1. Make sure it's a tax deed sale
Florida has two kinds of surplus that look alike on a lead list. A tax deed sale follows an unpaid tax certificate, is run by the clerk under chapter 197, and its surplus moves on a 120-day clock from the clerk's notice. A judicial foreclosure is a court case under chapter 45, with its own owner-of-record rules and a one-year mark. If your list mixes them, split it before you do anything else. Our foreclosure surplus guide covers the court-case side.
Rules have also changed over time, so check which version applies to your sale date. Hillsborough's clerk, for example, uses a different claim affidavit for sales before August 15, 2019 than for sales from that date on. Note the sale date on every case and use the form the clerk assigns to it.
2. Start with the clerk's list, then open the tax deed file
Most clerks publish a list of undisbursed surplus. Expect it to be thin. Hillsborough's weekly spreadsheet gives only the file number and the unclaimed amount. The useful details sit in the tax deed file itself: Hillsborough points to the Tax Collector's Certification, known as the DR 513, and the O&E report, both free in the clerk's public access viewer. It also warns that the file has to be searched as year and case number, so "2016-142" finds the file and "16-LW-000142" from the spreadsheet does not.
From the file, copy these as their own fields:
- File, certificate and case numbers. Keep the clerk's file number as your working ID.
- Sale date and notice date. The 120 days run from the date of the clerk's notice, not from the sale.
- Parcel or folio number and the property address.
- Legal titleholder of record, with the name spelled exactly as filed.
- Every person and lienholder the notice went to, and the address used for each.
- The surplus amount and any claims the clerk already shows on the file. Hillsborough lists claims filed on files that still hold money.
Our free surplus case worksheet keeps those fields together and exports them as a CSV, without sending anything to Locate.
3. Work out where the case sits on the clock
- After the sale
- From the proceeds, the clerk pays the certificateholder, then government liens of record, including tax certificates and omitted taxes not in the deed application. Only what's left is surplus for private claimants.
- Notice date
- The clerk mails the notice of surplus. For unclaimed-property purposes, the money is treated as payable from this date.
- Day 120
- Claims are due. A claim not filed by the close of business on the 120th day is barred, except a claim by the property owner. A lienholder that misses it has waived its interest.
- Up to 90 more days
- The clerk either pays by its determination of priority or files an interpleader in circuit court when claims may conflict. A lawsuit to force payment isn't ripe until both periods end.
- No claims at all
- The legal titleholder of record is conclusively presumed entitled, and the clerk processes the money under chapter 717, Florida's unclaimed property law.
So the owner's exception doesn't mean nothing changes after 120 days. Where the money is by then, and which process now applies to it, depends on the case, so confirm the current status with the clerk before you tell anyone what they can expect.
4. Find out where the notice went, and why it may not have arrived
Section 197.502(4) says who gets the notice and where. The titleholder of record gets it at the address on the deed that conveyed the property to them, or at the address on the latest assessment roll if they are also the person assessed. Lienholders and mortgagees get it at the address on their recorded instrument, or at an address a financial institution has registered with the Department of State, and anyone assessed on the last roll is notified too.
That's the gap recovery teams work in. A deed address can be decades old. A tax-roll mailing address can be a rental the owner left, a relative's house or a PO box nobody checks. The clerk did what the statute asks; the owner may still have no idea there's money. Keep the address the notice used separate from any address you find later, and never overwrite one with the other.
Match the titleholder of record, not whoever lives at the property now. The person in the house may be a tenant, a buyer from the tax deed sale or a family member with no claim of their own.
5. When the owner has died or the owner is a company
A deceased owner
An obituary helps you confirm identity and find family names, but it decides nothing about who is owed the money. Hillsborough's page is specific about estate claims. A claim made for an estate "as an undetermined heir" needs government photo identification and either a Summary Administration Order or a disposition of personal property without administration under chapter 735, showing the surplus distributed to the heirs the court determined. The clerk also asks claimants to research the tax deed file before starting a probate case, because opening an estate for money the estate isn't entitled to helps nobody.
A company owner
If the titleholder is an LLC or a corporation, the company is the claimant, and you need the person who can act for it now. Match the company on the state registry first, then read the people on its filings by their role. A registered agent is the company's contact for legal papers, which on its own doesn't make them an owner. Our LLC walkthrough covers the registry step, and a dissolved company may need its own review before anyone can sign for it.
6. If you work for a recovery company
Clerks check who you are and who you represent. Hillsborough accepts claims only by mail, at the address printed on its forms. With the claim it asks a titleholder for a legible copy of government identification, a lienholder for a payoff statement or affidavit of indebtedness, and a third-party asset recovery company for documentation of its contract with the titleholder or lienholder, plus both parties' government photo identification. The statutory claim form itself is sworn and notarized or signed before a deputy clerk. Other counties ask for different things, so read each clerk's current page instead of reusing one checklist everywhere.
Stop and get a qualified reviewer involved when claims conflict, when the clerk has filed an interpleader, when an estate hasn't been opened or its order doesn't cover the surplus, or when the money appears to have moved under chapter 717. Those are legal questions, and a better phone number won't settle them.
7. Where Locate fits
Locate is built for the contact step, once you know whose money it is. You upload a case list with the clerk's file number as your ID, the titleholder's name and the property and mailing addresses. Locate looks for people linked to each property, keeps your file number on every row, holds company owners for LLC review instead of guessing a person, and shows possible relatives as clues rather than heirs. It doesn't read clerk files, decide entitlement or file claims. Locate is in early access; you can request access and see the surplus recovery workflow first.
Sources and limits
- 2026 Florida Statutes 197.582. Disbursement of tax deed proceeds: government liens first, the mailed notice, the 120-day claim period and the owner's exception in (5), the clerk's 90-day review and interpleader in (6), and chapter 717 processing in (9). Checked October 13, 2026.
- 2026 Florida Statutes 197.502. Subsection (4) lists who is notified before a tax deed sale and at which address. Checked October 13, 2026.
- Hillsborough County Clerk, Tax Deed Sales. Claim forms by sale date, mail-only claims, documents for titleholders, lienholders, recovery companies and estates, the weekly surplus spreadsheet and the DR 513 and O&E report. Checked October 13, 2026.
This is a Florida example built on Hillsborough County's published procedure. Other Florida clerks use their own forms and filing rules, and other states handle tax sale surplus very differently. It's a research method for professional teams, not legal advice or a claim filing service.