Do I Have Unclaimed Money in Florida? Search, Claim, Deadlines

About one in five Floridians has unclaimed money sitting with the state, and you can check for yours in a couple of minutes at FLTreasureHunt.gov, the free search portal run by the Florida Department of Financial Services.¹ Under Chapter 717 of the Florida Statutes, banks, insurers, employers, and government agencies that lose contact with an account holder must eventually turn the money over to the state, which then holds it indefinitely.² There is no filing fee, no deadline to claim, and no risk of the state taking ownership. If the money is yours, you get all of it back.

How to Search the State Database

Go to FLTreasureHunt.gov and search by your name or a business name. The database is open around the clock. Try several versions of your name: your legal name, a maiden name, any previous married names, common nicknames, and misspellings. The account was reported under whatever the holder had on file the last time it heard from you, which may not match how you write your name today.

Also search under old addresses if the portal prompts for one. Accounts opened decades ago at an address you no longer live at are exactly the kind of thing that ends up here.² Run the same search on the names of deceased parents or grandparents if you think you might be an heir. Each result shows the name of the company or agency that reported the account, which usually jogs a memory about where the money came from.

What Kinds of Accounts End Up With the State

The usual suspects are dormant checking and savings accounts, uncashed payroll or vendor checks, insurance proceeds, stock dividends, utility deposits, credit balances, refunds, and the contents of abandoned safe deposit boxes.² Old pension checks and final paychecks from jobs you left long ago show up regularly.

Property doesn’t transfer to the state immediately. Florida law sets different dormancy periods by type of property:³

One year for court deposits, condemnation awards, unpaid wages, and commissions.
Three years for safe deposit box contents and other tangible property held by a bank.
Five years for checking and savings accounts, security deposits, matured CDs, life insurance proceeds, and vendor checks.
Seven years for money orders.
Fifteen years for traveler’s checks.

Once the dormancy period ends and the holder still can’t locate you, the funds are reported and forwarded to the Department of Financial Services.

How to File a Claim

When you find an account that looks like yours, click through from the search results and the portal generates the correct claim form and tells you which documents to upload. Every claim requires a legible copy of a valid driver’s license or other government-issued photo ID. Any photo ID issued by the United States, a state, or a foreign government works. If you have no photo ID at all, a notarized sworn statement affirming your identity can substitute, but the notary must verify your identity using one of those same photo IDs and include their full address on the statement.⁴ You may also be asked to verify your Social Security number or show a documented connection to the reporting company.

Claiming a Deceased Relative’s Property

Add a certified death certificate and, if there was a will, a copy of the will. If no probate is open and the total unclaimed property held for the deceased is $20,000 or less, Florida offers a simplified claim process that avoids full probate.⁵ The $20,000 threshold is the aggregate value of every unclaimed account belonging to that person, not the value of each account.

Above $20,000, heirs generally need to go through probate and provide court documents proving entitlement. If the account had joint owners and only one of them has died, the surviving owner can claim with their own ID and a certified death certificate for the co-owner.²

How Long It Takes and the Deadline You Cannot Miss

Uploading everything through the portal is the fastest route. Once the department has a complete claim, it has 90 days to make a determination. If it writes back asking for something else, the 90-day clock restarts from the day it receives your response.⁶

Watch your mail and email during that window. If the department requests additional documentation and you don’t respond within 60 days, your claim is treated as withdrawn.⁴ That is the single most common way a legitimate claim gets lost. Approved claims are paid by check or direct deposit for the full reported value.

Finders, Locators, and the 30 Percent Cap

You may get a letter from a “finder” or “locator” offering to recover unclaimed money for a percentage. Florida caps that fee at 30 percent of the amount recovered, inclusive of all costs.⁷ If an agreement charges more, the department automatically knocks it down to 30 percent and sends you the difference.

For most people, a finder is unnecessary. The claim you would sign for them is the same one you can complete yourself on the portal in about 15 minutes. Where finders earn their fee is in tangled situations: estates with multiple heirs, property tied to a business that no longer exists, or claimants who simply can’t manage the paperwork.

Red Flags for Scams

Not every message about unclaimed money is real. The Department of Financial Services has warned that it will never contact you by text message about a claim.¹ Treat these as warning signs:

Any request for an upfront fee. The state’s process is free.
Urgency language claiming your time is running out. Florida holds unclaimed property indefinitely.
Requests for your online banking credentials. Payments go out by state check or direct deposit set up through official channels.
Links in emails or texts that look like state pages. Type FLTreasureHunt.gov into your browser instead.

If a finder company contacts you and you’re considering signing, check that it’s registered with the department first, and refuse any deal that wants money upfront rather than a percentage after recovery.

Do You Owe Tax on What You Get Back

Getting your own principal back is generally not a taxable event; you’re receiving money that was already yours. If the state paid interest on the property while holding it, that interest is taxable in the year you receive it, and you may get a Form 1099-INT if the interest is $10 or more.⁸⁹ Recoveries of stock dividends or insurance proceeds can carry their own tax treatment depending on the original asset, so a tax professional is worth calling for larger amounts.

Checking Other States and Federal Sources

Money can be waiting for you outside Florida too. If you’ve lived, worked, or held accounts in other states, search each state’s official portal, or start with MissingMoney.com, run by the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators, which searches most participating states at once.¹⁰ Not every state participates, so a state-by-state search fills the gaps.

Federal money lives in different systems. The IRS “Where’s My Refund?” tool tracks lost tax refunds, TreasuryHunt.gov locates matured U.S. savings bonds that have stopped earning interest, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation runs a search for unclaimed pension benefits from former employers.¹¹ Running all of them alongside the Florida portal takes about 20 minutes and covers the full picture.

1
Florida’s Unclaimed Property. Florida’s Unclaimed Property FLTreasureHunt.Gov
2
Florida’s Unclaimed Property. FAQs
3
Justia. 2025 Florida Statutes Title XL Chapter 717 – Disposition of Unclaimed Property
4
The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 717.124 – Unclaimed Property Claims
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The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 717.1243
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Florida Senate. Florida Code 717.124 – Unclaimed Property Claims
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Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 717.135 – Recovery Agreements and Purchase Agreements
8
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 525 (2025), Taxable and Nontaxable Income
9
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms 1099-INT and 1099-OID
10
National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators. National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators
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USAGov. How to Find Unclaimed Money From the Government