Schwab Unclaimed Property Sent to California: $492 Million

• Schwab has turned over 72,409 unclaimed property records to California, totaling $492,282,934.
• The largest categories are Underlying Shares/Outstanding Certificates ($223,382,547) and Credit Balances ($137,298,110).
• 7,443 of these records are worth $10,000 or more.
• Securities claims must be notarized regardless of value, and recovery fees for property reported this way are capped at 10 per cent under state law.
• There is no deadline to claim this property; California holds it until the owner or heir comes forward.

How much Schwab property is sitting with the State Controller?

Charles Schwab, like every brokerage, is required to report accounts and balances that have gone dormant to the California State Controller under Code of Civil Procedure §1530. Our index currently shows 72,409 Schwab-originated records, with a combined value of $492,282,934. The average record is worth $6,799, and 7,443 records are valued at $10,000 or more. These are not abstract numbers from a government portal; they are individual accounts, each tied to a named owner who had a relationship with Schwab as a customer, and in some cases as an employee or supplier whose payment never reached them.

Property reaches this list for ordinary reasons. An account holder moves and does not update an address. A brokerage statement bounces for a period set by law and the account is treated as dormant. Schwab then reports it, and eventually remits the cash or securities to the state, as required under State Controller holder reporting rules. None of this implies wrongdoing by Schwab or carelessness by the owner. It is a routine, high-volume administrative process that happens to every large financial institution.

What kinds of Schwab property are involved?

• Underlying Shares/Outstanding Certificates — 16,672 records, $223,382,547. These are share positions where the underlying certificate was never claimed or surrendered.
• Credit Balances — 33,070 records, $137,298,110. Cash sitting in a brokerage account, often from a sale, dividend, or account closure.
• Shares of Stock (Returned by Post Office) — 7,274 records, $43,758,776. Certificates or statements mailed to an address that no longer reached the owner.
• Mutual Fund Shares — 2,943 records, $30,206,486.
• Traditional IRA – Securities — 563 records, $10,697,090.
• Traditional IRA – Cash — 964 records, $3,695,196.

Each category carries its own paperwork trail, and some, particularly IRA property, raise questions about tax treatment that are outside what any recovery firm can advise on. Those questions belong with an accountant or attorney, not with us.

How do I check whether one of these records is mine?

The fastest way is to search by name against our index, which currently covers 14,671,435 property records drawn from State Controller files, including the Schwab entries described above. A match will show the category of property, an approximate value range, and the holder name. It will not show a street address; the State does not publish those, and we will not either.

If you had a Schwab brokerage account, an IRA, a 401(k) rollover, or were owed a dividend or settlement at any point and later changed address, moved states, or simply lost track of a smaller account, it is worth a look. Start at our search page.

What does it cost to have this recovered?

Property reported under §1530, which includes brokerage holdings like these Schwab records, is subject to a statutory cap: a recovery fee may not exceed 10 per cent of what is recovered (CCP §1582(a)(2)(C)). That cap does not apply to property that reaches the State through probated estates, which arrive under a different part of the Probate Code, but ordinary brokerage accounts like the Schwab categories above are squarely inside the capped category.

We charge that 10 per cent, and only after the Controller approves the claim and pays. No fee is collected upfront, and an agreement that asked for one would be invalid under CCP §1582(a)(1)(B). Full detail on how the fee law works, including the probate exception, is on our finder fee law page, and our own rates are set out on the pricing page.

Does it matter that some of this is securities, not cash?

Yes, for the paperwork. Claims involving securities must be notarized regardless of the dollar value, as must safe deposit box claims; cash claims only require notarization above $1,000. A California notary may charge at most $15 per signature for an acknowledgment and $15 for a jurat (Government Code §8211(a)-(b)). Where a Schwab record is listed as Underlying Shares, Mutual Fund Shares, or IRA Securities, expect the claim packet to include a notarized affidavit alongside whatever ownership documents the Controller requests. Our documents guide walks through what is typically asked for.

What if the Schwab account belonged to someone who has died?

If the account holder is deceased, the claim usually runs through the heirs or the estate rather than the original owner, and the process differs depending on whether the estate went through probate. We separately index 4,438 claimable probate estates, holding about $59,038,273 combined, drawn from the State’s Estates of Deceased Persons File, which the Controller refreshes on the first business day of April and October. If a Schwab holding passed into a probated estate, the 10 per cent cap described above does not apply, since probate-sourced property falls outside §1530. See our probate estates page and claiming as an heir or executor for how that differs from an ordinary individual claim. We do not advise on who is legally entitled to inherit; that is a matter for an attorney or the probate court.

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.