Money the State Is Holding
ORC 169.08 — no limitations period bars the claim
Dormant accounts, uncashed checks, forgotten deposits and unclaimed wages get reported to the state and held. Any person claiming a property interest in unclaimed funds delivered or reported to the state may file a claim on the form the director of commerce prescribes.
Who handles this in Ohio: legal aid programs, lawyer referral and the state offices, listed in the Ohio directory.
No statute of limitations bars the allowance of a claim. That sentence is in the section, and it is the reason this page exists on a site otherwise full of deadlines. Money reported decades ago is still claimable. Nothing expires, and a claim is not late.
The director considers matters relevant to a claim and holds a formal hearing where one is requested or considered necessary, with a written finding and decision on each claim stating the reasons for allowing or disallowing it. A refusal comes with reasons rather than as a bare no.
Somebody offering to find your money for a cut is regulated, and the terms are fixed. All agreements to pay a fee or commission to locate, deliver, recover or assist in recovering unclaimed funds, entered into within two years immediately after the date the funds were reported, are invalid. An agreement made after that period is valid only if the total fee is not more than ten percent of the amount recovered and paid to the owner, and it has to be in writing, signed by the owner and notarized.
| The finder agreement | What ORC 169.13 does with it |
|---|---|
| The finder agreementMade within two years of the report | What ORC 169.13 does with itInvalid |
| The finder agreementMade after two years, fee over ten percent | What ORC 169.13 does with itNot valid |
| The finder agreementMade after two years, fee ten percent or less | What ORC 169.13 does with itValid if written, signed by the owner and notarized |
| The finder agreementSearching and claiming without any finder | What ORC 169.13 does with itFree, and the section puts no deadline on it |
The Ohio Department of Commerce runs the search and the claim form itself, at no charge. The existence of a paid finder industry is the reason the ceiling and the two year rule were written, not a sign that the process needs one.
What kinds of property are reported, when a holder has to report them, the documentation a particular claim needs, how a claim on behalf of a deceased owner or a business is made, and the appeal from a disallowed claim are in the chapter and in the division's own procedure, and are not reproduced here. This page does not say whether any particular person has funds held. The Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Unclaimed Funds runs the public search, and its own site is where a claim is started.
Sources for this section (3)
- ORC 169.08 — Claiming unclaimed funds, and the absence of a limitations bar
- ORC 169.13 — Finder agreements, the two years and the ten percent ceiling
- ORC 169.03 — Reporting unclaimed funds to the state
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Ohio attorney.