Group Policy Benefit/Clm Pmts: What This Category Means

• Group Policy Benefit/Clm Pmts (code IN02) covers uncashed insurance claim checks, premium refunds, and overpayments from group health, dental, and life policies.
• California holds 426,902 records in this category worth $215,709,318 combined, with an average value of $505.
• Anthem, Elevance Health, Delta Dental of California, Wellpoint, UnitedHealthcare, and Aetna report the largest volumes.
• There is no deadline to claim this property, and claims of $1,000 or more in cash must be notarized.
• Any recovery fee for these records is capped at 10 per cent because they are reported under Code of Civil Procedure §1530.

What does "Group Policy Benefit/Clm Pmts" actually mean?

This category holds money tied to group insurance policies, the kind offered through an employer or association rather than bought individually. When an insurer owes a policyholder or a claimant money and cannot deliver it, that payment eventually becomes unclaimed property. In practice this is rarely a large life insurance death benefit. It is far more often a small dollar amount: a claim reimbursement check mailed to an old address, a premium refund after a policy cancellation, an overpayment correction, or a coordination-of-benefits refund between two insurers.

The average record in this category is worth $505, which fits that pattern. Most of the money is modest, forgotten sums rather than headline windfalls. That said, 1,628 records in California are worth $10,000 or more, so the category does include some substantial payments, typically larger claim settlements or accumulated benefit payments that were never cashed.

How does this money end up with the State Controller?

California law requires holders of unclaimed property, insurers included, to report it to the State Controller after a period of inactivity, under Code of Civil Procedure §1530. If an insurer cannot locate the person owed a group policy benefit after reasonable attempts, it must file a holder report and, at the required remittance date, pay the funds over rather than keep them indefinitely. Businesses generally file their notice report before 1 November and remit funds between 1 and 15 June of the following year (Source: State Controller, holder reporting). Life insurance companies follow a different calendar, filing before 1 May and remitting between 1 and 15 December.

This is a routine compliance process, not a sign that anything went wrong with the original claim. The check existed, it was owed, and it simply never reached the person who was supposed to cash it.

Which companies report the most of this property?

In California’s records, six companies account for the bulk of this category. Anthem Inc. has reported 86,931 records worth $35,869,087. Elevance Health Inc. has reported 59,195 records worth $29,228,417. Delta Dental of California has reported 33,287 records worth $8,952,817. Wellpoint Inc. has reported 18,323 records worth $5,373,397. UnitedHealthcare Insurance Co has reported 16,222 records worth $5,552,153, and Aetna Life Insurance Company has reported 13,229 records worth $5,349,375.

These are large national and regional insurers with millions of policyholders, so the volume is unsurprising. It also means a policyholder who has ever held group health or dental coverage through one of these carriers has a reasonable chance of appearing somewhere in this file, whether or not they know it.

What does claiming this kind of property involve?

The State Controller requires a completed claim form, proof of identity, and evidence connecting the claimant to the property, such as an old policy number, an address history, or, for an heir, probate documentation. If the cash amount is $1,000 or more, the claim must be notarized; the same applies to any claim involving securities or a safe deposit box, regardless of value (Source: State Controller, unclaimed property). A California notary may charge at most $15 per signature for an acknowledgment or jurat (Source: Government Code §8211).

There is no deadline for filing. California holds unclaimed property indefinitely until the owner or their heirs come forward, with the narrow exception of estates that have been permanently escheated to the State, which are no longer recoverable. For most Group Policy Benefit/Clm Pmts records, the claimant is simply the original policyholder or beneficiary named on the insurer’s report, which tends to make the documentation for these claims comparatively straightforward next to, for example, an heir claiming a deceased relative’s estate.

Does the 10 per cent fee cap apply here?

Yes. Group Policy Benefit/Clm Pmts is reported under §1530, so 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 extend to estates that reach the State through county probate, which follow a different part of the Probate Code and carry no fee restriction, but that distinction does not affect this category.

An agreement to recover this property must also be in writing, must disclose the nature and value of the property, and cannot require any payment before the Controller approves and pays the claim. An owner may challenge a fee as excessive or unjust at any time, no matter when the agreement was signed.

What should you do next?

Because these are individual, name-matched records rather than probate estates, the fastest way to find out whether you are owed money in this category is to search directly. Our index covers 14,613,528 State Controller property records, which includes the Group Policy Benefit/Clm Pmts entries described here. If a match turns up and you would rather not handle the notarization, documentation, and filing yourself, our full-service recovery handles it for the standard 10 per cent fee, charged only 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 7 October 2026. The State republishes the file weekly, so current totals will differ. Search is always against the latest copy.