CA Has $15B In Unclaimed Property: How To Get What You're Owed

California’s state controller is working to unite more than $15 billion in unclaimed property with its rightful owners, although a recent analysis by CBS News noted that, unlike many other states, California does not return the funds automatically. That makes it more difficult for people to claim money that is rightfully theirs.

For example, the state owes more than $1 million to children's hospitals, alone.

“My office is safeguarding more than $15 billion in unclaimed property, representing over 84 million individual properties waiting to be returned to nearly 39 million Californians,” State Controller Malia Cohen said in a written statement, referring to state-held unclaimed property as “California’s financial lost and found.”

Common types of unclaimed property include forgotten bank accounts, stocks, bonds, uncashed checks, insurance benefits and safe deposit box contents, according to the controller’s office.

Unclaimed property is generally defined as a financial asset — not including real estate in California — left inactive by its owner for a period of time, typically three years, according to Cohen’s office.

California law requires holders of unclaimed property to try to contact owners before reporting the property to the state, according to the controller’s office. Before property is transferred to the state, Cohen’s office also sends a letter, notifying owners with stocks, safe deposit box contents or property valued at $50 or more that their property will be transferred to the state unless they contact the business holding it by a certain date.

Unclaimed property is returned to owners via a check from the state, according to the controller’s office, which reported it has returned over $8.1 billion.

“Every year, California returns hundreds of millions of dollars in unclaimed property back to their rightful owners," Assemblymember and California State Assembly Banking and Finance Committee Chair Avelino Valencia, D-68, said in the news release last month announcing that February 2026 had been declared Unclaimed Property Month.

Still, the CBS News investigation revealed California is doing less than some states to get the unclaimed property where it belongs. Connecticut, Mississippi, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia and Washington have all taken steps to automatically return some unclaimed property to its owners.

The outlet found California owed at least $1.3 million to children’s hospitals and at least $95,000 to food banks in the state, as well as over $46,000 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Cohen told CBS News her office is “actively working on” an automatic return program as California gets closer to modernizing its computer systems.

To check for unclaimed property, visit claimit.ca.gov.