Unclaimed money finder fee caps by state: the complete table

If you remember nothing else, remember this: in roughly 40 states, a finder can't legally charge you more than 10% of the recovered amount. Many states also require the finder to wait 24 months after the property is reported before they can solicit you at all. That 10% cap exists because legislators saw the abuse. Finders were charging 40%, 50%, even higher — for property the rightful owner could've claimed themselves with a 20-minute form. State unclaimed property administrators (the California State Controller's Office, New York's Office of Unclaimed Funds, the Texas Comptroller, etc.) all run free public search tools. They want to return the money. That's literally their job. A finder's pitch usually relies on you not knowing the property exists or not knowing how to claim it. Both problems are solved by a free search at your state treasurer's site or at MissingMoney.com. No middleman, no contract, no fee. The table below is current to our last review. Statutes get amended. Always check your state's most recent code before signing anything.

Caps are listed as a percentage of the recovered amount. "Waiting period" means how long after the property is reported to the state before a finder can legally contact you or enter into an agreement. - **Alabama**: 10% cap, 24-month wait. Ala. Code § 35-12-91 - **Alaska**: 10% cap, 24-month wait. AS § 34.45.690 - **Arizona**: 30% cap, 24-month wait. A.R.S. § 44-322 - **Arkansas**: 20% cap, 24-month wait. Ark. Code § 18-28-228 - **California**: 10% cap, 24-month wait. Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 1582 - **Colorado**: 30% cap, 24-month wait. C.R.S. § 38-13-1303 - **Connecticut**: 10% cap, 24-month wait. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 3-73a - **Delaware**: Finder agreements unenforceable for 36 months. 12 Del. C. § 1212 - **Florida**: 20% cap (40% for some pre-escheat claims by registered finders), 24-month wait. Fla. Stat. § 717.135 - **Georgia**: 10% cap, 24-month wait. O.C.G.A. § 44-12-228 - **Hawaii**: 20% cap, 24-month wait. HRS § 523A-25 - **Idaho**: 15% cap, 24-month wait. Idaho Code § 14-538 - **Illinois**: 10% cap, 24-month wait. 765 ILCS 1026/15-1302 - **Indiana**: 10% cap, 24-month wait. Ind. Code § 32-34-1.5-66 - **Iowa**: 15% cap, 24-month wait. Iowa Code § 556.20 - **Kansas**: 15% cap, 24-month wait. K.S.A. § 58-3966 - **Kentucky**: 10% cap, 24-month wait. KRS § 393A.470 - **Louisiana**: 10% cap, 24-month wait. La. R.S. § 9:165 - **Maine**: 10% cap, 24-month wait. 33 M.R.S. § 2081 - **Maryland**: 10% finder cap; separate 25% cap for licensed heir-hunter contracts on estates. Md. Code Comm. Law § 17-323 - **Massachusetts**: 10% cap, 24-month wait. M.G.L. c. 200A § 12A - **Michigan**: 20% cap (10% for some claims), 24-month wait. MCL § 567.255 - **Minnesota**: 10% cap, 24-month wait. Minn. Stat. § 345.515 - **Mississippi**: 10% cap, 24-month wait. Miss. Code § 89-12-49 - **Missouri**: 10% cap, 24-month wait. RSMo § 447.585 - **Montana**: 10% cap, 24-month wait. MCA § 70-9-820 - **Nebraska**: 10% cap, 24-month wait. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 69-1316 - **Nevada**: 10% cap, 24-month wait. NRS § 120A.740 - **New Hampshire**: 10% cap, 24-month wait. RSA 471-C:33 - **New Jersey**: 20% cap (35% under some conditions), 24-month wait. N.J.S.A. § 46:30B-106 - **New Mexico**: 10% cap, 24-month wait. NMSA § 7-8A-25 - **New York**: 15% cap, 24-month wait. N.Y. Aband. Prop. Law § 1416 - **North Carolina**: 20% cap, 24-month wait. N.C.G.S. § 116B-78 - **North Dakota**: 20% cap, 24-month wait. N.D.C.C. § 47-30.1-30 - **Ohio**: 10% cap, 24-month wait. ORC § 169.13 - **Oklahoma**: 25% cap, 24-month wait. 60 O.S. § 678 - **Oregon**: 10% cap, 24-month wait. ORS § 98.392 - **Pennsylvania**: 15% cap, 24-month wait. 72 P.S. § 1301.23a - **Rhode Island**: 10% cap, 24-month wait. R.I.G.L. § 33-21.1-32 - **South Carolina**: 15% cap, 24-month wait. S.C. Code § 27-18-355 - **South Dakota**: 30% cap, 24-month wait. SDCL § 43-41B-39 - **Tennessee**: 10% cap, 24-month wait. T.C.A. § 66-29-152 - **Texas**: 10% cap on most property; finder must be registered with the Comptroller. Tex. Prop. Code § 74.507 - **Utah**: 10% cap, 24-month wait. Utah Code § 67-4a-1302 - **Vermont**: 10% cap, 24-month wait. 27 V.S.A. § 1262 - **Virginia**: 10% cap, 24-month wait. Va. Code § 55.1-2528 - **Washington**: 5% cap on property under state custody; 24-month wait. RCW § 63.30.860 - **West Virginia**: 10% cap, 24-month wait. W. Va. Code § 36-8-26 - **Wisconsin**: 20% cap, 24-month wait. Wis. Stat. § 177.35 - **Wyoming**: 10% cap, 24-month wait. Wyo. Stat. § 34-24-141 - **District of Columbia**: 10% cap, 24-month wait. D.C. Code § 41-137

Most states say a finder agreement is void if it's signed before the property has been in state custody for two years. The point is to give you — the actual owner — time to find your own money before the vultures circle. Here's how it works in practice. A bank reports your dormant savings account to the state in March 2024. The state lists it on their public database within a few months. For 24 months after that report date, no finder can legally make you sign a contract to recover it. After March 2026, finders can solicit you, but still only at the capped percentage. If a finder pressures you to sign during the waiting period, the contract is unenforceable. You can take the letter, search your own state's database, and claim the money yourself. They have no legal claim on a dime. This is one of the most-violated rules in the industry. If you got a letter offering to recover "recently reported" property for 30%, that letter may itself be illegal under your state's statute.

A handful of states permit higher caps — Arizona, Colorado, and South Dakota at 30%, Oklahoma at 25%, several others at 20%. The reasoning is usually that some property is hard to track down, especially mineral rights, old securities, or estates with multiple potential heirs. That reasoning has merit for genuinely complicated cases — say, a probate-related claim involving a great-grandparent's stock holdings split among 14 cousins. Those are heir-hunter cases, and the work is real. But the everyday case — a forgotten utility deposit, an uncashed paycheck, a dormant checking account in your own name — is not complicated. It's a form, an ID, and proof of address. A finder charging you 30% to fill out a form your state would happily process for free is taking advantage of confusion, not delivering value. If a finder claims your case is "complex," ask them exactly what's complex about it. Then search MissingMoney.com or your state site yourself before signing anything.

A few states go further than the standard 10% cap. **Texas** requires every finder operating in the state to register with the Comptroller's office and post a bond. Unregistered finder contracts are void. The Comptroller publishes the registered finder list publicly. If someone's pitching you Texas property and they're not on that list, walk away. **Washington** caps fees at 5% — the lowest in the country. The legislature decided even 10% was too much for what amounts to a clerical task. **Delaware** makes finder agreements completely unenforceable for the first 36 months after a property is reported, the longest waiting period in the country. After that, standard caps apply. These are the states where the legislature most clearly recognized the finder industry as predatory. Other states will likely follow.

Finders don't have secret access to anything. They run the same free public databases you can: state unclaimed property sites, MissingMoney.com, federal databases like the PBGC for pensions and the FHA refund list for mortgage insurance. They scrape names, match them against property records and skip-tracing tools, and send mass-mail offers. The "work" is volume. They send 10,000 letters, get a 2% response rate, and collect 10-30% of whatever those 200 people end up claiming. Their cost per claim is essentially the postage. When you sign their contract, you're paying for the letter. You are not paying for special access, special expertise, or special anything. You're paying because they got to you first with information that was already free and public. This is why most state legislatures landed on a 10% cap. It's not a fair price for value delivered. It's a tolerated middleman fee for a service that shouldn't really need to exist.

Don't sign yet. Do this instead: - Note the property amount and the state listed in the letter. - Search your own name at MissingMoney.com and at your state's official unclaimed property site. - If you find the same property, file the claim yourself. Every state has a free online claim form. - If you can't find it but believe it exists, call your state unclaimed property office directly. They'll help. That's their job. - Check whether the finder is registered (in states that require registration like Texas). - If you still want to use the finder, confirm in writing that the fee is at or below your state's statutory cap. A legitimate finder will tell you their fee, cite the relevant statute, and not pressure you. A scammy one will rush you, demand upfront payment (never legal), or refuse to disclose the property's location until you sign. Real claims process in 30-90 days in most states. There's no rush. There's no special deadline a finder can beat. The money sits with the state — often forever, often earning interest for the state — until you claim it.

We built this site because the finder industry shouldn't exist at the scale it does. Every state runs a free database. MissingMoney.com aggregates most of them. The claim forms are short. The state mails you a check. If a finder is the reason you found out about money in your name, fine — that's a real service worth something. But "something" is 10%, not 40%. Know your state's cap before you sign. If the contract violates the cap, it's void, and you can claim the money yourself. And remember the cardinal rule of unclaimed property: the state pays you. You never pay the state. Anyone asking for upfront fees, processing fees, tax prepayments, or wire transfers to release your money is running a scam. Report them to your state attorney general and walk away.