(a) During the first 2 years after the effective date of this chapter, no less than 50% of all property received under this chapter, including the proceeds from the sale of abandoned property under § 41-122, shall be deposited by the Mayor in a separate trust fund or kept for safekeeping with a holder which is a bank or trust company in order to make prompt payment of claims duly allowed by the Mayor as provided by this section. The remainder percentage of funds received and any income or increment to the funds deposited in the trust fund accruing during such 2 years may be deposited in the General Fund of the District government.

(b)(1) All funds received or kept under this chapter after the 2 year period described in subsection (a) of this section, including the proceeds from the sale of abandoned property under § 41-122, shall be deposited by the Mayor in the General Fund of the District government, except that the Mayor shall retain in a separate trust fund an amount not less than $100,000 in order to make prompt payment of claims duly allowed by the Mayor as provided by this chapter. Any monies unexpended at the end of a fiscal year shall revert to the unrestricted fund balance of the General Fund of the District of Columbia.

(2) Before making the deposit the Mayor shall record at least the name and last known address of each person appearing from the holders’ reports to be entitled to the abandoned property and of the name and last known address of each insured person or annuitant, and beneficiary and, with respect to each policy or contract listed in the report of a life insurance corporation, the policy or contract number, and the name of the corporation.

(3) The record shall be available for public inspection during regular business hours. The Mayor of the District of Columbia is authorized to establish and collect reasonable fees for services rendered by the Department of Finance and Revenue for the searching and reproduction of records and other services as may, in the judgment of the Mayor, be necessary to defray the cost of providing services.

(c) Before making any deposit to the credit of the General Fund of the District government, the Mayor may deduct:

(1) Any costs in connection with the sale of abandoned property, or with the disposition by other means of abandoned property under § 41-122;

(2) Any costs of mailing and publication in connection with any abandoned property;

(3) Reasonable service charges; and

(4) The costs incurred in examining records of holders of abandoned property and collecting such property from such holders.

(Mar. 5, 1981, D.C. Law 3-160, § 123, 27 DCR 5150; Sept. 29, 1992, D.C. Law 9-161, § 2(p), 39 DCR 5696; Sept. 14, 2011, D.C. Law 19-21, § 9013, 58 DCR 6226.)

1981 Ed., § 42-223.

This section is referenced in § 41-122 and § 41-131.

D.C. Law 19-21, in subsec. (b)(1), inserted “Any monies unexpended at the end of a fiscal year shall revert to the unrestricted fund balance of the General Fund of the District of Columbia.”

The “effective date of this chapter,” referred to near the beginning of the first sentence of subsection (a), is the effective date of D.C. Law 3-160, March 5, 1981.

Pursuant to the Office of the Chief Financial Officer’s “Notice of Public Interest” published in the April 18, 1997, issue of the District of Columbia Register ( 44 DCR 2345) the Office of Tax and Revenue assumed all of the duties and functions previously performed by the Department of Finance and Revenue, as set forth in Commissioner’s Order 69-96, dated March 7, 1969. This action was made effective January 22, 1997, nunc pro tunc.

Uniform Law: This section is based upon § 23 of the Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (1981 Act).