New York Unclaimed Funds: How to Claim Your $250 Payout in 2025?

New York Unclaimed Funds: Unclaimed funds (sometimes called “unclaimed property”) are sums of money or financial assets that have been forgotten, lost track of, or never claimed by their rightful owner. In New York, these could include:

• Dormant bank or savings/checking accounts
• Uncashed checks, including payroll, dividends, reimbursements
• Insurance payouts or policies
• Utility or telephone security deposits
• Stocks, bonds, mutual funds
• Estate proceeds from deceased individuals, where heirs haven’t claimed the money

Businesses, banks, courts, insurance companies etc., by law, have to report such dormant or abandoned assets to the New York State Comptroller after a certain period of inactivity. The Comptroller’s office holds them in trust, and you or your heirs can claim them.

The $250 Automatic Payout Rule

A big change recently made things easier:

1. If the amount you are owed as unclaimed property is $250 or less, you no longer need to file a claim manually. Once the Comptroller verifies ownership, they will automatically send you a check.

2. If the amount is more than $250, the old process still applies: you will need to submit a claim, prove your identity/ownership, etc.

This change is fairly recent (from 2025), so amounts reported after the relevant citing date are covered under this rule for under-$250 funds.

New York Unclaimed Funds: Who Is Eligible to Claim?

Here are the conditions that make you (or someone eligible) able to claim unclaimed funds in New York:

1. You must be the owner (or heir) of the funds (or have been associated with the business or entity that held them). If the property is in your name (or a formerly used name or business name), that helps.

2. There must be some connection to a New York address or prior address that matches what’s in the unclaimed property records. If the address in the record matches a previous address of yours, it strengthens the claim.

3. In a case that the property is registered under the name of a deceased person, their legal heirs or representatives can definitely lodge a claim on the deceased person’s behalf. There should be documents such as the death certificate and an evidence of authority (e.g. the executor, the administrator) accompanying the claim.

4. For a business claim, some necessary documents include the business name registration document, EIN (Employer Identification Number), a statement of the business owner’s rights, etc.

5. When the name and the address under which you are registered are different from the ones in the records, you will be required to present a proof of address, a proof of name changes (e.g. marriage, court order, etc.), and other documents that the Comptroller’s office may demand.

AT&T Settlement 2025: Who’s Eligible and How to Claim by Nov 18, 2025

How to Search and Claim?

Here’s a step-by-step you can follow:

1. Visit the New York State Comptroller’s Unclaimed Funds website and use their search tool. You type in your name (or business name), optionally old addresses, city, ZIP, etc. Try variant spellings.

2. See if anything shows up. If yes, check if the address or other details match something from your past (old address, previous employer, etc.). If under $250 (new law), you might get the check automatically; if more, you will have to file an official claim.

3. Submit the claim, if necessary, with required documentation. This can include proof of identity (government-ID), proof of address, proof of ownership (bank statements, old checks, insurance policy info etc.), and for name/address changes, the relevant legal documents.

4. If claiming for someone deceased, include death certificate, proof of heirship or executor/administrator appointment.

5. Track the claim through the Comptroller’s system; once approved, the check (or payment) will be mailed. For amounts ≤ $250 (post-2025), verification is done and payment automates.

Common Issues

If you moved and didn’t update your address, you may not receive notification, so checking proactively is wise.

If the record shows an address you don’t recognize, it might still be yours under a previous address, so try to dig up old bills, leases, or resumes that give proof.

Be careful with scams: you should never pay a service to help you recover your own unclaimed funds. The official search and claim process is free.

There is a lot of money sitting unclaimed. New York is holding billions of dollars in unclaimed funds. For many people, the amount might be small individually, but collectively this is a large pool.

The recent legislations changes (automatic bank transfers for less than $250) result in people not having to undergo the administrative process for small sums of money, thus making it easier to get back what is rightfully theirs. It is also beneficial to the families of the dead, notably in situations where people had no idea about the assets, or the heirs were not informed.