Chapter 3385 | Property on Loan to Museum

Section 3385.01 | Property on loan to museum definitions.

• Effective: March 14, 2003
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 675 - 124th General Assembly

As used in this chapter:

(A) "Loan" and "on loan" mean a deposit of property not accompanied by a transfer of title to the property.

(B) "Museum" means any institution located in this state that is operated by a governmental agency or nonprofit corporation primarily for educational, scientific, aesthetic, historic, or preservation purposes and that acquires, owns, cares for, exhibits, studies, archives, or catalogs property. "Museum" includes, but is not limited to, historical societies, historic sites or landmarks, parks, monuments, libraries, arboreta, and zoos.

(C) "Property" means any tangible, nonliving object in a museum's possession that has intrinsic historic, artistic, scientific, educational, or cultural value.

Section 3385.02 | Vesting of title of property on loan.

• Effective: March 14, 2003
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 675 - 124th General Assembly

(A) Property on loan to a museum other than pursuant to a written agreement shall be considered to be abandoned, and title to the property shall vest in the museum, free from all claims of the owner and of all persons claiming under the owner, if all of the following apply:

(1) The property has been held by the museum within the state for at least seven years and, during that time, it remained unclaimed.

(2) The museum gave notice of the abandonment of the property in accordance with section 3385.03 of the Revised Code.

(3) No written assertion of title to the property was made by the owner of the property within ninety days after the date the notice was mailed or, if applicable, within ninety days after the date of the last published notice.

(B) With respect to property on loan to a museum pursuant to a written agreement, the loan shall be considered to be terminated, and title to the property shall vest in the museum, free from all claims of the owner and of all persons claiming under the owner, if all of the following apply:

(1) If the loan was for an indefinite term, the museum has held the property for at least seven years. If the loan was for a specified term, that term has expired.

(2) The museum gave notice of the termination of the loan in accordance with section 3385.03 of the Revised Code.

(3) No written assertion of title to the property was made by the owner of the property within six months after the date the notice was mailed or, if applicable, within six months after the date of the last published notice.

Section 3385.03 | Notice of abandonment of property or termination of loan.

• Effective: March 14, 2003
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 675 - 124th General Assembly

(A) A museum shall send notice of abandonment of property or termination of a loan by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the owner of the property at the owner's last known address as shown by the records of the museum. If the museum has no address on record, or the museum does not receive written proof of receipt of the notice within thirty days after the date the notice was mailed, the museum shall publish notice, at least twice over a sixty-day period, in a newspaper of general circulation in both the county in which the museum is located and the county in which the last known address of the owner, if available, is located.

For purposes of this division, "records of the museum" means documents created or held by the museum in its regular course of business.

(B) The mailed and published notices shall contain the following:

(1) The date of the notice;

(2) A general description of the property;

(3) The name and, if available, the last known address of the owner of the property;

(4) The approximate date the property was loaned to the museum;

(5) The name and address of the appropriate museum official to be contacted regarding the notice;

(6) For published notices, a request that anyone who may know the whereabouts of the owner of the property provide written notice to the museum;

(7) For published notices, the publication date of the last notice.

(C)(1) A notice of abandonment of property shall include a statement in substantially the following form:

"The (name of museum) hereby asserts title to the following property: (general description of property). If you claim ownership or other legal interest in this property, you must contact (name of museum) in writing, establish ownership of the property, and make arrangements to collect the property. If you fail to do so within ninety days, the property will be considered abandoned and will become property of (name of museum)."

(2) A notice of termination of a loan of property shall include a statement in substantially the following form:

"The records of (name of museum) indicate that you have property on loan to it. The (name of museum) hereby terminated the loan. If you desire to claim the property, you must contact the (name of museum) in writing, establish ownership of the property, and make arrangements to collect the property. If you fail to do so within six months, you will be considered to have waived any claim you may have had to the property."

(D) For purposes of this section, if a loan of property was made to a branch of the museum, the museum shall be considered to be located in the county in which the branch is located. Otherwise, the museum is considered to be located in the county in which it has it principal place of business.

Last updated July 22, 2021 at 9:54 AM

Section 3385.04 | Conservation measures.

• Effective: March 14, 2003
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 675 - 124th General Assembly

(A) Unless there is a written loan agreement to the contrary, a museum may apply conservation measures to property on loan to the museum without notice to the owner or the owner's permission, if such measures are necessary to protect the property on loan or other property in the custody of the museum or if the property on loan is a hazard to the health and safety of the museum staff or the public, and if either of the following applies:

(1) The museum attempts but is unable to notify the owner at the owner's last known address not later than three days before the date the museum intends to apply the conservation measures.

(2) The museum notifies the owner not later than three days before the date the museum intends to apply the conservation measures, the owner does not agree to those measures, and the owner does not terminate the loan and retrieve the property within three days after receipt of the notice.

(B) If a museum applies conservation measures in accordance with division (A) of this section or with the agreement of the owner, both of the following apply:

(1) The museum shall acquire a lien on the property in the amount of the expenses incurred by the museum, unless the agreement provides otherwise.

(2) The museum is not liable for injury to or loss of the property, if the museum did both of the following:

(a) Reasonably believed at the time the conservation measures were taken that the measures were necessary to protect the property on loan or other property in the custody of the museum, or that the property on loan was a hazard to the health and safety of the museum staff or the public;

(b) Exercised reasonable care in the choice and application of the conservation measures.

Section 3385.05 | Museum to provide owner of property written summary of provisions.

• Effective: March 14, 2003
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 675 - 124th General Assembly

Upon accepting property on loan, a museum shall provide a written summary of the provisions of this chapter to the owner of the property.

Section 3385.06 | Owner to give notice of change of address or change in ownership of property.

• Effective: March 14, 2003
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 675 - 124th General Assembly

The owner of any property on loan to a museum shall promptly notify the museum in writing of any change of the owner's address or change in ownership of the property.

Section 3385.07 | Presumption of gift to museum.

• Effective: March 14, 2003
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 675 - 124th General Assembly

Any property that, on or after the effective date of this section, is delivered to a museum or left on museum property, is not solicited by the museum, is from an unknown source, and might reasonably be assumed to have been intended as a gift to the museum, shall conclusively be presumed to be a gift to the museum, if there is no claim of ownership to the property within ninety days after the museum receives or otherwise discovers the property.

Section 3385.08 | Provisions may be varied by written agreement of parties.

• Effective: March 14, 2003
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 675 - 124th General Assembly

The provisions of this chapter may be varied by written agreement of the parties.

Section 3385.09 | Application of escheat law.

• Effective: March 14, 2003
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 675 - 124th General Assembly

(A) Property on loan to a museum shall not escheat to the state under any applicable escheat law, but shall pass to the museum under the provisions of this chapter.

(B) This chapter does not apply to property interests other than those specifically described in this chapter.

Section 3385.10 | Transfer of property by museum.

• Effective: March 14, 2003
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 675 - 124th General Assembly

A museum that acquires title to property in accordance with this chapter passes good title when transferring that property with the intent to pass title.