Common Questions
If you have lost a property and someone tells you there is money waiting, being skeptical is the right instinct. Here are straight answers to the questions people ask us most.
It is a fair question, and asking it is smart. Tax sale surplus is real: when a property sells at a tax sale for more than the taxes owed, the leftover money belongs to the former owner, not the government. The trouble is that this space attracts operators who use pressure and charge very high fees.
The way we try to earn your trust is by being open about everything. There is no cost to ask and no obligation. We put every fee in writing before you agree to anything, and we cover all the filing costs ourselves. All you have to do is agree to let us represent you, sign, and wait. We will also tell you plainly that you can pursue the claim yourself if you would rather. Nothing is hidden.
Yes. Recovering surplus funds owed to a former owner is a legitimate, legal process. The funds are rightfully yours under the law, and there are established procedures for claiming them. What we do is help you move through that process correctly and on time. We are a private company, not a government agency or law firm, and we do not provide legal advice.
Because the government does not come looking for you. When there is money left over after a tax sale, no one is knocking on your door to hand it back or calling to make sure you know about it. It is simply not something they go out of their way to return. That is a big part of why so much of this money goes unclaimed, people never find out it was theirs. If it is not claimed in time, it is eventually lost for good.
We confirm that before anyone signs anything. Before we ask you to commit, we look into the record and verify that surplus exists and that it is tied to you as the former owner. If it is not yours, we tell you plainly, there is no reason for either of us to chase a claim that will not hold up. You are never asked to sign or pay based on a maybe. We move forward only once we can see the money is rightfully yours.
Nothing up front, and nothing at all unless we recover money for you. We work on contingency, so we are paid only if your claim succeeds, as a percentage of the funds recovered, capped at 30% and often lower. You never pay toward the filing costs either. We shoulder all of them, notary fees, certified mail, and court or filing fees, so you are never out of pocket, with nothing to put down and nothing to reimburse. If we recover nothing, we absorb those costs and you owe nothing. The only time we get paid is at the very end, straight out of the funds we recover, and you receive the rest.
We would rather say it plainly than have you wonder. The catch is that we charge a fee, and it comes out of the money we recover for you. That is the whole of it, with no fine print that changes the deal later and nothing buried for you to discover after you have signed. If a company cannot tell you how it gets paid in one clear sentence, that is the real warning sign. Ours is one sentence: we take an agreed percentage of what we recover, and only if we recover.
Our fee is never a moving target. We tell you the exact percentage on our first call, and it is written into the agreement you sign before any work begins, so it can never turn into a surprise bill or quietly grow past what you agreed to. What you see and sign is exactly what you pay, nothing more. If you ever want to check the math on what was recovered versus what you were paid, we will walk you through every number.
You are right that you can pursue it yourself, and we will never pretend otherwise. Some people do, and that is completely fine. What we offer is handling the entire process for you: the research, the paperwork, the deadlines, and the filing costs. Every claim has to be done a certain way, and a single mistake or missed deadline can get a valid claim denied. Most people would rather have an experienced team make sure a claim that is rightfully theirs does not get lost over a technicality.
That is common in this line of work. When there is surplus, more than one company often reaches out. We will not knock anyone else, but we will tell you what to look for in whoever you choose: ask for the fee in writing before you sign, make sure there is no upfront cost, and make sure no one is rushing you. That is exactly how we operate. Our fee is on the call and in the agreement before you commit, we cover the filing costs, and we never pressure you. If another company is straight with you and treats you well, that is good. We just want you to choose with open eyes, not out of pressure.
Often, yes. If you are the heir or the estate of the person who owned the property at the time of the tax sale, the surplus can still be claimed. It does not disappear because the original owner has passed away. These cases have a few extra steps to establish that you are the rightful heir, and we handle that process with you. If this is your situation, it is a good idea to reach out, because a lot of families never realize the money is still theirs to claim.
What matters is who owned the property at the time of the tax sale, not what happened afterward. If you were the owner when it was sold for taxes, the surplus is tied to you, even if that was years ago. One thing to know: claims do have deadlines, and they vary, so some windows do close. But many stay open longer than people expect. The only way to know is to check, and it costs you nothing to find out.
Very little, and that is the point. To get started, we mainly need to confirm your identity and that you are the person tied to the property. From there, we prepare the paperwork and walk you through what to sign. You are not gathering stacks of documents or figuring out forms, that part is our job. If anything needs to be notarized, we send a mobile notary to you. Your part is small: confirm a few details, sign when you are comfortable, and let us handle the rest.
No. You will not have to appear in court or show up at any office. When you see the words court fees, that is simply part of what it costs to file a claim through the proper channels, and we cover those costs for you. We handle the filings, and if anything needs notarizing, a mobile notary comes to you. And in the case where a claim needs to be represented in court, we work with attorneys who can handle that for you, so you are covered either way. You are not the one who has to show up.
Yes. We only collect what we need to confirm your identity and file your claim, nothing more. We do not sell your information, and we do not share it beyond what is required to pursue your claim. We treat your details the way we would want ours treated, carefully and privately. If you ever have a question about how your information is used, you can ask us directly and we will give you a straight answer.
It depends on your county and the details of your claim. Many take around four months, and some take longer, because much of the timeline is set by the county's own process and how quickly their office moves, which is out of anyone's hands. What we can control, we stay on top of: we handle the paperwork and every deadline so nothing stalls on our end, and we keep you posted as things move. The one part that really does come down to timing is starting, because claims have a deadline, so the sooner we begin, the better.
Getting started is simple, and it moves at your pace:
It takes about a minute, costs nothing, and there is no obligation. See if there is surplus waiting in your name.
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