us-nm/stat
NMSA 1978, § 7-8A-2 — Presumptions of abandonment
A.
Property is presumed abandoned if it is unclaimed by the apparent owner during
the time set forth below for the particular property:
(1) traveler's check, fifteen years after issuance;
(2) money order, seven years after issuance;
(3) stock or other equity interest in a business association or financial
organization, including a security entitlement under Article 8 [55-8-101 NMSA 1978] of
the Uniform Commercial Code, five years after the earlier of:
(a) the date of the most recent dividend, stock split or other distribution
unclaimed by the apparent owner; or
(b) the date of the second mailing of a statement of account or other
notification or communication that was returned as undeliverable or after the holder
discontinued mailings, notifications or communications to the apparent owner;
(4) debt of a business association or financial organization, other than a
bearer bond or an original issue discount bond, five years after the date of the most
recent interest payment unclaimed by the apparent owner;
(5) a demand, savings or time deposit, including a deposit that is
automatically renewable, five years after the earlier of maturity or the date of the last
indication by the owner of interest in the property; but a deposit that is automatically
renewable is deemed matured for purposes of this section upon its initial date of
maturity, unless the owner has consented to a renewal at or about the time of the
renewal and the consent is in writing or is evidenced by a memorandum or other record
on file with the holder;
(6) money or credits owed to a customer as a result of a retail business
transaction, three years after the obligation accrued;
(7) gift certificate, five years after December 31 of the year in which the
certificate was sold, but if redeemable in merchandise only, the amount abandoned is
deemed to be sixty percent of the certificate's face value;
(8) amount owed by an insurer on a life or endowment insurance policy or an
annuity that has matured or terminated, three years after the obligation to pay arose or,
in the case of a policy or annuity payable upon proof of death, three 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;
(9) property distributable by a business association or financial organization in
a course of dissolution, one year after the property becomes distributable;
(10) property received by a court as proceeds of a class action and not
distributed pursuant to the judgment, one year after the distribution date;
(11) property held by a court, government, governmental subdivision, agency
or instrumentality, one year after the property becomes distributable;
(12) wages or other compensation for personal services, one year after the
compensation becomes payable;
(13) deposit or refund owed to a subscriber by a utility, one year after the
deposit or refund becomes payable;
(14) 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, three 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; and
(15) all other property, five years after the owner's right to demand the property
or after the obligation to pay or distribute the property arises, whichever first occurs.
B.
At the time that an interest is presumed abandoned under Subsection A of this
section, 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.
C.
Property is unclaimed if, for the applicable period set forth in Subsection A of this
section, the apparent owner has not communicated in writing or by other means
reflected in a contemporaneous record prepared by or on behalf of the holder, with the
holder concerning the property or the account in which the property is held and has not
otherwise indicated an interest in the property. A communication with an owner by a
person other than the holder or its representative who has not in writing identified the
property to the owner is not an indication of interest in the property by the owner.
D.
An indication of an owner's interest in property includes:
(1) the presentment of a check or other instrument of payment of a dividend
or other distribution made with respect to an account or underlying stock or other
interest in a business association or financial organization or, in the case of a
distribution made by electronic or similar means, evidence that the distribution has been
received;
(2) owner-directed activity in the account in which the property is held,
including a direction by the owner to increase, decrease or change the amount or type
of property held in the account;
(3) the making of a deposit to or withdrawal from a bank account; and
(4) the payment of a premium with respect to a property interest in an
insurance policy; but the application of an automatic premium loan provision or other
nonforfeiture provision contained in an insurance policy does not prevent a policy from
maturing or terminating if the insured has died or the insured or the beneficiary of the
policy has otherwise become entitled to the proceeds before the depletion of the cash
surrender value of a policy by the application of those provisions.
E.
Property is payable or distributable for purposes of the Uniform Unclaimed
Property Act (1995) notwithstanding the owner's failure to make demand or present an
instrument or document otherwise required to obtain payment.
Source: official text