Finding Key to Safe-Deposit-Box Search
Question: My father had given me two safety-deposit keys before he passed away in 1985, but he never told me which branch of the Bank of America the boxes are in. I have checked with the branches of B of A that he had accounts in, and I also called neighborhood branches near his home in Los Angeles. I have received no answers from any of the branches. All I have are the numbers on the keys. Can you tell me the way to find the branch?--W.Y.
Answer: You could run up a handsome gasoline bill personally visiting all 800-odd branch offices of B of A in California.
Fortunately, it won’t be necessary. The date of your father’s death, in 1985, gives us a clue as to why you have had no response from the branches where he had accounts, according to Larry Williams, the San Francisco-based senior public relations officer for Bank of America. Normally, you would have discovered the branch where the boxes are by virtue of receiving the bank’s annual bill for the boxes.
What apparently happened in your case was that the bill for the rental of the safe-deposit boxes got jumbled in your father’s personal belongings and was never paid. Thus, after about 60 days of delinquency, the boxes were pulled--”not opened, just simply pulled out of their slots,” Williams said, “and were sealed and put into the bank’s vault for safekeeping.” There they will remain for seven years, after which they will be turned over to the state for opening and for the disposition of their contents according to state law.
“But,” Williams added, “as soon as the boxes were pulled, so were your father’s signature cards. That’s why the branches had no record of his having a box with them.”
Your strategy now: Retrace your steps by going back to the branches where your dad had accounts and have them check into either their “closed” files or their “safe keeping” files, rather than their active files.
Go equipped with documentation to establish your identity, your relationship to him, evidence of his death and your role as his heir.
Q: We had a home loan with the Lomas and Nettleton Co. that was paid in full in May, 1985. However, the company has never filed the papers with the Los Angeles County recorder’s office, according to a letter we received this past February.
We have written, phoned and been put on hold for hours trying to contact their office in Panorama City as well as their headquarters in Dallas. We understand it is illegal for them not to have filed this immediately. If you can’t help us, what do you advise us to do?--M.L.W.
A: Your understanding is on target: It is, indeed, a misdemeanor under state law for a lender not to execute and deliver a “certificate of discharge” (actually, a reconveyance) once a home loan is paid off (Civil Code Numbers 2941, 2941.5 and 2941.7). But, according to Steve Groom, the legal counsel in Los Angeles for the California Assn. of Realtors, the wording of the statute was changed a few years ago.
“There used to be a specific time within which this had to be done, and, as I recall, it was something like 21 or 30 days,” Groom said. “This was changed to a ‘reasonable’ length of time in about 1978, but I don’t think that anyone would interpret a delay of more than two years as ‘reasonable.’ ”
A check with both the Dallas headquarters and the Panorama City office of the mortgage banking firm is a little unsettling because it suggests that you may have some woes ahead of you.
According to Lomas and Nettleton’s records, said Bruce Ponoroff, a Panorama City-based assistant vice president for the firm, you did, indeed, write the company on May 20, 1985, pointing out that the trust deed was paid off and that you needed the note, marked “Paid in Full,” so that you could record it with the Los Angeles County recorder. So far, so good. This took time, Ponoroff said, because the trust deed had been sold to an investor in New York and it was necessary to contact him for its return.
Now, here’s where it gets sticky, because, Ponoroff said, Lomas and Nettleton’s records show that on Aug. 30, 1985, the note, marked “Paid in Full” and properly signed and notarized, was sent to you with a detailed letter outlining the procedure for recording it. And the whole package, he added, was prominently stamped with such warnings as “Important,” “Do Not Lose or Destroy.” It was sent by regular mail because a reconveyance such as this is not a negotiable instrument.
As a result of your inquiry, Lomas and Nettleton checked with the recorder’s office and, sure enough, it hasn’t been recorded. So, what happened to it two years ago?
“Pretty obviously it’s been lost.” Ponoroff said. “And, after two years, I don’t think trying to trace it through the post office department would do any good. What it means is that we’re going to have to go back and start all over again--back to the investor in New York, for openers.”
Once the reconveyance documents have been reconstructed, you can pick it up yourself at Lomas and Nettleton’s Panorama City office for filing with the recorder or, this time around, the company will take care of the filing for you--your choice. Ponoroff suggested that you give him a call and discuss the options. The number is (818) 909-0556.
Actually, Groom of the realtors association added, “A failure to file such a reconveyance with the recorder is a long way from being uncommon. The only trouble comes when the homeowner tries to sell or refinance his home, which is frequently the first time anyone learns that the reconveyance was never filed. As a matter of fact, it happened to the (association) itself a few years ago when we were selling our old headquarters and acquiring a new one and made the same discovery.”
Don G. Campbell cannot answer mail personally but will respond in this column to consumer questions of general interest. Write to Consumer VIEWS, You section, The Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles 90053.
