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SECTION 8.03. UNCLAIMED FUNDS

A claim for money against the Cooperative shall be subject to the provisions of this section, whenever the Cooperative is ready, able and willing to pay such claim and has paid or is paying generally claims arising under similar circumstances but payment of such claim cannot be made for the reason that the Cooperative does not know the whereabouts or mailing address of the one to whom it is payable or the one entitled to payment the funds will be deemed unclaimed. It shall be the obligation of every patron of the Cooperative at all times to keep the Cooperative correctly informed concerning his or her whereabouts or correct mailing address in order that he or she might receive any sums due by the Cooperative to him or her on any account without delay.

No trust or fiduciary relationship shall exist between the Cooperative and its patrons concerning any unclaimed funds due by the Cooperative to any patron on account, but the relationship of debtor-creditor shall at all times exist between the Cooperative as the debtor and the patron as the creditor concerning such unclaimed funds. This same debtor-creditor relationship shall exist between the Cooperative and any business between the Cooperative and any patron. Upon the retirement of equity capital and/or book credits of this Cooperative or upon the declaring of any patronage refund to be paid in cash, or upon the attempted payment of any sum due to any person or to any patron on account of business done, the Cooperative acknowledges its indebtedness to the person entitled to receive such sums to the same extent as if it had on that date issued and delivered to such person its written promise to pay such person the amount due on demand, and the rights of any person entitled to receive such sums shall be lifted to the same extent as if the person had accepted such written promise of the Cooperative as payment of the amount due. If payment of such claim cannot be made for the reasons indicated above or for any other cause beyond the control of the Cooperative, the Cooperative shall continue to be liable for the amount thereof without interest until the four year statute of limitations has run against such claim. The statute of limitations shall commence to run on the date of the retirement or book credits or on the date the Cooperative declaring such refund attempts to make payment of any sum due to any such persons as conclusively shown by the books and records of the Cooperative.

The Cooperative shall, after it has held funds for a period of four (4) years, send by certified or registered mail with return receipt requested a written notice addressed to the person appearing on the records of the Cooperative to be entitled to such funds at the last address of such person as shown on the records of the Cooperative for such person to claim such funds within a thirty (30) day period if the person entitled to receive such sums as conclusively shown on the books and records of the Cooperative does not claim such sums within the thirty (30) day period from the date such letter is mailed, or if no claimant establishes his right to the satisfaction of the Cooperative to receive such sums within such thirty (30) day period, the Cooperative shall at the expiration of such thirty (30) day period no longer be liable for the payment of such claim, and such claim in its entirety shall be extinguished and the Cooperative shall treat all such sums as contributed capital.