Chapter 15 - § 15.12 • ESCHEAT

• Jurisdiction: Colorado

§ 15.12 • ESCHEAT

Finding members who may be entitled to distributions from a cooperative following its dissolution is not the only instance when a cooperative may have "lost" the location of one or more members. Individuals may cease to be members but still have equity accounts in the cooperative, and when the cooperative seeks to redeem those equities, it may not be able to locate those former members. When the cooperative is unaware of a member's death, at some point the cooperative must locate his or her heirs to distribute monies or property on behalf of the deceased member. Situations like the one above can produce unclaimed property in the hands of the cooperative.

In most situations, unclaimed property passes, or "escheats," to the state government after a specified time.¹⁵⁰ The Co-op Act contains provisions that permit a cooperative, through its bylaws, to avoid the Unclaimed Property Act,¹⁵¹ with the result that unclaimed funds can be passed to the cooperative or...