The provisions of this title do not apply to money or other property held by the State or any officer thereof as trustee or bailee under the terms of an express contract to which the State or any officer thereof is a party.
§ 1306.Inapplicability to Money Or Property Held By State
Title 10. Unclaimed Property · Chapter 1. General Provisions · Article 2. Purpose and Scope · Enacted 1708 · no amendments on record · Last verified July 29, 2026
In one sentenceSection 1306 excludes from Title 10 any money or other property the state or a state officer holds as trustee or bailee under an express contract to which the state or that officer is a party.
Full Text of § 1306
Plain-English Summary
Not everything the state holds for someone else counts as unclaimed property under this Title. This section draws that line. If the state, or one of its officers, holds money or property as a trustee or bailee under the terms of an actual, express contract -- one the state itself signed onto as a party -- Title 10 does not reach it.
The distinction matters because an ordinary contractual trust or bailment already has its own governing terms and its own remedies if something goes wrong. Folding that relationship into the escheat-and-claims machinery built for property that truly has no owner in sight would be a poor fit. This section keeps the two separate: contractual custodial arrangements stay governed by their own contract, while Title 10 handles property that has no such live agreement behind it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Title 10 apply to property the state holds under a contract as trustee or bailee?
No -- this section excludes money or property held under the terms of an express contract to which the state or a state officer is a party.
Why carve this kind of property out of the unclaimed-property scheme?
Because an express contractual trust or bailment already has its own agreed terms and remedies, distinct from the escheat-and-claims framework this Title builds for property with no owner in sight.
Amendment History
Added by Stats. 1951, Ch. 1708.
Source & verification. Section text is reproduced verbatim from
the Deering's California Codes Annotated / vLex. Enacted by the California Legislature.
Last verified July 29, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: unclaimed property title inapplicable state contractstate trustee bailee exclusion