Legal Matters

Escheat. The very word sounds sinister, and for good reason — direct marketers beware! But how do state escheat laws, which are often known as “abandoned property laws,” work? And what risk do they pose to multichannel merchants?

Defining ‘Unclaimed Property’
Let’s start with unclaimed property. This is a liability that a company owes to an individual or other business that has remained outstanding beyond a specified period of time. Every year, billions of dollars of economic entitlements go unclaimed, including obligations of retailers to their customers and suppliers. Depending on the particular state, these include: