August 2025 │ Legislation & Regulation Update
The Unclaimed Property Legislative Alert
Summary of Legislation — Week Ending August 29, 2025
OHIO: Introduced HB 426 which (1) provides a definition for “Digital assets” and amends the definition for “Mortgage funds”; (2) defines “Act of ownership interest” to include: (a) conducting a transaction utilizing the digital asset account by one-time or recurring transaction previously authorized by owner including: (i) buying or selling digital asset; or (ii) depositing or withdrawing to / from account; (b) electronically accessing the digital asset account; (c) conducting any activity on another digital asset account or property owned with same holder; or (d) taking any other action that reasonably demonstrates that the owner knows the property exists; (3) defines “Digital asset”, “Digital asset account”, “Private key”, and “Qualified custodian”; (4) provides that digital assets are abandoned (2) years after either: (a) returned communication by either regular or electronic mail; or (b) the date of last act of ownership interest; (5) requires abandoned digital assets to be delivered in its native form to the qualified custodian within 30 days of reporting; (6) requires holder to provide the director of commerce with proof of delivery upon request; (7) allows the holder to retain the digital assets in instances where the holder has a partial private key or is otherwise unable to transfer the digital asset; (8) requires the qualified custodian to hold the abandoned digital assets for a minimum of two (2) years; (9) if a digital asset is claimed, requires the director of commerce to cooperate with the owner to transfer the property to the owner’s custodian; (10) allows the director of commerce to sell digital assets at market price or prevailing market price as applicable after being held for two (2) years; (11) requires the director of commerce to select a qualified custodian and provides criteria for selection; and (12) requires the director of commerce to enter into a formal agreement with the selected qualified custodian and outlines certain terms to be included.
Summary of Regulations — Week Ending August 22, 2025
ARKANSAS: Proposed regulations adding a (1) statutory indemnification regulation outlining the process for holders if sued for the remittance of property; (2) reporting form and format regulation outlining the process and format for holders to submit reports; (3) reporting and delivery of property regulation outlining additional reporting requirements including reporting timelines; (4) properties with special reporting requirements regulation that addresses additional reporting requirements for: (a) life insurance, (b) safe deposit boxes; (c) securities; (d) registration and delivery of mutual funds; (e) dividends, prepayments and capital gains; (f) future income payable; (g) securities liquidation by holder (special cases); and (h) oil and gas; (5) voluntary disclosure program regulation outlining the criteria and requirements for a holder to participate in the voluntary disclosure program; (6) estimation regulation outlining the Auditor’s process for estimating; (7)claims regulation providing the form for filing unclaimed property claims; (8) burden of proof regulation outlining the requirements and process for filing a claim; (9)power of attorney regulation addressing claims filed by a power of attorney; (10) determining ownership regulation outlining the process that the Auditor shall take if an owners dies; (11) claims for securities with multiple owners regulation outlining the process for when property at issue is a security with multiple owners; (12) dispute resolution regulation outlining the administrative appeals process; (13) delivery to owners absent a claim regulation outlining the process for automatic payment of claims; (14) contracts regulation outlining the requirements for finders agreements to be enforceable; and (15) fees regulation prohibiting finders fees until property has been in the custody of the Auditor for at least 24 hours and limiting finder fees to not more than 10% of the amount of unclaimed property collected.
FLORIDA: Proposed regulations to reflect recent changes in legislation updating the aggregate value of unclaimed property for a deceased apparent owner from $10,000 to $20,000 and updating the reporting instructions manual.
FLORIDA: Adopted regulations updating the procedures for filing a claim. The regulations change the term “claimant” to “person” and clarify that the preferred payment method must be submitted in writing within five (5) business days of claim approval or notice of entitlement from the Department.
Summary of Legislation — Week Ending August 8, 2025
ILLINOIS: Enacted SB 1667 which (1) adds a definition for “finder”; (2) decreases the amount of years from date non-retirement tax-advantaged account is opened from 30 to 20 years for purposes of determining abandonment and requires holder outreach at certain age intervals if no indication of interest; (3) requires agencies to report / remit funds owed to deceased state employees within 90 days if funds are not paid to employee or their estate within one (1) year of death; (4) requires holders to hold property presumed abandoned in trust or otherwise segregate property prior to reporting; (5) revises the notice requirements and process for escheatment of abandoned state agency property; (6) authorizes the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation to order regulated financial institutions to immediately report and remit unclaimed funds to the Treasurer; (7) revises the requirements for finder agreements and fees to be collected; and (8) requires finders to be licensed and establishes a licensing program to be administered by the Treasurer beginning January 1, 2026.
With The Unclaimed Property Legislative Alert Summary of Legislation and Regulation, you receive an overview of the latest information on unclaimed property legislative updates, regulatory changes, and statutory amendments across the United States and Canada. The publicly available information contained herein has been compiled by Kelmar Associates, LLC and does not constitute legal advice or analysis of any kind. The summary information is generally compiled on a weekly basis, as applicable, and is shared on Kelmar's website each month. For more information, please refer to each state unclaimed property bill.