Claims Process

(1) Issuance of a Claim Form. (a) Claim forms shall only be issued to persons identified by Division staff as having a valid interest in a certain property/properties. A person shall be declared as having an interest in the property if he/she if one of the following: 1. the original owner or an officer of a corporation or business which is anoriginalowner or legal successor; 2. a person with a court appointment, such as an administrator/trix or executor/trix; 3. a person duly appointed as the power of attorney for the original owner; 4. a guardian, trustee, conservator or other court-appointed legal representative; 5. an individual who has petitioned a court ofproper jurisdictionfor appointment as the legal representative of the original owner (b) Prior to the issuance of a claim form, an employee of the Division must verify the original owner’s address and SocialSecurity/FederalTaxIdentificationNumber (TIN), unless such claim is for a piece of property which may have been reported to the Division in “aggregate” form or the Division has no record of the original owner’s name and/or address or Social Security/TIN. (c) The Division will not issue a claim form prior to the receipt of the Social Security/TIN and current mailing address of any individual or entity claiming property held by the Division. (d) In the case of a person claiming property on behalf of an estate, that person must provide the Division with the Tax Identification Number (TIN) of the estate or his/her own Social Security number, and not the Social Security number of the deceased. (2) Required Documentation for Claims (a) Claims by Original Owner: 1. For cash claims valued between $0 and $4,999 – signature of claimant and/or co-owner, date ofsignature and Social Security/TIN number of claimant; holder certification, ifapplicable; proof of former residence, if reported; passbook or monthly statement, if applicable; original check or surety bond, if applicable; and other documentation as may be required by the Division to substantiate the validity of the claim. 2. For cash claims valued $5,000 and greater – signature ofclaimant and/or co-owner, date of signature and SocialSecurity/FEIN number of claimant; holder certification; proof of former residence, if reported; passbook or monthly statement, if applicable; original check or surety bond, ifapplicable; andother documentation as may be required by the Division to substantiate the validity of the claim. 3. For aggregate cash claims – signature of claimant and/or co-owner; date of signature and Social Security/TIN number of claimant; holder certification; and other documentation as may be required by the Division to substantiate the validity of the claim. 4. For shares of stock or mutual funds (except for undeliverable shares and book entry shares) – signature of claimant and/or co-owner, date of signature and Social Security/TIN number ofclaimant; holder certification (unless property was turned over to the Division by a third-party reporting service), if applicable; proof of former residence, if reported; original stock certificate(s) or surety bond; lost stock affadavit, if applicable; monthly statement, if applicable; and other documentation as may be required by the Division to substantiate the validity of the claim. (b) Claims by Legal Representative of the Owner: 1. For cash claims valued between $0 and $4,999 – signature ofclaimant, date of signature and Social Security/TIN number of claimant; holder certification, if applicable; copy of deceased owner’s death certificate (for joint tenant and joint accounts), if applicable; copy of original owner's death certificate and certified copy of claimant’s appointment as executor/trix, guardian, administrator, or conservator, if applicable; copy of claimant’s power of attorney, if applicable; copy of marriage certificate, if applicable; proof of former residence, if reported; passbook or monthly statement, if applicable; original check or surety bond, if applicable; and other documentation asmaybe required by the Division to substantiate the validity of the claim. 2. For cash claims valued $5,000 and greater – signature of claimant, date of signature and Social Security/TIN number of claimant; holder certification; copy of deceased owner’s death certificate (for joint tenant and joint accounts) if applicable; copy of original owner’s death certificate and certified copyofclaimant’s appointment as executor/trix, guardian, administrator or conservator, if applicable; original check or surety bond, if applicable; and other documentation as may be required by the Division to substantiate the validity of the claim. 3. For aggregate cash claims – signature of claimant, date of signature and Social Security/TIN number of claimant; holder certification; copy of deceased owner’s death certificate (for joint tenant and joint accounts), if applicable; copy of original owner’s death certificate and certified copyofclaimant’s appointment as executor/trix, guardian, administrator or conservator, if applicable; original check or surety bond, if applicable; and other documentation as may be required by the Division to substantiate the validity of the claim. 4. For shares of stock or mutual funds (except for undeliverable shares and book entry shares) – signature of claimant, date of signature and Social Security/TIN number of claimant; holder certification if original shares are not available (unless property was turned over to the Division by a third-party reporting service), if applicable; copy of deceased owner’s death certificate (for joint tenant and joint accounts), if applicable; copy of original owner’s death certificate and certified copy ofclaimant’s appointment as executor/trix, administrator, guardian or conservator, if applicable; copy of claimant’s power of attorney, if applicable; copy of marriage certificate, if applicable; proof of former residence, if reported; original stock certificate(s) or surety bond; monthly statement, if applicable; and other documentation as may be required by the Division to substantiate the validity of the claim. A letter from a transfer agent or broker stating that the original shares have been confiscated by the agent per Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations may be submitted in lieu of the original certificate(s). (c) Signature Requirements – If any property, such as an account, is held jointly, then the signatures of all original owners, unless one is deceased, must appear on the claim form before it can be approved at any level within the Division. Ifone of the original owners of an account held as a tenant in common is deceased, the lawful representative of the decedent’s estate must sign the claim form along with the other original owner before it can be approved at any level within the Division. However, if any property, such as an account, is held as a joint tenant or “with right of survivorship” (WROS) or as a joint account, the signature of one of the original owners shall be deemed sufficient to satisfythe signature requirement before approval of any rightful claim against the property. (3) Approval of Claims. Each claim submitted to the Division must receive three levels of approval on the UPS System prior to payment. (a) Level One approval shall first be required from the Division staff person(s) who sent out the original claim form. This approval shall be given if it is determined that the claimant has submitted all documentation requested when the claim form was sent out from the Division. If any documentation is missing when a claim form is sent to the Division for approval, the claim form shall be returned to the claimant by the Division staff person who originally sent it out with a letter explaining what documentation is missing from the claimant’ssubmission. Level One approval shall then be entered into the UPS System onlyifallrequired documentation is subsequently submitted by the claimant. (b) Level Two approval shall be required from the Division staff person(s) designated to approve claims at such level. This person shall closely inspect all LevelOne claims and determine whether the proper documentation was requested and received. If either of these two criteria are not met, the claim shall be rejected in the UPS System and returned to the Level One staff person who originally sent out the claim form to effect the necessary changes, and shallnot be entered into the UPS System as approved at Level Two until the Level One approval of the claim has been judged to be complete and accurate. Level Two staff persons shall also have Level One approval authority (along with the ability to send out claims). However, no Level Two staff person shall approve the same claim at both Level One and Level Two of the claims approval process. (c) Level Three approval shall be required from the Division staffperson(s)designated to approve claims at this level. This person shall verify that all documentation requested is in order, and that Level One and Level Two approvals have been property granted. Level Three approval shall then be entered into the UPS System. (4) Payment of Claims. (a) In the case of cash claims, Level Three approval shall result in the electronic transfer of the claims approval data to the Office of the State Comptroller, where the individual claims shall be paid by check. (b) Inthe case ofstock and mutual fund claims, Level Three approval shall result in a letter being sent to a third-party agent responsible for the transfer of ownership of the stocks/mutual funds, instructing the agent to have ownership of the appropriate number of shares of the property re­ registered in the name of the claimant. (5) Reimbursements. In the case of a reimbursement requested by a holder due to property having been sent to the Division in error, Level Three approval shall be granted by the Division within 60 days of the receipt by the Division of all documentationwhichmayberequired by the Division to substantiate the validity of the reimbursement request.