Individual Policy Benefit/Clm: What This Unclaimed Property Is

• Individual Policy Benefit/Clm covers insurance payments that went unclaimed, not the policies themselves.
• California holds 496,871 records in this category worth $462,500,069 combined.
• Most records are modest, averaging $931, but 4,996 records are worth $10,000 or more.
• Top reporters include Blue Shield of California, GEICO, Alliance United, State Farm, John Hancock, and Farmers.
• Because insurers report this property under §1530, the 10 per cent recovery fee cap applies to it.

What does 'Individual Policy Benefit/Clm' mean?

Individual Policy Benefit/Clm is the label the State Controller’s office uses for money owed to a person under an insurance policy or an insurance claim that the insurer was unable to pay out. The State’s own shorthand code for it is IN01. It is not the insurance policy itself and not coverage you can still activate. It is a payment the insurer already owed and tried to send, which then sat uncashed or undeliverable long enough that the insurer was required to report and remit it to the Controller.

In practice this covers several different kinds of money: a life insurance benefit that matured but was never collected, a health insurance reimbursement check that bounced back as undeliverable, an auto claim settlement the payee never cashed, or a premium refund issued after a policy lapsed or was cancelled. The category spans life, health, auto and property insurers alike, which is why the list of top reporters below includes companies from each line of business.

We index 496,871 records in this category, with a combined value of $462,500,069. The average record is worth $931, but 4,996 records are worth $10,000 or more, which is a meaningful share given how the category skews toward smaller refunds and uncashed checks.

How does an insurance payment end up with the State?

Insurers are holders of property under California’s unclaimed property law in the same way banks and employers are. When an insurer cannot locate a policyholder or beneficiary, or a payment it issues goes uncashed, it must eventually stop trying to track the person down privately and instead file a report with the State Controller under Code of Civil Procedure §1530. All other businesses, including most insurers, file that notice report before 1 November and remit the property between 1 and 15 June of the following year; life insurance companies work to a different calendar, filing before 1 May and remitting between 1 and 15 December (State Controller, Report Unclaimed Property).

Once the money reaches the Controller, it is held indefinitely. California sets no deadline for an owner to come forward, and there is no 24-month or other waiting period that causes the money to revert to the State. The only exception is a permanently escheated estate, where title has already passed to the State and no claim will be paid; that circumstance does not apply to an individual policy benefit record still listed as claimable.

Who reported the most of this category?

• California Physician Service, doing business as Blue Shield of California: 30,014 records, $12,566,718
• Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO): 17,558 records, $11,478,848
• Alliance United Insurance Company LLC: 16,195 records, $13,782,864
• State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company: 15,507 records, $11,940,945
• John Hancock Life Insurance Company USA: 14,111 records, $20,333,948
• Farmers Insurance Exchange: 12,930 records, $11,779,943

The spread across health, auto and life insurers reflects how broad this category is. John Hancock’s figures, with the highest combined value despite fewer records than Blue Shield, are consistent with life insurance benefits tending to be larger individual sums than a routine auto claim refund.

What does claiming an Individual Policy Benefit record involve?

A claim in this category is filed in the name of the person or entity the insurer originally owed, or their heirs if that person has since died. The State requires documentation establishing identity and, where relevant, entitlement, before it pays. Claims of $1,000 or more in cash must be notarized, and a California notary public may charge at most $15 per signature for an acknowledgment and $15 for a jurat (Government Code §8211). Smaller claims may not need notarization at all.

Because many of these records are uncashed checks or refunds rather than complex estate assets, the paperwork is often more straightforward than, say, a probate estate claim. That said, the State still needs enough to confirm the claimant is who the record describes, and a claim with incomplete or inconsistent documentation can be delayed rather than denied outright. Our guide to what documents the State needs sets out what is typically required.

Does the 10 per cent fee cap apply to this category?

Yes. Individual Policy Benefit/Clm property is reported under §1530, which means any fee a recovery firm charges to locate, deliver or recover it is capped at 10 per cent of the amount recovered, under Code of Civil Procedure §1582(a)(2)(C). That cap does not reach county-probated estates, but it does reach this category squarely, since the money comes to the State through insurer reporting rather than probate. An agreement is also invalid if it asks for payment before the Controller approves the claim and pays the owner, and an owner may challenge an agreement at any time as based on excessive or unjust consideration. California Unclaimed Property Services charges a percentage of what is recovered and nothing if nothing is recovered, consistent with that cap. Our page on what the law says about finder fees covers this in full.

What should I do with an Individual Policy Benefit record?

Start by checking whether a record under your name, or a deceased relative’s name, appears in the State’s files. You can search here using our index of 14,671,435 property records. If you find a record and want help with the notarization, documentation and claim filing, that is the work we do; see our guide to claiming in your own name or, for a deceased relative’s benefit, our guide to claiming as an heir or executor. You are not required to use a recovery firm to file a claim, and nothing here should be read to suggest otherwise. What we offer is handling the paperwork and notarization on your behalf, for a fee that is only owed once the State has paid.

Questions People Ask

Figures on this page are from our copy of the State Controller’s published file as it stood on 9 October 2026. The State republishes the file weekly, so current totals will differ. Search is always against the latest copy.