A museum may acquire title to unsolicited donations found on museum property as follows:

(1) Unsolicited donations are conclusively presumed to be a gift to the museum if ownership is not claimed by a person or individual within 60 days after its discovery and notice is given by the museum under this section.

(2) Undocumented property found in the collection or collections of a museum are not unsolicited donations and are subject to § 5006D of this title.

(3) The museum must give notice that the museum is asserting title to any unsolicited donation.

(4) Notice that the museum is asserting title to the unsolicited property must include a statement containing substantially the following information:

“The following property was found at (name of museum) and is presumed to be a donation to the museum. The museum hereby asserts title to the following property: (general description of property). Anyone claiming ownership or other legal interest in this property must contact the museum, establish ownership of the property, and make arrangements to collect the property. If you fail to do so within 60 days of notice required under this section, you will have waived any claim to this unsolicited property.”

(5) Notice by publication under paragraph (3) of this section must be given at least once a week for 2 consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the museum is located.

81 Del. Laws, c. 213, § 1;

Terms Used In Delaware Code Title 6 Sec. 5007D

  • Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
  • Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
  • Person: means a natural person, partnership (whether general or limited), limited liability company, trust (including a common law trust, business trust, statutory trust, voting trust or any other form of trust), estate, association (including any group, organization, co-tenancy, plan, board, council or committee), corporation, government (including a country, state, county or any other governmental subdivision, agency or instrumentality), custodian, nominee or any other individual or entity (or series thereof) in its own or any representative capacity, in each case, whether domestic or foreign. See Delaware Code Title 6 Sec. 17-101