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Unclaimed financial assets
A financial asset is considered to be unclaimed and is remitted to Revenu Québec when the owner has not made a claim, performed a transaction or provided instructions in respect of the asset for a period of three years after it becomes cashable or payable.
The asset must belong to an untraceable owner whose last known address was in Québec. The asset may also have been acquired in Québec by a person who has subsequently become untraceable and for whom there is no known address, or it may belong to a person resident in a jurisdiction where no law applies in respect of the provisional administration of unclaimed property.
Procedure for making a claim
Persons wishing to claim a financial asset must establish their entitlement, that is, they must show that they are the owner or assign in respect of the asset administered by Revenu Québec. They must provide proof of inheritance or identification papers, as applicable. The documents required vary according to the value of the property claimed.
Time limit for claiming a financial asset
There is no time limit for owners or assigns to claim and recover financial assets remitted to Revenu Québec, except in two cases: where the amount claimed is less than $500 or where the amount in question was remitted to the Minister of Finance before July 1, 1999. In both such cases, the time limit is 10 years.
Institutions holding financial assets are required to send a notice to the owners after three years of inactivity. If the owners do not respond or if the institutions holding the assets are unable to contact the owners, the institutions must, once each year, remit such assets to Revenu Québec. Such institutions are also required to maintain, at their place of business, an up-to-date list of the assets remitted to Revenu Québec. These assets must remain on the list for 10 years in case an assign makes a claim on the property.
