70-9-803. Presumptions of abandonment. (1) Property is presumed abandoned if it is unclaimed by the apparent owner measured by the later of the latest indication of interest by the apparent owner in the property or 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) 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;

(d) a payroll card, or a 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 upon its initial date of maturity unless the apparent owner consented in a record on file with the holder to renewal at or about the time of the renewal;

(e) money or credits owed to a customer as a result of a retail business transaction, 3 years after the obligation accrued;

(f) 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.

(g) 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 on 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;

(h) property distributable by a business association or financial organization in a course of dissolution, 1 year after the property becomes distributable;

(i) property received by a court as proceeds of a class action and not distributed pursuant to the judgment, 1 year after the distribution date;

(j) property held by a court, government, governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, 1 year after the property becomes distributable;

(k) wages or other compensation for personal services, 1 year after the compensation becomes payable;

(l) deposit or refund owed to a subscriber by a utility, 1 year after the deposit or refund becomes payable;

(m) 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;

(n) a patronage refund owed to a member of a rural electric, natural gas, 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;

(o) 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;

(p) a security, as provided in 70-9-830; 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 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.

(4) An indication of an apparent owner's interest in property includes:

(a) a record communicated by the apparent owner to the holder or agent of the holder concerning the property or the account in which the property is held;

(b) an oral communication by the apparent owner to the holder or agent of the holder concerning the property or the account in which the property is held, if the holder or agent contemporaneously makes and preserves a record of the fact of the apparent owner's communication;

(c) presentment of a check or other instrument of payment of a dividend, interest payment, or other distribution, or evidence of receipt of a distribution made by electronic or similar means, with respect to an account, underlying security, or interest in a business association;

(d) activity directed by an apparent owner in the account in which the property is held, including accessing the account or information concerning the account, or a direction by the apparent owner to increase, decrease, or otherwise change the amount or type of property held in the account;

(e) a deposit in or withdrawal from an account at a financial organization, including an automatic deposit or withdrawal previously authorized by the apparent owner other than an automatic reinvestment of dividends or interest;

(f) subject to subsection (7), payment of a premium on an insurance policy;

(g) any other action by the apparent owner that reasonably demonstrates to the holder that the apparent owner knows that the property exists.

(5) An action by an agent or other representative of an apparent owner, other than the holder acting as the apparent owner's agent, is presumed to be an action on behalf of the apparent owner.

(6) A communication with an apparent owner by a person other than the holder or the holder's representative is not an indication of interest in the property by the apparent owner unless a record of the communication evidences the apparent owner's knowledge of a right to the property.

(7) If the insured dies or the insured or beneficiary of an insurance policy otherwise becomes entitled to the proceeds before depletion of the cash surrender value of the policy by operation of an automatic premium loan provision or other nonforfeiture provision contained in the policy, the operation does not prevent the policy from maturing or terminating.

(8) 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.

(9) As used in 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.