NC H27

Unclaimed U.S. savings bonds that remain unredeemed for three years after full maturity are presumed abandoned and may escheat to North Carolina.

The State Treasurer may bring a civil action in Wake County Superior Court to claim escheated savings bonds after making sufficient efforts to locate owners and accumulating a sufficient number of bonds to justify the expense.

The Treasurer must redeem all escheated savings bonds, with proceeds deposited into a newly created Escheat Savings Bond Trust Fund within the Escheat Fund.

The corpus of the Escheat Savings Bond Trust Fund may only be used for investment and to pay potential claimants, while the fund is treated as an endowment.

Interest and investment earnings from the Escheat Savings Bond Trust Fund shall be used exclusively to provide scholarships to worthy and needy North Carolina residents enrolled in public institutions of higher education in the state.