(a)  Intangible property and any income or increment derived from the intangible property held in a fiduciary capacity for the benefit of another person is presumed abandoned unless the owner, within three (3) years after it has become payable or distributable, has increased or decreased the principal, accepted payment of principal or income, communicated concerning the property, or otherwise indicated an interest as evidenced by a memorandum or other record on file prepared by the fiduciary. In applying the preceding sentence to family education accounts, as defined in § 44-30-25, twenty (20) years shall be substituted for five (5) years.

Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 33-21.1-12

  • Business association: means a public corporation, a non-public corporation, joint stock company, investment company, business trust, partnership, or association for business purposes of two (2) or more individuals, whether or not for profit, including a banking organization, financial organization, insurance company, or utility, but not including hospitals, private, nonprofit institutions of higher education, and other domestic charitable corporations as those terms are defined in this section. See Rhode Island General Laws 33-21.1-1
  • Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
  • Holder: means a person, wherever organized or domiciled, who is:

    (i)  In possession of property belonging to another,

    (ii)  A trustee, or

    (iii)  Indebted to another on an obligation. See Rhode Island General Laws 33-21.1-1

  • Owner: means a depositor in the case of a deposit, a beneficiary in the case of a trust other than a deposit in trust, a creditor, claimant, or payee in the case of other intangible property, or a person having a legal or equitable interest in property subject to this chapter or his or her legal representative. See Rhode Island General Laws 33-21.1-1
  • Person: means an individual, business association, state or other government, governmental subdivision or agency, public corporation, public authority, estate, trust, two (2) or more persons having a joint or common interest, or any other legal or commercial entity. See Rhode Island General Laws 33-21.1-1
  • United States: include the several states and the territories of the United States. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-8

(b)  Funds in an individual retirement account or a retirement plan for self employed individuals or similar account or plan established pursuant to the internal revenue laws of the United States are not payable or distributable within the meaning of subsection (a) unless, under the terms of the account or plan, distribution of all or part of the funds would then be mandatory.

(c)  For the purposes of this section, a person who holds property as an agent for a business association is deemed to hold the property in a fiduciary capacity for that business association alone, unless the agreement between him or her and the business association provides otherwise.

(d)  For the purposes of this chapter, a person who is deemed to hold property in a fiduciary capacity for a business association alone is the holder of the property only insofar as the interest of the business association in the property is concerned, and the business association is the holder of the property insofar as the interest of any other person in the property is concerned.

History of Section.
P.L. 1986, ch. 500, § 3; P.L. 1989, ch. 220, § 2; P.L. 1992, ch. 133, art. 86, § 2.