California Excess Proceeds by County: Where the Lists Are, Who Can Claim, and the One-Year Deadline

When a tax-defaulted parcel sells for more than the minimum bid, the county does not keep the difference. The surplus is called excess proceeds, and California law directs it to the people who held an interest in the parcel before the sale — lienholders first, then the former owner. This article covers what the surplus is, who ranks ahead of whom, the one-year deadline, where the six counties we track publish their lists and claim forms, and the rules that govern the firms that offer to file for you.

What excess proceeds are

The minimum bid at a California tax sale is the redemption amount plus costs — the defaulted taxes, penalties, fees and the county's cost of conducting the sale. Under Revenue and Taxation Code §§4671–4673.1 the sale price is first applied to those amounts. Whatever remains is excess proceeds, and §4674 requires the county to hold it in a trust fund.

Because minimum bids are set by arrears and not by value, the surplus can be large. On a house with a $12,000 minimum bid that sells for $250,000, the excess is about $238,000. Across the full-roster results we hold, parcels that opened under a quarter of assessed value sold at a median of 3.14× the opening bid; most of that multiple is excess proceeds owed to someone.

Who can claim, and in what order

§4675(a) allows any "party of interest in the property" to file a claim, "in proportion to his or her interest held with others of equal priority in the property at the time of sale." §4675(e) fixes the order of payment:

1. Lienholders of record before the tax deed was recorded, in the order of their priority. A first deed of trust is paid before a second; a judgment lien is paid in its recorded order.
2. Any person with title of record to all or part of the parcel before the tax deed was recorded — the former owner.

Lienholders are paid in full before the former owner receives anything. A former owner whose parcel carried a mortgage larger than the surplus will receive nothing; the lender takes it all.

Where the former owner has died, §4675(f) lets heirs support their claim with a small-estate affidavit under Probate Code §13100.

The one-year deadline

§4675(a): a claim may be filed "at any time prior to the expiration of one year following the recordation of the tax collector's deed to the purchaser." The clock starts at recording of the deed, not at the sale date, and the deed is usually recorded a few weeks after the sale.

Two consequences:

• The county cannot pay early. §4675(e) says distribution happens "no sooner than one year following the recordation," so even a clean claim waits out the year.
• Missing the window is fatal. Under §4674, proceeds not claimed within the year are transferred to the county general fund. There is no statutory extension. El Dorado County's page puts it plainly: claims must be postmarked on or before the deadline, and there is no grace period.

The county must try to find you. §4676 requires the county to notify parties of interest by mail — or by publication where no address is known — within 90 days of the sale whenever the excess is more than $150. That notice goes to the address on the roll and to lienholders' recorded addresses, which is why so many notices never arrive: an owner who lost a parcel to five years of unpaid taxes has often moved.

Once the board of supervisors decides a claim, any challenge must be filed in court within 90 days (§4675(g)).

Where each county publishes its list and form

Practice varies. Some counties post a list of every sale with excess proceeds and a downloadable claim form; some mail a form to the parties they can find and publish nothing. As of September 22, 2026, for the counties we track:

County	Where the list lives	Claim form	Notes
Calaveras	Tax Collector's Auctions page	Posted on the same page as "Excess Proceeds Claim Form"	Lists and form under the Tax Collector, not the Auditor
El Dorado	Auditor-Controller's Tax Sale Excess Proceeds page; parcels with excess shown on the Treasurer-Tax Collector's after-sale results	Four fillable PDFs: owner, lienholder, assignee of owner, assignee of lienholder	Claims go to the Auditor-Controller's Property Tax Division, (530) 621-5470 ext. 4
Fresno	Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector's Tax Sale & Excess Proceeds page, one list per sale with sale price and excess by item	PDF per sale on the same page	Deadlines posted per sale: the March–April 2025 sale closed April 29, 2026; the June 13, 2025 sale closed June 30, 2026. Original signatures required; incomplete claims are not processed; cheques issued no sooner than 90 days after board approval
Kern	Tax Defaulted Property Sales page	"Claim for Payment: Excess Proceeds From Tax Deeded Land Sales" PDF from the Treasurer-Tax Collector	Form requires the claimant to establish status as lienholder of record or prior titleholder
Nevada	Treasurer-Tax Collector's Auction (Property Tax Sale) page, organised by sale with each sale's claim deadline	Excess Proceeds Claim Form PDF	The November 13, 2025 sale's claim period closes December 19, 2026; forms were mailed to parties on December 20, 2024 for the prior sale
Placer	Not published online	Mailed by certified post to parties of interest after the sale; otherwise by written request to the Treasurer-Tax Collector	The Tax Land Sale page and its FAQ describe the process; no list of sales with excess is posted

If your county is not in the table, start with the tax collector's tax-sale page, then the auditor-controller. In many counties the auditor holds the trust fund and processes the claim even though the tax collector ran the sale.

What a claim needs

Every county's form asks for the same core items, and §4675(d) lets the board of supervisors require whatever proof it deems necessary:

• Proof of identity, usually a copy of photo identification.
• Proof of interest: a copy of the deed by which you held title, or for a lienholder, the recorded deed of trust or abstract of judgment plus a statement of the amount still owed at the sale date. Fresno asks trust-deed beneficiaries for a certified copy of the note, the deed of trust and any assignments.
• Original signatures — several counties reject copies — and in some counties a notarised signature.
• The claim form itself, addressed to the office named on it.

There is no filing fee. El Dorado's form says so in capitals: do not send money.

Assignments, recovery firms and the fee question

Because notices miss so many former owners, an industry exists to find them and file for a share. California regulates it in two ways, both in §4675:

§4675(b) — an assignment of the right to claim is valid only if it is "a dated, written instrument that explicitly states that the right to claim the excess proceeds is being assigned," and only after each party has disclosed to the other "all facts of which that party is aware relating to the value of the right that is being assigned." An assignment that fails either test "shall have no effect." A firm that gets you to sign without telling you how much is in the fund has an unenforceable assignment.

§4675(c) — anyone who files on behalf of a party of interest must submit proof "that the amount and source of excess proceeds have been disclosed to the party of interest and that the party of interest has been advised of their right to file a claim for the excess proceeds on their own behalf directly with the county at no cost."

A widely repeated claim is that California caps recovery fees at 10%. It is worth being precise about that. §4675 contains no percentage cap. Its protections are disclosure and the right to file yourself, not a fee limit. The 10% figure comes from Code of Civil Procedure §1582, which limits fees for locating property that has escheated to the State of California under the Unclaimed Property Law — money the State Controller holds, not money a county holds in its tax-sale trust fund. County excess proceeds within the one-year window are not state unclaimed property, and §1582 does not apply to them. Some counties impose conditions on assignee claims through their own claim forms and board policies; check the form.

The practical rules that follow:

• You can file yourself, for free. The form is one or two pages. The county is required by §4675(c) to make sure any firm has told you this.
• Ask how much is in the fund before you sign anything. The county will tell you. A firm that will not is offering an assignment §4675(b) makes void.
• Do not sign quickly. The deadline is a year. A firm that says you must sign today is lying about the clock.
• A modest, disclosed fee for genuine work is legal. Some firms do locate heirs and assemble probate paperwork that a family could not. The law targets concealment, not compensation.

What this means for a bidder

For the winning bidder, excess proceeds are someone else's money. But the mechanism explains two things a buyer should understand. First, a high winning bid does not enrich the county, so the county has no incentive to run the price up — the surplus goes out the door to a lender or a former owner. Second, the former owner's remaining claim is on the fund, not on the parcel; a properly recorded tax deed cuts off their interest in the land, and a challenge to the sale itself is a separate proceeding under §3725 with its own one-year clock. How California tax-defaulted auctions work covers the deed; quiet title after a tax deed covers what to do about the clock.

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This article describes the Revenue and Taxation Code and county procedures as of September 22, 2026 and is not legal or financial advice. Deadlines are strict and county pages move; confirm the current form and address with the county before filing, and consult an attorney before signing any assignment.