§ 1531.Notice Within One Year After Payment Or Delivery of Escheated Property

Filing a report with the Controller doesn't do an owner any good unless someone tells the owner about it, and Section 1531 sets up the two ways that happens. First, within a year after the holder pays or delivers the property under Section 1532, the Controller has to publish notice in whatever manner the Controller judges reasonable, whether newspapers, a website, radio, television, or some other outlet, though that publicity effort can't draw on the Controller's audit budget, can't exceed what the Legislature appropriates for it, and can't include a photograph or an elected official's name.

Second, and separately, the Controller has to mail an individual notice within 165 days after the report's filing deadline to anyone who appears entitled to property worth fifty dollars or more. If the holder's report included a social security number, the Controller checks with the Franchise Tax Board for a more current address before mailing. That mailed notice has to tell the recipient that a report shows property they appear entitled to, identify the holder, and warn that if the owner doesn't present proof of the claim to the holder by the date specified, the property will pass into the Controller's custody and could eventually be sold, at which point any claim runs against the Controller rather than the holder.