§ 1520.5.Gift Certificates
Title 10. Unclaimed Property · Chapter 7. Unclaimed Property Law · Article 2. Escheat of Unclaimed Personal Property · Last amended 2004 · Last verified July 29, 2026
Full Text of § 1520.5
Plain-English Summary
California's Civil Code separately regulates gift certificates, generally banning expiration dates on cards purchased for value, and Section 1520.5 keeps this chapter's catch-all escheat rule from colliding with that separate scheme. Section 1520 does not apply to gift certificates covered by Title 1.4A of the Civil Code, the law that already governs how those certificates work and, in most cases, prohibits them from expiring at all.
The section draws a narrow exception back the other way. Where a gift certificate does carry an expiration date and was given in exchange for money or some other thing of value, meaning it falls outside the Civil Code protections that would otherwise apply, Section 1520 governs it after all. That keeps a small category of exceptions, like certain certificates not covered by the Civil Code's consumer protections, from escaping unclaimed-property treatment entirely just because they happen to be labeled a gift certificate.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do ordinary gift cards escheat to the state under this chapter?
No, not generally. Section 1520.5 exempts gift certificates covered by the Civil Code's own gift certificate law from Section 1520's catch-all escheat rule.
Is there any kind of gift certificate that still escheats under Section 1520?
Yes. A gift certificate with an expiration date that was given in exchange for money or something else of value remains subject to Section 1520.
Why does this section treat expiring gift certificates differently?
Because a certificate with an expiration date given for value falls outside the Civil Code protections that generally prohibit expiration, so this chapter's ordinary escheat rule fills that gap.
Amendment History
Amended by Stats 2003 ch 116 (AB 1092),s 3, eff. 1/1/2004.