Ferrari Mailing List: Re: OT - NFC - State Gov Confiscates Bank Accts ?

[John Allison (johnallison]

For LarryT

This is a section from the Corpus Juris Secundum generally describing escheat.

I hope this gives you a better understanding of the history and use of
the escheat doctrine.

John


30A C.J.S. Escheat § 2

Corpus Juris Secundum
Database updated June 2007

Escheat


References

§ 2. Definition, nature, and distinctions

West's Key Number Digest

West's Key Number Digest, Escheat 1, 2
Escheat is a procedure with ancient origins whereby the sovereign may
acquire title to abandoned property if after a number of years no
rightful owner appears.

Escheat is a procedure with ancient origins whereby the sovereign may
acquire title to abandoned property if after a number of years no
rightful owner appears.[FN4] Escheat signifies a reversion of property
to the state in consequence of a want of any individual competent to
inherit, with the state being deemed to occupy the place and hold the
rights of the feudal lord.[FN5] "Escheat" has come to signify a
falling of decedent's estate into the general property of the state on
his death intestate and without lawful heirs,[FN6] although the word
"escheat" and the idea behind it need not be restricted to absolute
and immediate transfers of title at the moment of death,[FN7] and the
term is sometimes used to embrace every case of property falling to
the sovereign power for want of an owner.[FN8] It constitutes an
obstruction of the course of descent.[FN9]
Escheat is generally regulated by statutes,[FN10] or constitutional
provisions,[FN11] which are to be construed in accordance with
well-defined rules of statutory construction.[FN12]
While the term originally applied to land only,[FN13] and in some
definitions is explained with reference to real estate alone,[FN14] it
is, at present, often applied indifferently to all rights of property
of whatever nature,[FN15] including personal property.[FN16]
Escheat is an incident or attribute of sovereignty,[FN17] and rests on
the principle of the ultimate ownership by the state of all property
within its jurisdiction.[FN18] The legislature has power to provide
for escheats because it represents the sovereignty of the state,[FN19]
but the legislature may not exercise its power contrary to the
people's command directly expressed in the constitution.[FN20]
Summary Escheat is to be distinguished from other transitions of title
and from assignment, disposition of unclaimed property, forfeiture,
reversion, succession, sale, purchase, and foreclosure.

Escheat is to be distinguished from other transitions of title.[FN21]

Assignment.


Escheat is not an assignment to the state of the rightful owner's
interest in the escheated property.[FN22]

Disposition of unclaimed property.


The Uniform Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act[FN23] and other
similar unclaimed property acts[FN24] are not true escheat statutes.
The dual objectives of this type of statute are to reunite owners with
unclaimed funds or property and to give the state, rather than the
holder, the benefit of the use of the unclaimed funds or
property.[FN25] The custodial nature of the Uniform Disposition of
Unclaimed Property Act serves to establish that the rights of the
state are merely derivative from the rights of the owners of the
abandoned property.[FN26] The presumption of abandonment under the
Uniform Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act is statutory and
independent from common law principles of abandonment.[FN27]

Forfeiture.


Escheat in the feudal sense is distinguished from forfeiture;[FN28]
however, under some statutory provisions an escheat is treated as a
forfeiture, or in the nature of a forfeiture.[FN29]

Reversion.


An escheat resembles a reversion and at times has been designated as a
reversion.[FN30] However, such designation is improper.[FN31] A
reversion arose only where some remnant of the fee remained in the
grantor, as where a tenant in fee simple made a gift in tail, or a
lease for life or years; escheat could occur with respect to the
estate of a tenant in fee simple, as by his death without heirs or by
attainder of treason.[FN32]

Succession.


Escheat to the state is distinct from succession to heirs and next of
kin.[FN33] It is not any right of inheritance in the state that is
encompassed by an escheat, but it is the result of a failure of
persons or an absence of persons legally entitled to such land.[FN34]

Contractual arrangements.


An arrangement under a statute governing the disposition of the estate
of an occupant of a state veterans' home who dies intestate is merely
contractual in theory.[FN35]

Sale, purchase, and foreclosure.


Escheat can never be construed to mean sale, purchase, or
foreclosure.[FN36] Unlike purchase, escheat does not have the purpose
and effect of actually divesting title.[FN37]


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Mistaken belief as to absence of heirs

In the case of a person mistakenly believed to have died without heirs
the word "escheat," although involving a seeming contradiction, is
appropriate to express the action of the state in asserting its title
to, and reducing to its possession, property of one who dies without
known heirs, the title of the state being subject to divestiture if
there are in fact heirs who later make themselves known.