J. MILLARD TAWES, Governor                       1077

said terms are defined in Article 48A of this Code, as amended from
time to time.

(g) "Owner" means a depositor, or a person entitled to receive
the funds as reflected on the records of the bank or financial organiza-
tion, in case of a deposit, a beneficiary in case of a trust, a creditor,
claimant, or payee in case of other choses in action, or any person
having a legal or equitable interest in property subject to this act,
or his legal representative.

(h) "Person" means any individual, business association, govern-
ment or political subdivision, public corporation, public authority,
estate, trust, two or more persons having a joint or common interest,
or any other legal or commercial entity.

(i) "Utility" means any person who owns or operates within this
State, for public use, any plant, equipment, property, franchise, or
license for the transmission of communications, for the production,
storage, transmission, sale, delivery or furnishing of electricity,
water, steam, or gas, or for the transportation of persons or property.

(j) "Administrator" means the state comptroller.

2.    (a) The following property held or owing by a banking or
financial organization is presumed abandoned:

(b)  Any sum payable on checks certified in this State or on written
instruments issued in this State on which a banking or financial or-
ganization is directly liable, including by way of illustration but not
of limitation, certificates of deposit and drafts that has been out-
standing for more than fifteen years from the date it was payable,
or from the date of its issuance if payable on demand, unless the
owner has within fifteen years corresponded in writing with the
banking or financial organization concerning it, or otherwise in-
dicated an interest as evidenced by a memorandum on file with the
banking or financial organization.

(c)  Any funds or other personal property, tangible or intangible,
removed from a safe deposit box or any other safekeeping repository,
or agency or collateral deposit box, in this State on which the lease
or rental period has expired due to nonpayment of rental charges or
other reason, or any surplus amounts arising from the sale thereof
pursuant to law, that have been unclaimed by the owner for more
than fifteen years from the date on which the lease or rental period
expired.

3.    (a) Life Insurance.

(i) Unclaimed funds, as defined in this subsection, held and owing
by a life insurance corporation shall be presumed abandoned if the
last known address, according to the records of the corporation, of
the person entitled to the funds is within this State. If a person other
than the insured or annuitant is entitled to the funds and no address
of such person is known to the corporation or if it is not definite and
certain from the records of the corporation what person is entitled to
the funds, it is presumed that the last known address of the person
entitled to the funds is the same as the last known address of the in-
sured or annuitant according to the records of the corporation.