You may be getting some good news if you forgot about that shoebox of stock certificates Grandpa had stashed in the attic. For the first time, broker-dealers will have a duty to reach out and find investors they have lost touch with under new rules approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission last week.

A similar rule already applies to recordkeeping transfer agents, the intermediaries between clearing houses and broker-dealers, requiring them to exercise “reasonable care” to find the correct addresses of those who no longer receive corporate communications or interest and dividend payments they are entitled to. The Dodd-Frank Act required the SEC to revise Exchange Act Rule 17Ad-17 and extend this obligation to broker-dealers, requiring them to provide notifications to investors who have not processed checks received in connection with their holdings.

In its draft release, the SEC explained that loss of contact most frequently results from failure to notify a transfer agent of a new address after relocating and failure of the estate of a deceased securityholder to notify the transfer agent of their death and the contact information for the estate's trustee or administrator.

Specifically, the new rules:

Require broker-dealers to conduct certain searches for lost holders of securities that transfer agents currently are required to conduct.

Require “paying agents” – including certain issuers, broker-dealers, transfer agents, and other entities – to notify “missing security holders” and “unresponsive payees” in writing of an unredeemed check of more than $25. Written notification must be sent no later than seven months after sending a not yet negotiated check.

Add a provision clarifying that the notification requirement has no effect on a state's ability to collect funds that it deems abandoned.

The rules are available in draft form while pending review at the Office of Management and Budget as required by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act. Once that review is complete, the Commission will issue the rule release in final form and send it to the Federal Register for publication. The amendments will become effective 60 days after publication in the Federal Register with a compliance date of one year later.