§ 1601.Definitions

This section supplies the vocabulary the rest of the chapter builds on. Unclaimed property here means tangible or intangible personal property, including fixed-amount debts, held by any federal agency or its officers or employees, whether the obligation arose from contract, from operation of law, or otherwise, leaving aside bonuses and gratuities. How long it has to sit unclaimed before it qualifies depends on the kind of transaction: twenty years from maturity or call for public-debt obligations, twenty years after the last transaction for postal savings deposits, and five years after the property first became payable, demandable, or returnable for everything else.

Owner gets its own definition too: anyone, or their legal representative, who has or had a legal or equitable interest in the property. Federal records control who that is; the person the property was or is payable or returnable to according to those records is conclusively presumed to be the owner, and if more than one person appears interested and their shares aren't spelled out, the law presumes they split the property equally. Person, in turn, covers the usual range of individuals and entities, from individuals and partnerships to corporations, limited liability companies, and unincorporated associations.