Unclaimed Property in Irvine, California: $176 Million Held

• The State Controller holds 141,107 unclaimed property records connected to Irvine, totaling $176,332,064.
• 2,278 of those Irvine records are worth $10,000 or more.
• The two Bank of America entities alone report 7,940 records worth over $36 million combined.
• California places no deadline on claiming unclaimed property, so older accounts remain claimable indefinitely.
• A recovery firm may not collect a fee before the State approves and pays a claim, and our standard fee is 10 per cent of what is recovered.

How much unclaimed property is held for people in Irvine?

The State Controller’s Unclaimed Property Division lists 141,107 property records connected to Irvine, California, with a combined value of $176,332,064. That range runs from small forgotten refunds to accounts worth tens of thousands of dollars. The average record is worth $1,250, but 2,278 of the Irvine records are valued at $10,000 or more, so a name showing up in the file is often worth pursuing even if the amount sounds modest at first.

These records build up when a bank, employer, insurer or government agency loses contact with someone it owes money to and eventually reports the balance to the State, as California law requires. The money itself does not vanish and it does not go to the State permanently. The Controller holds it, sometimes for decades, until the owner or their heirs come forward to claim it.

Which companies reported the most unclaimed property in Irvine?

A handful of businesses account for a large share of what has been reported for Irvine addresses:

• Bank of America NA — 4,090 records, $19,650,842
• Bank of America – California NA (318) — 3,850 records, $16,442,920
• Southern California Edison Company — 2,634 records, $1,009,203
• Elevance Health Inc. — 1,796 records, $1,197,790
• Anthem Inc. — 1,640 records, $593,979
• Interinsurance Exchange of the Automobile Club — 1,542 records, $397,475

The two Bank of America entries alone report 7,940 records worth more than $36 million, most of it from dormant checking accounts. Southern California Edison and the two health insurers on this list tend to report smaller individual balances, usually from refunds or premium adjustments rather than closed accounts.

What kinds of property show up most often?

Across the Irvine records, six categories dominate:

• Premium Refunds — 11,435 records, $5,104,250
• Refunds Due — 10,960 records, $6,072,285
• Checking Accounts — 9,187 records, $31,077,340
• Accounts Payable — 7,941 records, $7,975,860
• Misc Outstanding Checks — 7,479 records, $4,311,531
• Credit Bal – Accts Receivable — 6,785 records, $4,574,216

Checking accounts carry the highest average value of the group, which lines up with the size of the Bank of America totals above. Refunds and outstanding checks are far more numerous but tend to be smaller individually, often the result of a closed policy, an overpayment, or a check that was never cashed.

Is there a deadline to claim it?

No. California places no deadline on claiming unclaimed property, and the State holds it indefinitely until the owner or their heirs file a claim (State Controller, Unclaimed Property). A record reported last year and one reported twenty years ago are treated the same way. The only exception involves a narrow category of estates that have been permanently escheated to the State, where title has already passed and no claim will be paid; that does not describe the individual property records that make up the bulk of the Irvine total above.

What does it cost to have someone claim it for you?

State law caps what a recovery firm may charge for property reported under Code of Civil Procedure §1530 at 10 per cent of the amount recovered (CCP §1582(a)(2)(C)). That cap applies to essentially all of the categories listed above, since they were reported by holders under that same statute. It does not extend to estates that reach the State through county probate, where the Controller states there are no fee restrictions for investigators filing on behalf of owners or heirs (CCP §1582(a)(1)).

Whichever category applies, the law does not allow a fee to be collected before the Controller approves the claim and pays the owner, and it voids any agreement signed between the date a holder files its report and the date the property actually reaches the Controller (CCP §1582(a)(1)(A)-(B)). California Unclaimed Property Services charges 10 per cent of what is recovered, and nothing if nothing is recovered.

What should someone from Irvine do next?

If you have ever lived in Irvine, or a parent, spouse or relative did, the direct way to find out whether your name is among these 141,107 records is to run a search against our index. If the property in question belongs to a relative who has died, our page on probate estates covers the estates still open in our index, since inherited property is handled differently from a personal refund or dormant account. And if you would rather not manage the notarization, documentation and follow-up yourself, our full-service recovery team can do it on a contingency basis.

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.