Virginia § 55.1-2542 - Agreements to locate reported property; penalty

§ 55.1-2542. Agreements to locate reported property; penalty

A. It is unlawful for any person to seek or receive from another person or contract with another person for a fee or compensation for locating property that he knows has been reported or paid or delivered to the administrator pursuant to this chapter prior to 36 months after the date of delivery of the property by the holder to the administrator as required by this chapter.

B. No agreement entered into after 36 months from the required date of delivery of the property by the holder to the administrator is valid if a person thereby undertakes to locate property included in a report for a fee or other compensation exceeding 10 percent of the value of the recoverable property. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent an owner from asserting at any time that an agreement to locate property is based upon an excessive or unjust consideration.

C. State warrants that may be issued in payment and redemption of previously abandoned property or the liquidation proceeds of previously abandoned property may be issued in the discretion of the administrator directly to the person entitled to the money as the owner, heir, or legatee, or as fiduciary of the estate of the deceased owner, heir, or legatee, and not to a named attorney-in-fact, agent, or assignee or any other person regardless of a written instruction to the contrary. The administrator need not recognize nor is the administrator bound by any terms of a purported power of attorney or assignment that may be presented as having been executed by a person as the purported owner, heir, legatee, or fiduciary of the estate of a deceased owner of such abandoned property.

D. A person who violates subsection A or B is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not to exceed $1,000.

1981, c. 47, § 55-210.27:1; 1988, c. 378; 2019, c. 712.