Everything we wish we’d known sooner.

When a home or piece of land sells at foreclosure or tax auction for more than the total debt, sale fees, and costs, the leftover money is the “surplus funds” (also called excess proceeds or overbid funds). By law, that surplus generally belongs to the former owner — or to their heirs, if the owner has died. It does not belong to the lender, the county, or the buyer.

Start with our free claim review — you tell us the property address and roughly when it sold, and we search the court or county record. You can also call the clerk of court or the county tax collector yourself and ask whether a surplus or excess balance is held from the sale. Either way costs you $0 to find out.

Entitlement follows ownership and state law, not the circumstances that led to the loss. Typically: (1) the owner of record at the time of sale has the first claim; (2) a surviving spouse may claim as an heir or as owner if the property was jointly held; (3) after death, the heirs or the estate — usually the executor or administrator, or in some states all heirs jointly — claim the funds; (4) after divorce, whoever was awarded the property (or the equity) in the decree generally has the right. Bring us the decree, death certificate, or deed and we will sort out who signs what.

Exactly 30% of the funds actually recovered — published on our fees page. $0 up front, no retainer, no hourly billing, no administrative fees. If we recover nothing, you owe us $0.00, guaranteed in the written agreement.

You can — in every state you have the right to file pro se. For a simple, uncontested claim, the DIY route costs only filing fees. But claims get contested constantly: the buyer claims the overbid, the HOA adds interest and penalties, the city adds demolition fines. We audit those claims line by line, file the objections, and handle the court appearances. If your case looks simple, we will tell you to DIY and mean it. If it doesn’t, our 30% is the difference between recovering something and recovering nothing.

It depends entirely on your state and county — anywhere from 60 days to 10+ years. Some jurisdictions transfer unclaimed surplus to the state after a statutory window; after that, claiming becomes a multi-step unclaimed-property process or may be lost. The single most important step is checking now. We verify the exact deadline for your property during the free review and put it in writing.

Maybe not. Many states allow heirs to claim for several years after the sale, and if the funds moved into the state’s unclaimed-property division, they may be claimable indefinitely — though the fee split and process differ. “Years late” is common, not disqualifying. Bring us the death certificate and any scrap of paperwork you have; we will tell you exactly where things stand.

Do not sign anything until we review it — free. Buyers, and sometimes third-party “locators,” routinely ask owners to assign the surplus rights, occasionally for a tiny payment. Once assigned, the right is almost always gone for good. We have seen paperwork where an owner signed away $40,000+ of surplus in exchange for a $1,000 moving allowance. Send it to us before you sign — that call costs you nothing.

Often, yes — if their claim wasn’t finalized. Competing claims can be objected to before disbursement, and improperly disbursed funds are sometimes recoverable through further court proceedings. Timing is critical: the sooner you call after learning of another claim, the more options we have.

Both sale types generate surplus, but the paperwork and the holder of the funds differ. Mortgage (sheriff/foreclosure) surplus is usually held by the court; tax-sale surplus is usually held by the county treasurer or tax collector. The claim strategy differs slightly — different forms, different proof, sometimes different deadlines — but we handle both routinely.

Uncontested claims: often 2–6 months from filing to payment. Contested claims (objections, hearings, multiple heirs): 4–12 months depending on the court’s backlog. We give you a written estimate for your specific case after the records search, and we tell you — plainly — when a court is being slow rather than going quiet.

Neither. We are a private recovery firm. We are not affiliated with any court, county, or state agency, and we are not attorneys — when court representation is required, we coordinate with an independent licensed attorney whom you approve in writing first. Nothing on this website is legal or financial advice.

We collect only what we need to check the record and file your claim. We never sell or rent your information. Documents are stored on encrypted systems, access is limited to staff working your file, and we destroy what we no longer legally need to keep. You may ask us at any time what we hold about you — we will answer in writing.

Call us anyway: (555) 555-0134. Partial interest in a property, a deceased co-owner you can’t find paperwork for, a sale that happened a decade ago, an estate with no will — these are ordinary weeks for us, not edge cases. If we can’t help, we will tell you within one phone call.