Montana Code Annotated
Part 8. Uniform Unclaimed Property Act
70-9-803. Presumptions of abandonment

70-9-803. Presumptions of abandonment. (1) Except as provided in subsection (6), property is presumed abandoned if it is unclaimed by the apparent owner during the time set forth below for the particular property:
(a) traveler's check, 15 years after issuance;
(b) money order, 7 years after issuance;
(c) stock or other equity interest in a business association or financial organization, including a security entitlement under Title 30, chapter 8, 5 years after the earlier of:
(i) the date of the most recent dividend, stock split, or other distribution that was unclaimed by the apparent owner; or
(ii) the date of the second mailing of a statement of account or other notification or communication that was returned as undeliverable or after the holder discontinued mailings, notifications, or communications to the apparent owner;
(d) debt of a business association or financial organization, other than a bearer bond or an original issue discount bond, 5 years after the date of the most recent interest payment that was unclaimed by the apparent owner;
(e) demand, savings, or time deposit, including a deposit that is automatically renewable, 5 years after the earlier of maturity or the date of the last indication by the owner of interest in the property; however, a deposit that is automatically renewable is considered matured for purposes of this section upon its initial date of maturity unless the owner has consented to a renewal at or about the time of the renewal and the consent is in writing or is evidenced by a memorandum or other record on file with the holder;
(f) money or credits owed to a customer as a result of a retail business transaction, 3 years after the obligation accrued;
(g) gift certificate, 3 years after December 31 of the year in which the certificate was sold, but if redeemable in merchandise only, the amount abandoned is considered to be 60% of the certificate's face value. A gift certificate is not presumed abandoned if the gift certificate was sold by a person who in the past fiscal year sold no more than $200,000 in gift certificates, which amount must be adjusted by November of each year by the inflation factor. The amount considered abandoned for a person who sells more than the amount that triggers presumption of abandonment is the value of gift certificates greater than that trigger.
(h) amount that is owed by an insurer on a life or endowment insurance policy or an annuity that has matured or terminated, 3 years after the obligation to pay arose or, in the case of a policy or annuity payable upon proof of death, 3 years after the insured has attained, or would have attained if living, the limiting age under the mortality table on which the reserve is based;
(i) property distributable by a business association or financial organization in a course of dissolution, 1 year after the property becomes distributable;
(j) property received by a court as proceeds of a class action and not distributed pursuant to the judgment, 1 year after the distribution date;
(k) property held by a court, government, governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, 1 year after the property becomes distributable;
(l) wages or other compensation for personal services, 1 year after the compensation becomes payable;
(m) deposit or refund owed to a subscriber by a utility, 1 year after the deposit or refund becomes payable;
(n) property in an individual retirement account, defined benefit plan, or other account or plan that is qualified for tax deferral under the income tax laws of the United States, 3 years after the earliest of the date of the distribution or attempted distribution of the property, the date of the required distribution as stated in the plan or trust agreement governing the plan, or the date, if determinable by the holder, specified in the income tax laws of the United States by which distribution of the property must begin in order to avoid a tax penalty;
(o) a patronage refund owed to a member of a rural electric or telephone cooperative organized under Title 35, chapter 18, that is not used by the cooperative for educational purposes, 5 years after the distribution date;
(p) an unclaimed share in a cooperative that is not used for charitable or civic purposes in the community in which the cooperative is located, 5 years after the distribution date; and
(q) all other property, 5 years after the owner's right to demand the property or after the obligation to pay or distribute the property arises, whichever first occurs.
(2) At the time that an interest is presumed abandoned under subsection (1), any other property right accrued or accruing to the owner as a result of the interest, and not previously presumed abandoned, is also presumed abandoned.
(3) Property is unclaimed if, for the applicable period set forth in subsection (1), the apparent owner has not communicated in writing or by other means reflected in a contemporaneous record prepared by or on behalf of the holder with the holder concerning the property or the account in which the property is held and has not otherwise indicated an interest in the property. A communication with an owner by a person other than the holder or its representative who has not in writing identified the property to the owner is not an indication of interest in the property by the owner.
(4) An indication of an owner's interest in property includes:
(a) the presentment of a check or other instrument of payment of a dividend or other distribution made with respect to an account or underlying stock or other interest in a business association or financial organization or, in the case of a distribution made by electronic or similar means, evidence that the distribution has been received;
(b) owner-directed activity in the account in which the property is held, including a direction by the owner to increase, decrease, or change the amount or type of property held in the account;
(c) the making of a deposit to or withdrawal from an account in a financial organization; and
(d) the payment of a premium with respect to a property interest in an insurance policy; however, the application of an automatic premium loan provision or other nonforfeiture provision contained in an insurance policy does not prevent a policy from maturing or terminating if the insured has died or the insured or the beneficiary of the policy has otherwise become entitled to the proceeds before the depletion of the cash surrender value of a policy by the application of those provisions.
(5) Property is payable or distributable for purposes of this part notwithstanding the owner's failure to make demand or present an instrument or document otherwise required to obtain payment.
(6) The presumption provided in subsection (1) does not apply to:
(a) unclaimed patronage refunds of a rural electric or telephone cooperative if the cooperative uses the refunds exclusively for educational purposes; or
(b) unclaimed shares in a nonutility cooperative if the cooperative uses the shares for charitable or civic purposes in the community in which the cooperative is located.
(7) For the purposes of this section, "inflation factor" means a number determined for each tax year by dividing the consumer price index for June of the previous tax year by the consumer price index for June 2015.
History: En. Sec. 3, Ch. 124, L. 1997; amd. Sec. 33, Ch. 268, L. 1997; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 331, L. 2007; amd. Sec. 16, Ch. 317, L. 2019; amd. Sec. 10, Ch. 17, L. 2021; amd. Sec. 59, Ch. 503, L. 2021.