Unclaimed Securities in California: What $425 Million Holds

• California holds 361,359 unclaimed securities records totaling $425,516,969, per the State Controller's own files.
• Most records are modest: the average is $1,178, though 4,245 records are worth $10,000 or more.
• All securities claims must be notarized, regardless of dollar value, unlike cash claims under $1,000.
• A recovery fee for securities reported under §1530 cannot exceed 10 per cent of what is recovered.
• There is no deadline to claim unclaimed California securities, and no fee is owed unless the State pays.

What does "securities" mean in unclaimed property terms?

The State Controller files property under NAUPA category code 11 as securities. In practice this means shares of common or preferred stock, mutual fund holdings, and related entitlements such as unpaid dividends, that a company or transfer agent could no longer deliver to the registered owner. It is not cash sitting in a bank account and not the contents of a safe deposit box. It is an ownership position, or the value tied to one, that a holder reported to the State because contact with the shareholder broke down.

Across 361,359 records the State is holding $425,516,969 in this category. The average record is worth $1,178, which tells you most of these positions are small: a handful of shares, a stray dividend, a fractional holding left over from a merger or spin-off. But 4,245 records are worth $10,000 or more, so the category is not uniformly small. Some are retirement holdings or legacy stock positions that simply were never transferred when an owner moved or died.

How does a stock holding end up with the State Controller?

A transfer agent or company is required to report and remit securities to the Controller once contact with the owner has been lost for the statutory dormancy period, typically after mail is returned undeliverable, dividend checks go uncashed, or the owner cannot be located at the address on file. The holder follows a mandated filing calendar: most businesses file the notice report before 1 November and remit between 1 and 15 June of the following year (State Controller, Report Unclaimed Property). Once the Controller takes custody, the stock itself may be liquidated, with the State holding the cash proceeds, or in some cases the position is held pending claim.

Our index of the securities category shows a concentration among a small number of large reporters. MetLife Inc. alone accounts for 150,922 records worth $133,610,932, which likely reflects demutualization-era share distributions. Walt Disney Co & Affiliates reported 7,318 records worth $2,448,302. Prudential Financial Inc., Bank of America/FleetBoston Financial, and the two AT&T reporting entities round out the largest sources. If you once held an account, policy, or employee stock plan with any of these companies, it is worth checking whether a position was reported in your name.

What does claiming a securities record actually involve?

Securities claims carry a stricter documentation standard than ordinary cash claims. Under State Controller claim requirements, all securities claims must be notarized regardless of the dollar value involved, unlike cash claims, which only require notarization at $1,000 or more. A California notary may charge at most $15 per signature for an acknowledgment and $15 for a jurat (Government Code §8211), so notarization itself is a modest but unavoidable cost of the process.

Beyond notarization, a securities claim typically needs proof of identity, proof of the claimant’s connection to the original owner of record, and sometimes additional documentation if the shares passed through a corporate action such as a merger, stock split, or name change before escheating. This is where a record that looks like a single line entry in the State’s files can take real work to trace and document correctly. See how-to-claim/documents for what the State generally asks for, and how-to-claim/timeline for how long the Controller’s review tends to take.

What does it cost to use a recovery service for a securities claim?

A fee to locate, deliver, or recover property reported under Code of Civil Procedure §1530, which includes securities, cannot exceed 10 per cent of the property recovered (CCP §1582(a)(2)(C)). That cap does not reach estates that arrive through county probate, which fall under a different part of the Probate Code, but the ordinary securities category discussed here is squarely within the capped category.

No fee may be collected before the Controller approves the claim and pays the owner, and an agreement is invalid if it is entered into during the window between the holder’s report and the State taking custody of the property. We charge a percentage of what is actually recovered and nothing if nothing is recovered. An owner may also assert, at any time, that a recovery agreement involved excessive or unjust consideration. See resources/finder-fee-law for the statute in full.

What should I do if I think I have unclaimed shares?

There is no deadline for claiming California unclaimed property, so an old stock position reported years ago is still claimable unless the underlying estate has been permanently escheated. The practical difficulty with securities is not urgency but tracing: matching a decades-old name, a maiden name, a former address, or an employer stock plan to a current claimant, and then assembling the notarized paperwork the State requires.

Start with a search of our index, which covers 14,639,722 property records across every category the State reports, including securities. If a search surfaces a record, or if you believe a position was reported but cannot locate it, our services/full-service-recovery service handles the tracing, documentation, and notarized filing on a contingency basis. If the holding instead came through a relative’s estate rather than a direct report, see property/probate-estates for how that category works differently.

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.