Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 1175 – Evidence of debt or undischarged obligation
(a) A record showing an unpaid debt or undischarged obligation is prima facie evidence of an obligation. In claiming property from a holder, the State Escheator’s burden of proof as to the existence and amount of the property and its abandonment is satisfied by showing evidence of the unpaid debt or undischarged obligation and passage of the requisite period of abandonment.
Terms Used In Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 1175
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Holder: means any person having possession, custody, or control of the property of another person and includes a post office, a depository, a bailee, a trustee, a receiver or other liquidating officer, a fiduciary, a governmental department, institution or agency, a municipal corporation and the fiscal officers thereof, a public utility, service corporation, and every other legal entity incorporated or created under the laws of this State or doing business in this State. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 1130
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- Party: means the respondent, petitioner, guardian, conservator, or any other person allowed by the Court to participate in a guardianship or protective proceeding. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
- Property: means tangible property described in § 1134 of this title or a fixed and certain interest in intangible property held, issued, or owed in the course of a holder's business or by a government, governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 1130
- Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 1130
- Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
- State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 1130
(b) A holder may overcome prima facie evidence under subsection (a) of this section by establishing by a preponderance of the evidence that 1 of the following occurred:
(1) A check, draft, or similar instrument was issued as an unaccepted offer in settlement of an unliquidated amount.
(2) A check, draft, or similar instrument was issued but later was replaced with another instrument because the earlier instrument was lost or contained an error that was corrected.
(3) A check, draft, or similar instrument was issued to a party affiliated with the issuer.
(4) A check, draft, or similar instrument was paid, satisfied, or discharged.
(5) A check, draft, or similar instrument was issued in error.
(6) A check, draft, or similar instrument was issued without consideration.