Is the unclaimed property finder registered with your state?

The full landscape varies by state and changes over time. As of 2026, the states with the strongest registration regimes include: - **Texas.** The Comptroller of Public Accounts maintains a public list of registered finders authorized to act on unclaimed property in Texas. Fee cap is 10% under Tex. Prop. Code § 74.507. Search for the firm by name on the Comptroller's site before engaging. - **Pennsylvania.** Finders must be state-certified under 72 P.S. § 1301.24. Pennsylvania Treasury also enforces a 24-month bar on solicitation after a property is reported. - **New York.** Finders are subject to registration and bonding requirements with the Office of the State Comptroller. Fee cap is 15% under N.Y. Aband. Prop. Law § 1416. - **California.** Heavily regulated; commercial finders are restricted in the first 24 months under the structure of Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 1582 and related provisions. - **Illinois, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and others** have disclosure or registration rules of varying intensity. For the full state-by-state landscape, see our finder-fee-cap guide.

Texas publishes a registered finder list at the Comptroller's unclaimed-property site. Search for the firm by name. If they're not on the list, they're not authorized to charge a fee for recovering Texas unclaimed property. Any contract they propose is unenforceable in Texas regardless of what it says. The Texas list includes the firm's registered name, address, and registration date. It doesn't include disciplinary history, customer complaints, or fee structures. Registration is a baseline credential, not a quality rating. A firm can be registered and still charge the maximum 10% (plus reasonable attorney's fees, per the statute's gotcha clause) for filing a form you could file yourself for free. For Texas-specific procedural quirks, including how to file directly with the Comptroller, see our Texas state page.

Pennsylvania's structure under 72 P.S. § 1301.24 requires finders to be state-certified, which involves more than mere registration: paperwork, fees, sometimes a bond, and adherence to disclosure requirements. The fee cap is 15%. The 24-month bar applies — finders may not contact an owner about specific property until at least 24 months after the property has been reported to the Treasury. If you receive a finder letter about Pennsylvania property reported in the last two years, the contract is unenforceable in Pennsylvania regardless of whether the firm is certified. Certification doesn't override the bar. The state's enforcement mechanism is the unenforceability of the contract — meaning even if you sign and the firm files, the firm has no legal right to retain the percentage. Verify Pennsylvania finder certification through Pennsylvania Treasury's unclaimed property division directly. The Treasury maintains internal records and will confirm whether a specific firm is in good standing.

Three things, no more: - **The firm exists as a legal entity** with the state, has filed registration paperwork, and is on record with the unclaimed-property division. - **The firm has acknowledged the state's fee cap** and disclosure rules. Charging above the cap, or violating disclosure, can result in registration revocation. - **In states with bonding requirements**, the firm has posted a bond providing a financial recourse mechanism if the firm absconds with funds. Registration does not guarantee: - **Fair pricing.** Registered firms can and do charge the maximum statutory rate. - **Quality of service.** Registration is paperwork compliance, not a competence test. - **That you need them.** Most claims don't require a finder. Registration doesn't change the underlying math — you can usually file yourself for free. - **That the firm hasn't been the subject of complaints.** Disciplinary history is rarely surfaced on the public registration list. Complaints typically have to escalate to attorney general action before they become public. Treat registration as a minimum threshold, not a recommendation.

Depends on the state. In Texas, an unregistered finder cannot enforce a fee contract against you — practically speaking, the firm is operating illegally if it's soliciting fees in Texas without registration. Same in Pennsylvania for state-certified finder requirements. In states without registration regimes, finder operations are governed only by the fee cap and the 24-month bar. An unregistered firm operating in those states isn't necessarily breaking any specific registration law, but the contract terms still must comply with the state's general statute. If they don't, the contract is voidable. The practical rule: if the property is in a state with registration requirements, verify the firm is registered. If the property is in a state without registration requirements, the math is the same anyway — file yourself, decline the firm. Either way, the registered-versus-unregistered question is rarely the deciding factor.

Sometimes, but each state's registration is independent. A firm registered in Texas isn't automatically authorized to operate as a finder in California, New York, or any other state. Multi-state finder operations typically register in each state where they actively solicit. For an owner, this matters because the relevant registration is the registration in the state where the property is held — not the firm's home state. A Texas-registered firm trying to recover Pennsylvania property must comply with Pennsylvania's certification and 24-month bar regardless of its Texas standing. Verify the registration in the right state. The state portal where the property is held is the authority. Other states' registrations are irrelevant for that specific claim.

A growing share of finder letters come from operations mailing nationwide from a single state. These firms scrape state portals across the country, run address-match against commercial data, and mail letters to recipients in every state where they identified property. The legal exposure for these operations is significant: each contract they sign with an owner has to comply with the state where the property is held, not the firm's home state. A national mailer operating from, say, Florida cannot enforce a 20% fee on Texas property — the Texas cap is 10%. The mismatch sometimes catches enforcement attention; more often it doesn't, because most owners don't know to challenge it. If you receive a letter from a firm not based in your state, double-check the registration in the state where the property is held. If the firm isn't registered there and that state requires registration, the contract is unenforceable. You can decline cleanly and report the firm to the state's unclaimed-property division, which sometimes leads to enforcement against repeat offenders.

Same answer as for any finder: only in narrow scenarios where the work is genuinely complex. Heir cases spanning multiple states, oil and gas royalty claims, and stock claims with corporate-action history are the three categories where a specialty firm's experience can earn the fee. For everything else — the typical $200 utility deposit refund, the forgotten $1,500 bank account balance, the uncashed dividend check — file yourself. Registration changes nothing about that math. A registered firm is a firm with paperwork on file. The paperwork doesn't make their service more useful. It just means the state knows where to find them if they break a rule.

Three steps to take when you receive a finder letter: - **Search the property at our search tool or directly at the state's portal** via our state directory. Confirm the property exists. - **Verify the firm's registration** in the state where the property is held. Texas, Pennsylvania, and New York maintain accessible records; for other states, contact the unclaimed-property division directly. - **File the claim yourself** through the state's portal regardless of the firm's registration status. Use the template decline letter to formally close the door on the firm. Registration is a check on bad behavior, not a recommendation to engage. The vast majority of owners who receive finder letters don't need to sign — registered or otherwise. Read the 50-state map for the full state-by-state procedural landscape.