As used in this article:

1. "Depositor" means a person delivering property or documents to a state bank, national banking association, savings and loan association, credit union or trust company for safekeeping;

2. "Deputy" means a person designated by the lessee to act as lessee's agent in connection with the safe deposit box;

3. "Lessee" means a person contracting with a lessor for the use of a safe deposit box;

4. "Lessor" means any state bank, national banking association, savings and loan association, credit union or trust company engaged in the business of renting safe deposit facilities; and

5. "Safe deposit box" means a safe deposit box, vault, or other safe deposit receptacle maintained by a lessor.

1301.1 Appointment of Deputy [Back]

A lessee on a safe deposit box may appoint a deputy, with or without the consent of or notice to any other joint lessees on the box. A deputy shall have the power to enter the box, remove contents therefrom or add contents, and the appointment of the deputy shall not be affected by the subsequent incapacity or incompetency of the lessee, nor the lapse of time. Revocation of the appointment of a deputy must be made in writing to the lessor. The authority of the deputy shall cease upon the appointing lessee's death. However, if the lessor, without knowledge of the death of the lessee, deals with the deputy of the lessee, the transaction binds the lessee's estate and the lessee.

1301.2 Safe Deposit Box Authorization [Back]

A. A lessee of a safe deposit box may grant authorization for one or more persons to have access to that safe deposit box upon the death of the lessee, and the financial institution in which the safe deposit box is located shall grant such access, subject to the provision of this section.

B. The authorization shall be in writing in the following form: "I hereby authorize access to safe deposit box (number or other identification) at (name of financial institution) upon my death to (name of person)." The form shall be signed and dated by the lessee, and the signature of the lessee shall be notarized. The authorization may be revoked in writing in the following form: "I hereby revoke the authorization for access to safe deposit box (number or other identification) at (name of financial institution) upon my death to (name of person)." The revocation form shall be signed and dated by the lessee, and the signature of the lessee shall be notarized. The authorization also shall be revoked as a matter of law if the lessee is divorced from the person to whom the authorization was granted, and no subsequent written authorization to the former spouse is executed. A copy of any written authorization and any written revocation shall be provided to the financial institution at which the safe deposit box is located. In the event there is more than one lessee for a safe deposit box, all the lessees must authorize access in the manner provided by this subsection.

C. At any time during the ten (10) days or more following the death of the lessee, a person who has been authorized access may submit an affidavit to the financial institution in which the safe deposit box is located. The affidavit shall state: 1. That the last surviving lessee of the safe deposit box has died; 2. That the person providing the affidavit is the same person named in the authorization, a copy of which shall be attached to the affidavit; 3. That the authorization has not been revoked; and 4. That the affiant believes that no estate proceeding will be commenced with respect to the estate of the lessee.

D. Upon receipt of an affidavit as provided in subsection C of this section, the financial institution shall comply with provisions of Section 812 of Title 68 of the Oklahoma Statutes before granting access to the affiant. Under no circumstances shall access be granted until all lessees of a safe deposit box are deceased.

E. Any person who knowingly signs and submits a false affidavit as provided by subsection C of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be liable in damages to any person harmed thereby.

F. Any financial institution that provides access to a safe deposit box under provisions of this section shall be discharged from all criminal or civil liability for doing so.

1302. Authority to lease safe deposit boxes [Back]

Subject to such regulations as the Board may prescribe a lessor herein may maintain and lease safe deposit boxes and may accept property for safekeeping if, except in the case of night depositories, it issues a receipt therefor.

1303. Access by fiduciaries [Back]

A. Where access to a safe deposit box is requested by one or more persons acting as fiduciaries, the lessor may, except as otherwise expressly provided in the lease or the writings pursuant to which such fiduciaries are acting, allow access thereto and removal of the contents of the safe deposit box upon obtaining proper receipt from:

1. any one or more of the persons acting as executors or administrators;

2. any one or more of the persons otherwise acting as fiduciaries when authorized in writing signed by all other persons so acting; or

3. any agent authorized in writing signed by all of the persons acting as fiduciaries.

B. No lessor shall be liable for damages for allowing or refusing access or removal of the contents of the safety deposit box under the provisions of subsection A of this section.

C. For purposes of this article, the term "fiduciaries" shall be deemed to include, in addition to those entities and individuals set forth in Section 102 of this title, a duly appointed and authorized attorney in fact under a power of attorney.

1304. Effect of lessee's death or incompetence [Back]

When a lessor, without knowledge of the death or of an adjudication of legal incompetence of the lessee, deals with his agent pursuant to a written power of attorney signed by such lessee, the transaction binds the lessee's estate and the lessee.

1305. Lease to minor [Back]

A lessor may lease a safe deposit box to or accept property for safekeeping from a minor, and, in connection therewith, deal with him to the same effect as if dealing with a person of full legal capacity unless and until his guardian files with the lessor a certified copy of the order of a district court appointing him and directs otherwise.

1306. Lease to corporation [Back]

A. If the lessee is a corporation and the president, treasurer or secretary certifies that certain designated persons are authorized to enter the box, the lessor may permit such designated persons to enter without liability therefor.

B. If the lessee is a general partnership or a limited partnership and a general partner confirms in writing that certain designated persons are authorized to enter the box, the lessor may permit such designated persons to enter without liability thereof.

C.

1. If the lessee is a limited liability company and is managed by its members, and if a majority of the members confirms in writing that certain designated persons are authorized to enter the box, the lessor may permit such designated persons to enter without liability thereof.

2. If the lessee is a limited liability company and is managed by a manager, and if the manager confirms in writing that certain designated persons are authorized to enter the box, the lessor may permit such designated persons to enter without liability thereof.

1307. Assumed names [Back]

No person, firm or corporation shall rent a safe deposit box under an assumed name, except under a trade name regularly used by the lessee in the conduct of a valid business and such fact is disclosed to the lessor. If any person, firm or corporation violates the provisions of this section, such lessee shall have no claim against the lessor for any loss or damage that he may sustain unless he or it shall allege and prove willful misconduct on the part of the lessor.

1308. Search procedure on death [Back]

A. A lessor shall permit the person named in a court order, or if no order has been served upon the lessor, the spouse, a parent, an adult descendant, or a person named as an executor in a copy of a purported will produced by the person, to open and examine the contents of a safe deposit box leased by a decedent, or any documents delivered by a decedent for safekeeping, in the presence of an officer of the lessor. In addition, the lessor, if so requested by such person, shall deliver

1. Any writing purported to be a will of the decedent to the court having jurisdiction of the decedent's estate according to his or her residence declared in such writing or may, at the option of the bank, be delivered to the person, so long as the bank retains a copy;

2. Any writing purported to be a deed to a burial plot or to give burial instructions to the person making the request for a search;

3. Any document purporting to be an insurance policy on the life of the decedent to the beneficiary named therein; and

4. Any document purporting to be a trust agreement or Declaration of Trust wherein the decedent was the grantor, so long as the bank retains a copy.

B. No other contents shall be removed pursuant to this subsection until an executor or administrator qualifies and makes claim to the contents, except where the safe deposit box was held by the decedent and his or her surviving spouse or any other person as joint tenants, in which case any part of the contents thereof may be removed by such surviving spouse of other surviving joint tenant.

C. All contents of a safe deposit box shall be presumed to belong to the lessee(s) of the safe deposit box, and the lessor may rely on that assumption unless and until it receives a court order to the contrary.

D. Notice to the Oklahoma Tax Commissioner shall be provided as required pursuant to Section 812 of Title 68 of the Oklahoma Statutes. However, the lessor shall be under no duty to conduct an inventory of the contents of the safe deposit box. It shall be sufficient for the lessor, upon the death of the lessee, to simply report that the lessee had rented a safe deposit box.

1309. Adverse claims to contents of safe deposit box [Back]

A. An adverse claim to the contents of a safe deposit box, or to property held in safekeeping, is not sufficient to require the lessor to deny access to its lessee unless:

(1) the lessor is directed to do so by a court order issued in an action in which the lessee is served with process and named as a party by a name which identifies him with the name in which the safe deposit box is leased or the property held; or

(2) the safe deposit box is leased or the property is held in the name of a lessee with the addition of words indicating that the contents or property are held in a fiduciary capacity, and the adverse claim is supported by an affidavit stating facts disclosing that it is made by or on behalf of a beneficiary and that there is a reason to believe that the fiduciary may misappropriate the trust property.

B. A claim is also adverse where one of the several lessees claims, contrary to the terms of the lease, an exclusive right of access, or where one or more persons claim a right of access as agents or officers of a lessee to the exclusion of others as agents or officers, or where it is claimed that a lessee is the same person as one using another name.

1310. Lien of lessor, special remedies and proceedings for nonpayment of rent [Back]

The lessor shall have a lien upon the contents of the lessee's box for past due rentals and any expense incurred in opening of the box and replacement of locks thereon where the same is done without fault of the lessor. If the lessee fails to pay the rental due and such default continues for sixty (60) days, the lessor may give the lessee thirty (30) days' notice by certified mail addressed to the lessee at the address shown on the lessor's records or the last-known address of the lessee, stating the amount due and that on or after the day designated in the notice it may open the box, remove the contents thereof and hold the same for the account of the lessee. The opening of the box shall be witnessed by not less than two persons, one of which shall be an officer of the lessor, who shall make an inventory under oath of the contents thereof, and thereupon the contents shall be placed in a package and held by the lessor as a bailee for hire. If the lessee makes no demand for the contents within one (1) year after the same have been removed from the box, the lessor may advertise and sell the same, the sale to be made at the time and place designated in the notice which shall be published in one issue of a newspaper having a general circulation in the city or town wherein the business of the lessor is situated, the publication to be not less than ten (10) days prior to the date fixed for the sale. A copy of the notice shall be mailed to the lessee at the last-known address of the lessee by certified mail. The notice shall show the name of the lessee but it shall not be necessary to describe the articles to be sold, except those that have an intrinsic value, if there shall be posted, not less than ten (10) days prior to the sale, in or about the lessor, in a conspicuous place, a copy of the notice of sale and a copy of the inventory made upon opening of the box. The contents of any number of boxes may be sold under one notice of sale and the cost thereof apportioned ratably to the several lessees involved. At the time and place designated in the notice the contents taken from each respective box shall be sold separately to the highest bidder for cash and the proceeds of each sale shall be applied to the rentals and expenses due the lessor and the residue from any sale held by the lessor for the account of the lessee. At any such sale the lessor may be the purchaser. If any lessee or his or her heirs, administrator or executor, shall not make demand upon the lessor within five (5) years after the date of the sale, for such surplus, then the surplus shall be presumed abandoned and administered in accordance with the Uniform Unclaimed Property Act. The lessor may, at its option, turn the property over to the State Treasurer prior to the expiration of the five-year abandonment period.

1311. Limitation of liability and regulations [Back]

Any lessor renting safe deposit boxes may by contract limit its liability and may make requirements or policies for the conduct of the business. Such requirements or policies shall be reduced to writing and delivered to the lessee. Any limitations as to liability shall be in printing or writing of the same size and type as the other provisions of the contract.

1312. Garnishment-Proceedings in aid of execution [Back]

In any action wherein garnishment summons is served on the lessor or a party to an action seeks to subject a box or contents thereof to the garnishment or order of court, the lessor, upon being served with such garnishment or court order, shall seal the box and deny access thereto to all persons except as ordered by the court. A court of record may, in a proceeding wherein the lessee is a party, in aid of execution or for the purpose of enforcing its orders, direct the sheriff or marshal to enter a box, remove the contents therefrom and hold, deliver or sell such contents as permitted by law. Damages suffered by the lessor by reason of forcible entry as provided herein shall be assessed as costs and paid to the lessor by the garnishment creditor. If no court order directing entry into the box is served upon the lessor within thirty (30) days after a garnishment summons is received by the lessor, the box shall be unsealed and the lessor shall no longer be required to deny access to parties entitled thereto.

1313. Estate taxes or rights of state or tax commission not affected [Back]

The provisions of this Code shall not amend or supersede any statutes relating to estate taxes or any rights of the State of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Tax Commission relative to the control of safe deposit boxes and their contents.