§ 5365. Access to financial records

(a) As used in this section:

(1) "Depositor" means an owner of an account in a financial institution and includes "share account holders" of credit unions.

(2) "Financial institution" means a savings and loan association, a trust company, a savings bank, an industrial bank, a banking organization, a commercial bank, or a credit union organized under the laws of this State or authorized to do business in this State.

(3) "Offender" means a person who owes restitution.

(4) "Restitution" means an unsatisfied obligation to pay restitution that was ordered in connection with a criminal case and about which, prior to the issuance of the order, the offender had notice and an opportunity to contest the amount owed.

(5) "Restitution unit" means the State of Vermont restitution unit.

(b) Upon receipt of a duly authorized written request from the restitution unit to identify depository accounts held by an offender, a financial institution shall search its depositor records in order to identify accounts in which the offender has an ownership or beneficial interest.

(c) A financial institution shall notify the restitution unit of all accounts identified in response to a request filed under subsection (b) of this section. The notification shall contain the following information, if available to the financial institution through its search procedure, for each account identified:

(1) The full name, date of birth, and address that the offender provided for himself or herself to the financial institution.

(2) The offender's Social Security number.

(3) The offender's account number.

(4) The amount of deposits contained in the offender's account.

(5) Whether the offender is the sole owner of the account.

(d) The financial institution shall not provide notice in any form to a depositor identified by the restitution unit pursuant to this section. Failure to provide notice to a depositor shall not constitute a violation of the financial institution's duty of good faith to its customers.

(e) A financial institution may charge the restitution unit a fee for services provided under this section, provided that the fee shall not exceed the actual costs incurred by the financial institution.

(f) The information provided to each other by the financial institution and the restitution unit pursuant to this section shall be confidential and shall be used only for the purpose of collecting unpaid restitution. (Added 2007, No. 40, § 5.)