Opinion of the Court
the Pennsylvania case. §2503(1).
Thus, per the FDA, the proceeds of the listed financial instruments escheat to the State of purchase upon abandonment, so long as purchase-location information is known and that State has enacted laws empowering it to take custody of those proceeds. Ibid.[1] The text of the FDA also explains why the inequitable escheatment problem was handled in this fashion rather than by adopting a recordkeeping requirement for debtors holding on to abandoned funds. See §2501(5) (observing that “the cost of maintaining and retrieving addresses of purchasers of money orders and traveler’s checks is an additional burden on interstate commerce” that is unnecessary “since it has been determined that most purchasers reside in the State of purchase of such instruments”).
II
A
Although the telegraphic aspect of Western Union’s money order business has fallen into disuse, money orders
- ↑ In full, the primary escheatment rule of the FDA states:
“Where any sum is payable on a money order, traveler’s check, or other similar written instrument (other than a third party bank check) on which a banking or financial organization or a business association is directly liable–
“(1) if the books and records of such banking or financial organization or business association show the State in which such money order, traveler’s check, or similar written instrument was purchased, that State shall be entitled exclusively to escheat or take custody of the sum payable on such instrument, to the extent of that State’s power under its own laws to escheat or take custody of such sum.” §2503.
Subsections (2) and (3) adopt alternative rules that apply when there is insufficient information about where the instrument was purchased, and/or when the State of purchase does not have laws permitting the escheatment of such property. In those circumstances, the abandoned proceeds from covered instruments escheat to the State where the company holding the funds has its principal place of business. §§2503(2)–(3).
