We want to add a message to our safe deposit box delinquency notices to notify service members of their protections under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. The message we are considering is “[Our Bank] will not open your safe deposit box or claim any right to the contents of your safe deposit box without a court order. This protection lasts throughout the term of your military service and for an additional 90 days after your military service ends.” Does Illinois have any specific timing requirement for storage lien enforcement or foreclosure?

Your proposed notice correctly incorporates the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, which states that a storage lien may not be foreclosed or enforced against a service member during his or her military service and for 90 days thereafter without a court order. There is no corresponding provision in Illinois, however, because the Illinois Service Member Civil Relief Act does not address storage liens, and the Illinois storage lien laws do not address service members.

Regarding the timelines for storage lien enforcement in Illinois, there are two storage lien laws—one for items over $2000 and one for items worth $2000 or less. When items are worth more than $2000, a storage lien exists for a year after the completion of the storage. However, if the stored items are returned to their owner, you have 60 days to record your lien, or it will be extinguished. When the items are worth $2000 or less, you may enforce a lien 90 days after the commencement of the storage or 90 days after the date agreed for payment.

It also is important to note that Illinois law may require you to report and remit unclaimed property found in a safe deposit box to the Illinois State Treasurer. The Illinois Uniform Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act requires you to report and remit funds and personal property from safety deposit boxes that have been dormant for five years. However, the Act expressly recognizes the practice of drilling safe deposit boxes and selling the property before remitting the property to the state. At the appropriate time, a safe deposit box lessor either must remit the property held in the box or remit “any surplus amounts arising from the sale thereof . . . . subject to lien of the holder for reimbursement of costs incurred in the opening of a safe deposit box as determined by the holder’s regular schedule of charges.”

For resources related to our guidance, please see:

Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, 50 USC App 537, Enforcement of Storage Liens (“A person holding a lien on the property or effects of a servicemember may not, during any period of military service of the servicemember and for 90 days thereafter, foreclose or enforce any lien on such property or effects without a court order granted before foreclosure or enforcement.”)

Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, 50 USC App 537, Lien Defined (“For the purposes of paragraph (1), the term “lien” includes a lien for storage, repair, or cleaning of the property or effects of a servicemember or a lien on such property or effects for any other reason.”)

Illinois Service Member Civil Relief Act, 330 ILCS 63/1

Illinois Labor and Storage Lien Act, 770 ILCS 45/1 (“Every person, firm or corporation who has … furnished storage for said chattel, at the request of its owner … shall have a lien upon such chattel beginning on the date of the commencement … of such storage for the contract price … for all such storage, or in the absence of such contract price, for the reasonable worth of … such storage, for a period of one year from and after the completion … of such storage, notwithstanding the fact that the possession of such chattel has been surrendered to the owner, or lawful possessor thereof.”)

Labor and Storage Lien (Small Amount) Act, 770 ILCS 50/2 (“Unless the chattel is redeemed within 90 days of the completion of the expenditure of such labor, services, skill, or material or furnishing of storage, or within 90 days of the date agreed upon for redemption, the lien may be enforced by a commercially reasonable public or private sale conducted so as to maximize the net proceeds of said sale as hereinafter provided.”)

Uniform Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act, 765 ILCS 1025/2(d) [Repealed effective 1/1/18] (The following property held by a financial institution is presumed abandoned: “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 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 5 years from the date on which the lease or rental period expired, subject to lien of the holder for reimbursement of costs incurred in the opening of a safe deposit box as determined by the holder's regular schedule of charges.”)

Illinois Uniform Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act, 765 ILCS 1025/11 [Repealed effective 1/1/18] (“…every person holding funds or other property, tangible or intangible, presumed abandoned under this Act shall report and remit all abandoned property specified in the report to the State Treasurer …”)