Section 35-12-45

Penalties.

(a) Any person who willfully fails to render any report or perform other duties required under this article shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be subject to a fine of not more than one hundred dollars ($100) a day for each day the report is withheld.

(b) Any person who willfully refuses to pay or deliver abandoned property to the Treasurer as required under this article shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or imprisonment for not more than six months, or by both, at the discretion of the court.

(c) If the Treasurer determines that any person has willfully failed to either file any report required under this article or pay or deliver to the Treasurer any property required to be delivered to the Treasurer pursuant to this article or willfully violated the confidentiality provision of Section 35-12-46, the Treasurer may order the person to pay to the Treasurer a civil penalty in an amount equal to the Treasurer's determination of the value of the property at the time it should have been respectively reported or delivered pursuant to this article, whichever is earlier, or in the case of a breach of confidentiality, the value of the property on the date the breach first occurred. In the event the Treasurer assesses a civil penalty pursuant to this section, then the State of Alabama shall have a lien in the amount of the assessment in the property of the person against whom the assessment was made. The lien shall be perfected by the filing of a notice of lien in the office of the judge of probate for the county in which the holder resides, or in the event the holder does not reside within the state, the county in which the property is located. Once the lien is perfected as previously described, the Treasurer may enforce the lien by filing suit for enforcement within six months of the date of perfection in the county in which the holder resides, or if the holder resides outside this state, then in the county where the property is located. The civil penalty is in addition to any criminal fine levied pursuant to this section. In no event shall the total amount of civil penalties assessed pursuant to this section total more than the value of the subject property.

(d) Any penalty provided in this section may be reduced or remitted in whole or in part by the Treasurer for good cause.

(Acts 1971, No. 63, p. 101, §25; Acts 1996, No. 96-724, p. 1197, §1.)