We do not recommend treating activities on the first account (owned by A, B, and C) as indications of interest in the other accounts without determining who initiated the activity.

The new Illinois Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (Illinois RUUPA) provides that an inactive deposit account is considered active if “any other accounts, including loan accounts” sharing the same mailing address have qualifying activities “directed by an apparent owner,” such as increasing or decreasing the account funds or making a loan payment.

In this hypothetical, account activities could be initiated by any one of the three account owners — A, B, or C. We do not believe that activities initiated by C on the first account should be treated as indications of interest in the second account (owned by A and B), in which C has no ownership interest. Similarly, we do not believe that activities initiated by A or B on the first account should be treated as indications of interest in the third account (owned by C alone), as neither A nor B has an ownership interest in that account.

For resources related to our guidance, please see:

• Illinois RUUPA, 765 ILCS 1026/15-210(f) (“If the apparent owner has another property with the holder to which Section 201(6) applies, then activity directed by an apparent owner in any other accounts, including loan accounts, at a financial organization holding an inactive account of the apparent owner shall be an indication of interest in all such accounts if:

(A) the apparent owner engages in one or more of the following activities:

(i) the apparent owner undertakes one or more of the actions described in subsection (b) of this Section regarding any account that appears on a consolidated statement with the inactive account;

(ii) the apparent owner increases or decreases the of funds in any other account the apparent owner has with the financial organization; or

(iii) the apparent owner engages in any other relationship with the financial organization, including payment of any amounts due on a loan; and

(B) the foregoing apply so long as the mailing address for the apparent owner in the financial organization’s books and records is the same for both the inactive account and the active account.”)

• Illinois RUUPA, 765 ILCS 1026/15-102(3) (“‘Apparent owner’ means a person whose name appears on the records of a holder as the owner of property held, issued, or owing by the holder.”)

• Illinois RUUPA, 765 ILCS 1026/15-102(21) (“‘Owner’, unless the context otherwise requires, means a person that has a legal, beneficial, or equitable interest in property subject to this Act or the person’s legal representative when acting on behalf of the owner. . . .”)