Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act Modifications
HB1224 makes a broad set of changes to Colorado’s Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act. The bill updates how abandoned property is defined and handled for several categories of property, including retirement accounts, utility deposits, securities, government-held property, and virtual currency. It also shortens some state record-retention and enforcement timeframes, clarifies claim and notice procedures, and adjusts rules for how the state administrator may liquidate or dispose of certain property.
A major focus of the bill is “legacy preneed contracts,” which are older funeral and cemetery prepayment contracts entered into before August 10, 2022. The bill creates definitions for legacy preneed contracts and beneficiaries, clarifies when such contracts become presumed abandoned, specifies the amount reportable as unclaimed property, and requires holders to identify both the buyer and beneficiary when reporting. It also addresses notice obligations and limits the holder’s continuing responsibility after proper reporting and compliance.
The bill amends multiple sections of Title 38, Article 13 of the Colorado Revised Statutes, which governs unclaimed property, and also makes conforming changes to statutes affecting preneed funeral contracts. It adds cryptocurrency and virtual currency definitions, creates a specific abandonment rule for virtual currency held by banks, exchanges, custodians, and similar entities, and requires liquidation of reportable virtual currency within 30 days unless it cannot be liquidated. It reduces the general record-retention period for holders from 10 years to 6 years, shortens the limitations period for administrator actions to 6 years, lowers the cap on compensation agreements for recovering foreclosure overbids in some cases, and repeals a local-government exemption provision. The bill also expands confidentiality protections for claimant-submitted ownership documents and clarifies the administrator’s authority to require nonpublic records to verify claims.
The bill appears to have received generally favorable but not unanimous support. It advanced through both chambers with substantial majorities, including 50-13 on House third reading and 24-10 on Senate third reading, suggesting broad agreement on the need to modernize unclaimed property rules while leaving some reservations. Committee votes were also mostly supportive, though not unanimous, indicating that the bill was workable to most members but still drew some concern. The adoption of amendments in both House and Senate finance committees suggests the measure was refined during the process rather than moving forward unchanged.
The most likely points of contention were the bill’s treatment of legacy preneed contracts, the shortened record-retention and enforcement periods, and the new rules for virtual currency liquidation. Legacy preneed provisions may have raised concerns about how older funeral and cemetery contracts are valued, reported, and noticed to beneficiaries after the buyer’s death. The reduction from 10 years to 6 years for record retention and for the administrator’s enforcement window may have been viewed by some as limiting oversight or making compliance harder to verify. The virtual currency provisions, especially mandatory liquidation and the administrator’s broad discretion when liquidation is not possible, may also have prompted questions about market timing, valuation, and owner protections.