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Administrative History

Laws of 1890, Chapter 279 recognized the persisting legal interest in escheated real property of any person who could have inherited ("succeeded by devise") the property except for the fact of "his alienage (non-citizenship) or a legal incapacity to take or convey the property so escheated." Legal incapacity did not include "infancy or mental incompetency," but such incapacity was not defined in the statute.

At any time within forty years after escheat of real property, a person who possessed or had acquired legal interest in the escheated property could make a petition to the Commissioners of the Land Office, which would hold a hearing on the matter. Their determination in favor of the petitioner would result in "release to the petitioner of any interest in real property escheated to the state." The release took the form of a conveyance by the commissioners to the petitioner. A public notice of the hearing by the commissioners was required. Other persons having an interest in the escheated property could file with the Secretary of State a "protest" stating his objections to the petition. The protest was to include the name, residence, and post office address of the protestor, and the Secretary was to forward the protest to the commissioners.