Unclaimed Property in Santa Monica, California

• The State Controller holds 81,040 unclaimed property records connected to Santa Monica, totaling $87,793,393.
• 1,193 of those records are worth $10,000 or more; the average record is worth $1,083.
• The largest sources include insurers such as Anthem, Elevance Health and MetLife, along with Interinsurance Exchange, PayPal and Citibank.
• There is no deadline to claim California unclaimed property, and no fee is owed until a claim is paid.
• A recovery agreement cannot charge more than 10 per cent for property reported under CCP §1530, though probate estates fall outside that cap.

How much unclaimed property is tied to Santa Monica?

According to the California State Controller’s published property records, 81,040 separate entries are tied to a Santa Monica address, together worth $87,793,393. Most of these are modest: the average record is worth $1,083, reflecting the mix of small refunds, uncashed checks and dormant balances that make up the bulk of the State’s holdings. But 1,193 records are worth $10,000 or more, and a smaller number are worth a great deal more than that. The size of any single record depends entirely on the underlying transaction, which is why a search by name, rather than by neighborhood, is the only way to know what, if anything, belongs to you.

Which companies reported the most unclaimed property from Santa Monica?

Unclaimed property does not come from nowhere. A holder, usually a business, bank or insurer, reports property to the Controller after losing contact with the owner for a set period. In Santa Monica’s records, the largest reporters include Anthem Inc. (1,750 records, $686,660), Elevance Health Inc. (1,141 records, $710,586), MetLife Inc. (1,036 records, $1,008,027), Interinsurance Exchange of the Automobile Club (878 records, $209,410), PayPal Inc. (735 records, $414,359) and Citibank N.A. (700 records, $591,304).

These names point to the kinds of relationships that generate unclaimed property: health and life insurance premiums, auto insurance refunds, payment processor balances and bank accounts. If you or a family member ever held a policy, account or membership with any of these, it is worth checking.

What kinds of property show up most often?

The most common categories in Santa Monica’s records are Premium Refunds (4,747 records, $2,286,843), Group Policy Benefit or Claim Payments (4,685 records, $2,014,153), Accounts Payable (4,137 records, $4,045,470), Refunds Due (4,053 records, $1,802,679), Miscellaneous Outstanding Checks (3,714 records, $1,991,783) and a broader Other category (3,515 records, $2,092,918).

These labels describe how the holder classified the money when it reported to the State, not how large or personal the amount is. An uncashed insurance refund from a decade ago and a business’s unpaid vendor check can sit side by side in the same file.

How do I find out if any of this is mine?

The only reliable way is to search the State’s records by name. Our free property search checks against the same published data used above, plus our own index of 14,800,558 property records statewide. Names change, addresses change, and property can be filed under a maiden name, a business name, or a name with a slightly different spelling, so it is worth searching more than one variation if you have moved or married since living in Santa Monica.

If you are searching on behalf of a parent, spouse or other relative who has died, the property may instead sit in a probated estate file rather than the general property file. We index 37,166 probate estates statewide, of which 4,438 are still claimable, holding about $59,038,273. See our page on probate estates and the second State file for how that file differs from the general one.

What does it cost to recover property through a firm like ours?

California law caps what a recovery firm can charge for property reported under Code of Civil Procedure §1530 at 10 per cent of what is recovered (CCP §1582(a)(2)(C)). That cap does not extend to estates that reach the State through county probate; the Controller states there are no fee restrictions there, since those claims arrive under the Probate Code rather than §1530. Our fee is 10 per cent of what is recovered, and we collect nothing unless the Controller pays the claim. No agreement we sign asks for money up front, and none is signed during the window between a holder’s report and the State taking custody of the property, since an agreement made in that window is invalid under §1582(a)(1)(A). See our page on what the law says about finder fees for the full text.

Is there a deadline to claim?

No. California holds unclaimed property indefinitely until the owner or their heirs come forward; there is no cutoff date for a general property claim. The one exception is a permanently escheated estate, where the State has taken title and no claim will be paid, but that is distinct from the ordinary property records described here. If you are unsure which category applies to a specific claim, that is a question we can help you sort out, or one to put to an attorney if it touches on estate or inheritance rights.

What should I do next?

Start with a search of your name, and any name you have used, in our free property search. If something comes up, read how to claim, start here for what happens next, or read our pricing page if you would rather have us handle the filing, documentation and follow-up with the Controller’s office on your behalf.

Questions People Ask

Figures on this page are from our copy of the State Controller’s published file as it stood on 10 September 2026. The State republishes the file weekly, so current totals will differ. Search is always against the latest copy.