
Dispose of the security under §
66-29-142
.
(g)
If the holder of property reported to the treasurer under §
66-29-123
is the issuer of a certificated security, the treasurer may obtain a replacement certificate in physical or book-entry form in the manner in which an owner may obtain a replacement certificate under §
47-8-405
. An indemnity bond is not required.
(h)
The treasurer shall establish procedures for the registration, issuance, method of delivery, transfer, and maintenance of securities delivered to the treasurer by a holder.
(i)
An issuer, holder, or transfer agent, or other person acting under the instructions of, and on behalf of, the issuer or holder under this section, who delivers abandoned property to the treasurer under this part is relieved of all liability to the extent of the value of the property delivered for any claim which then exists or which thereafter may arise or be made in respect to the property.
(j)
A holder is not required to deliver to the treasurer a security identified by the holder as a non-freely transferable security. Upon determination by the treasurer or the holder that a security is no longer a non-freely transferable security, the security must be subsequently remitted on the next regular date prescribed for delivery of securities under this part. The holder shall make a determination annually whether a security identified in a report filed under §
66-29-123
as a non-freely transferable security is no longer a non-freely transferable security.
(k)
(1)
Notwithstanding this part, United States savings bonds that are unclaimed and presumptively abandoned under this part shall escheat to the state at the time of the presumed abandonment, and all property rights to such United States savings bonds or proceeds from such bonds shall thereupon vest solely in the state.
(2)
Within one hundred eighty (180) days after the bonds and obligations thereunder have been reported by a holder pursuant to §
66-29-123
, if no claim has been filed in accordance with this part for such United States bonds and obligations, the treasurer shall commence a civil action in the chancery court of Davidson County to determine whether such United States savings bonds shall escheat to the state. The treasurer may postpone the bringing of such action until sufficient United States savings bonds have accumulated in the treasurer's custody to justify the expense of such proceedings.
(3)
The summons and complaint must name the last known owner as the defendant, and must be served and filed as provided by law. At the time of the filing of the summons and complaint, the treasurer shall mail to the last known address of the owner a notice entitled "Notice of Proceedings to Confirm Certain United States Savings Bonds as Escheated to the State of Tennessee," which must include the following information:
(A)
The name and last known address of the owner, if previously reported;
(B)
A statement identifying the action and stating that its purpose is to confirm escheat of the property to the state;
(C)
The place, time, and date of the hearing; and
(D)
A direction that any person claiming to be entitled to such United States savings bonds may claim the property before or at the hearing.
(4)
At the time the action is commenced, the treasurer, as to all items having a value in excess of fifty dollars ($50.00), shall also cause the notice provided in subdivision (k)(3) to be published once each week for two (2) consecutive weeks in a newspaper having general circulation in the county in which the last known address of the owner is located, according to the records on file with the treasurer. If no address is available, the notice must be published in such time, place, and manner as, in the treasurer's judgment, is most likely to notify the owner of the proceedings.
(5)
If no person files a claim or appears at the hearing to substantiate a claim, or if the court determines that a claimant is not entitled to the property claimed by such claimant, then the court, if satisfied by evidence that the treasurer has substantially complied with this section, shall enter a judgment confirming that the subject United States savings bonds have escheated to the state.
(6)
The treasurer shall redeem such United States savings bonds escheated to the state and the proceeds from such redemption must be deposited in accordance with §
66-29-146
.
(7)
Any person making a claim for United States savings bonds escheated to the state under this subsection (k), or for the proceeds from such bonds, may file a claim in accordance with §
66-29-152
. Upon receiving sufficient proof of the validity of such person's claim, the treasurer may pay such claim in accordance with §
66-29-153
.
Amended by 2017 Tenn. Acts, ch. 457,s 1, eff. 7/1/2017.
Acts 1987, ch. 43, § 3.