Unclaimed Property in Berkeley, California: $62.4 Million

• 58,769 unclaimed property records tied to Berkeley are worth a combined $62,492,655.
• 773 of those Berkeley records are worth $10,000 or more.
• The largest reporting holders include Pacific Gas & Electric, MetLife, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America.
• There is no deadline to claim unclaimed property in California, except for estates that have been permanently escheated.
• A recovery fee for property reported under §1530 cannot exceed 10 per cent of what is recovered, and no fee is owed until the State pays.

How much unclaimed property is tied to Berkeley?

The State Controller’s office lists 58,769 unclaimed property records connected to a Berkeley address, together worth $62,492,655. Most of that total sits in small amounts: the average record is worth $1,063. But 773 of those Berkeley records are worth $10,000 or more, and some run considerably higher. Whether a particular name falls into the first category or the second is not something you can guess from the average; you have to check the record itself.

Records accumulate for ordinary reasons: a job changed, a bank branch closed, a forwarding address never got updated. None of it implies anything unusual about the person it belongs to.

What kinds of property show up under Berkeley addresses?

The property reported for people connected to Berkeley falls into the same ordinary categories seen statewide. The largest groups by count and value:

• Checking accounts — 2,377 records, $5,712,704
• Refunds due — 4,289 records, $1,520,879
• Accounts payable — 2,182 records, $1,081,932
• Premium refunds — 2,606 records, $1,085,267
• Other — 2,446 records, $1,009,781
• Miscellaneous outstanding checks — 2,463 records, $978,694

Checking accounts carry the highest total value despite being outnumbered by refunds due, which tells you the individual balances in that category tend to run larger. A dormant account from a bank that merged, closed a branch, or simply lost touch with a customer is a common source.

Which companies reported the most unclaimed property in Berkeley?

Six holders account for a large share of the reported records:

• Pacific Gas & Electric Company — 1,333 records, $416,563
• Metlife Inc. — 1,079 records, $1,024,953
• Wells Fargo Bank Na — 926 records, $895,944
• Bank Of America Na — 824 records, $953,145
• Metropolitan Life Insurance Company — 815 records, $1,005,236
• Wells Fargo Bank Na (Apecs 1009) — 800 records, $1,009,729

Notice that Wells Fargo and the MetLife group each appear twice. Large institutions frequently report from separate divisions or under slightly different registered names, so the same person can turn up more than once in the Controller’s files under variant holder names.

Is there a deadline to claim it?

No. California holds unclaimed property indefinitely. There is no cutoff date after which a valid claim stops being payable, and no waiting period you need to run out the clock on. The one exception is an estate that has been permanently escheated to the State, meaning the State has taken title outright; property in that status is no longer recoverable by an owner or heir (State Controller, unclaimed property).

What if the property belonged to someone who has died?

Property belonging to a deceased person’s estate can appear either in the general unclaimed property records or, once it has passed through county probate, in the Controller’s separate Estates of Deceased Persons File. That second file is refreshed on the first business day of April and October and lists the decedent, the heirs on record, the county, the probate case number, and the remaining balance (State Controller, Estates of Deceased Persons File). Our index currently carries 37,166 probate estates, of which 4,438 remain claimable, holding about $59,038,273 combined.

One important legal distinction: the 10 per cent fee cap that applies to property reported under §1530 does not reach estates that come through county probate. The Controller states there is no fee restriction on investigators filing for the owners or heirs of a probated estate. Who is legally entitled to inherit is a question for a probate attorney, not for us; we locate and file, we do not determine heirship.

See our page on probate estates and the second State file for how that process works.

What does it cost to find out, and what happens if you help me claim it?

Checking whether your name appears in the Berkeley records costs nothing. If we take on a claim, our fee is a percentage of what is actually recovered, and nothing is owed if nothing is recovered. By law, no fee can be collected before the Controller has approved the claim and paid the owner, and for property reported under §1530 the fee cannot exceed 10 per cent of the amount recovered. A written agreement must disclose the nature and value of the property, confirm that the Controller holds it, and give the address where you could claim it directly, before you sign.

You are also entitled, at any time, to challenge an agreement you believe was based on excessive or unjust consideration. We are a private recovery firm, not the State Controller’s office, and we are not affiliated with or endorsed by it.

Start with a name search, then review our full-service recovery option or the pricing page for how the fee works before you decide.

Questions People Ask

Figures on this page are from our copy of the State Controller’s published file as it stood on 27 September 2026. The State republishes the file weekly, so current totals will differ. Search is always against the latest copy.