In litigation challenging unclaimed property examination findings, the Michigan Supreme Court took a first step towards curtailing the seemingly never-ending examination process, but left open an opportunity for the State to...more
Unclaimed property examinations and new types of regulatory inquiries will pose major challenges for US companies in 2024. Not only are states pushing ahead with more examinations, but many states are using new techniques to...more
Many organizations have recently received a notice from the Delaware Department of Finance Office of Unclaimed Property requesting a sworn verification of the completeness and accuracy of their unclaimed property reporting....more
All nine Supreme Court Justices sided with a group of 30 states in a dispute with Delaware over hundreds of millions of dollars of unclaimed checks issued by MoneyGram, a money transfer company. The Court held that the...more
Unclaimed property audits and compliance changes will challenge many US companies in 2023. Any company that is not filing annual reports will be at risk of an expensive multi-year audit, and even long-time filers could be...more
The US Supreme Court heard arguments on October 3, 2022 on an unclaimed property case for the first time since the early 1990s. The case, Delaware v. Pennsylvania, is a state-versus-state dispute between Delaware and...more
The California State Legislature has passed legislation giving the Controller the green light to establish a California Voluntary Compliance Program (VCP) for holders of unclaimed property. The bill, A.B. 2280,...more
“Corporate evasion is corporate fraud,” the California Attorney General declares in a March 22, 2022 press release accompanying an unclaimed property complaint the State has filed alleging systemic failure to report and remit...more
On June 1, 2021, the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Chancery’s decision to quash an administrative subpoena seeking extensive records in an unclaimed property audit of AT&T. The Delaware Department of Finance...more
Many US companies will face the threat of increased unclaimed property exposure in 2021 as states and private litigants ramp up audits, litigation and legislative changes designed to increase payments to states. Although...more
The long-running dispute between states and the business community over the expansive nature of unclaimed property audits has taken a new turn, with a Delaware state court quashing a subpoena served in the course of an audit...more
A wave of new unclaimed property statutes and rules is changing whether and when businesses should escheat gift, payroll, loyalty, and other stored-value cards. Ten states have adopted new statutes or rules in this area over...more
8/25/2019
/ Amended Legislation ,
Audits ,
Customer-Loyalty Programs ,
Escheat ,
Gift-Cards ,
New Legislation ,
Payroll Cards ,
Retailers ,
State and Local Government ,
Unclaimed Property ,
Uniform Law Commission (ULC)
After four-plus years of litigation in a long-running dispute over unredeemed gift cards, a jury returned a verdict against Overstock.com, finding that the company violated the Delaware False Claims Act (FCA) by not reporting...more
Onerous unclaimed property audits and vexing compliance issues will continue to challenge companies in a wide range of industries in 2018. Even with the robust economy, new federal tax provisions will push states to view...more
Delaware is instituting an aggressive push forward on its controversial unclaimed property audit program, as indicated in two recent announcements. The Secretary of State has announced that his office will begin sending...more
Facing widespread criticism about the enforcement of its unclaimed property laws, Delaware has just completed a wholesale revision of its unclaimed property statute. The statutory overhaul has passed both houses of the...more
Background -
Unclaimed Property: It’s not just about life insurance. The same contingency-fee unclaimed property auditors that targeted unclaimed life insurance proceeds are now turning their focus to other types of...more
There’s never a dull moment in Delaware when it comes to unclaimed property. The latest salvo comes by way of a lawsuit filed by the Delaware Department of Finance against Blackhawk Engagement Solutions (DE), Inc. (formerly...more
Proposed revisions to the Uniform Unclaimed Property Act were under debate this past week in Washington, DC as the Uniform Law Commission (ULC or Commission) Committee to Revise the Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (Drafting...more
10/16/2015
/ B2B Transactions ,
Death Master Files ,
Due Diligence ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Escheat ,
Gift-Cards ,
Life Insurance ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Unclaimed Property ,
Uniform Law Commission (ULC) ,
Video Games