Building a Better Unclaimed Property Act

摘要

This article examines the legal and policy concerns raised by the Uniform Unclaimed Property Acts developed by the Uniform Law Commission, focusing on the most recent Uniform Act that was completed in 2016. The authors highlight significant constitutional problems with the Uniform Acts, including provisions that attempt to rewrite debtor-creditor laws and broaden the scope of unclaimed property laws inconsistent with U.S. Supreme Court precedent. The authors also explain that the Uniform Acts do not provide adequate constitutional protection for owners of securities that could result in substantial losses to owners. The article then compares the Uniform Acts with the American Bar Association's Draft Model Unclaimed Property Act, which was completed in early 2018 by the Business Law Section to address these constitutional concerns and other legal and policy issues. The authors conclude that the ABA Model Act is a significant improvement over the Uniform Acts, both in terms of satisfying the applicable constitutional requirements and restoring state unclaimed property laws to their original purpose of returning unclaimed property to the rightful owner.