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USA Unclaimed Property
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Unclaimed property: find the official search for your state

Pick the state where you lived, worked or banked. We link its free official search and explain exactly how its claim works.

Press Enter to open the first match, or choose from the list below.

Unclaimed property by state

How a claim works

  1. Search the official site. Search the state's own program by name: every name you have used, in every state you have lived in.
  2. File a claim. If a property matches, you file a claim there, online in most states or by mail.
  3. Prove it is yours. Show that you are the person named and that you are linked to the address or account on file. Heirs also prove the owner's death and their right to the estate.
  4. Get paid. The state checks the claim and pays, by check in most states and electronically in some.

Each state page shows that state's own steps, documents, processing time and payment method, with the official source for every fact. Searching and claiming through the official program is free1. Companies called finders or heir finders may offer to recover your property for a percentage; they are legal in most states, and some states cap their fees2. Before you sign anything, compare the finder-fee limits by state.

What counts as unclaimed property

Every state runs a free program that holds unclaimed property for its owners: old bank balances, uncashed paychecks, refunds, deposits, stock and insurance money. When a bank, employer, insurer or utility owes you money and cannot reach you, it must eventually stop holding it. After a set period with no contact, called the dormancy period, the law makes it "unclaimed" and sends it to the state3. The state keeps it for you; the uniform laws most states follow are custodial, meaning the state holds the property for the owner rather than taking it over4.

It is common to have some. The state administrators' association says about one person in seven does3, and that its member programs returned over $5 billion to owners in fiscal year 20235.

Which state to search

A business reports what it owes you to the state of your last address in its records. The Supreme Court set that as the main rule; when there is no address, the property goes to the state where the business is incorporated6. Money orders and traveler's checks follow a federal law instead: they go to the state where they were bought7.

So search every state you have lived in, not just the current one, and the state where a company you dealt with is based. The which-state tool walks through this, and the multi-state checklist turns it into a printable list of official searches.

Compare the states

Side-by-side tables of the rules that matter when you claim, each value cited to the state's own statute or program.

Sources

Footnote numbers point here. Open "Quoted text" for the exact words relied on ("[…]" marks words left out).

  1. Claim Your Found Property National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA) · unclaimed.org · checked Nov. 3, 2026
    Quoted text (1)
    Both searching for and claiming your unclaimed property are free, provided you go through the official government program of the state holding the property.
  2. Is it really free to search? National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA) · unclaimed.org · checked Nov. 3, 2026
    Quoted text (2)
    IMPORTANT: There are, however, third-party “finders” that may offer to locate and claim your unclaimed property for you. While not required to obtain your unclaimed property, these third-party services are in most cases legal.
    Many businesses, sometimes called finders or locators, offer to find legitimate lost property for owners and inform them of how to obtain it for a fee—usually a percentage of the total find. Some states limit the maximum fee.
  3. What is unclaimed property? National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA) · unclaimed.org · checked Nov. 3, 2026
    Quoted text (2)
    After a designated period of time (called the dormancy period) with no activity or contact, the property becomes “unclaimed” and—by law—must be turned over to the state.
    Approximately 1 in 7 people do!
  4. Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (2016), text with comments Uniform Law Commission · uniformlaws.org · 2016-07 · checked Nov. 3, 2026
    Quoted text (1)
    Although rooted in the doctrine of escheat, since inception all of the Uniform Unclaimed Property Acts have been “custodial” acts which deal with the right of states to take custody of abandoned property to hold indefinitely for the benefit of the owner, which is different from a state taking title to and ownership of abandoned property under its escheat law.
  5. Who We Are National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA) · unclaimed.org · checked Nov. 3, 2026
    Quoted text (1)
    These programs returned over 5 billion dollars in FY 2023 to their rightful owner.
  6. Delaware v. Pennsylvania, 598 U.S. 115 (2023), opinion Supreme Court of the United States · supremecourt.gov · Feb. 28, 2023 · checked Nov. 3, 2026
    Quoted text (2)
    To resolve the competing claims, we established that, as the primary (default) rule, the proceeds of abandoned financial products should escheat “to the State of the creditor's last known address as shown by the debtor's books and records.”
    adopted a secondary rule to apply in those circumstances; namely, that the proceeds should escheat to the debtor's State of incorporation.
  7. 12 U.S.C. 2503, State entitled to escheat or take custody U.S. Government Publishing Office (United States Code) · govinfo.gov · 2024 ed. · checked Nov. 3, 2026
    Quoted text (1)
    if the books and records of such banking or financial organization or business association show the State in which such money order, traveler's check, or similar written instrument was purchased, that State shall be entitled exclusively to escheat or take custody of the sum payable on such instrument, to the extent of that State's power under its own laws to escheat or take custody of such sum;
  8. How States Return Missing Money National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA) · unclaimed.org · checked Nov. 3, 2026
    Quoted text (1)
    It is always free to search for and claim your missing money through official state government programs.
  9. How to Find a Long Lost Bank Account or Safe Deposit Box Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) · fdic.gov · Dec. 14, 2020 · checked Nov. 3, 2026
    Quoted text (1)
    Be cautious of anyone who demands money up-front or charges fees for a service you can do yourself.
  10. Treasurer Pieciak Warns of Unclaimed Property Scam Targeting Vermonters Office of the Vermont State Treasurer · vermonttreasurer.gov · April 28, 2026 · checked Nov. 3, 2026
    Quoted text (1)
    To capture an individual’s attention, scammers might provide a specific dollar amount, use a fake government name, or urge to act quickly.
  11. Investor Alert: Beware of Government Impersonators Targeting Fraud Victims Investor.gov, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission · investor.gov · June 27, 2016 · checked Nov. 3, 2026
    Quoted text (1)
    If you receive an email message claiming to be from a U.S. government agency and the sender’s email address does not end in “.gov”, “.mil”, or "fed.us", you should be particularly skeptical. Even if the sender’s email address appears to end in “.gov”, “.mil”, or "fed.us", an impersonator may have sent the email message.