For heirs & family

The house was your parent's. The county sold it — or holds its money. Here is the family's path.

Heir cases are where this system fails hardest: the owner has died, the notices go to an empty house, and the first letter the family reads comes from a recovery company asking for 30%. The surplus is still the family's. The path is one step longer than the owner's — proof of heirship — and the deadline does not wait for grief.

Count the deadline (tick the heir box)

What changes for heirs

Same money, longer proof chain

Where the simple path ends: siblings who disagree, a will that surfaces late, a second marriage, a break in the deed chain, or a claim the county contests. Any one of these turns a form into a case — that is the point where a real-estate or probate attorney earns their fee, and this site will tell you to hire one rather than pretend otherwise.

Included in the $49 TaxSaleDecoded Kit

  • The surplus claim pack: how to prove the house was yours (deed records, address history, ID), the claim-form path in your state, and what to do when the county says it has no record of your money
  • The redemption playbook: your state's window and cost formula worked step by step, who to pay, how to prove you paid, and the traps in the payoff figure (added fees and interest)
  • The heirs page: the house was a parent's — what changes, which papers prove you are an heir, and the point where it stops being simple
  • The scam shield: how surplus-recovery companies work, the fee caps your state sets for them, and the assignment papers you should never sign
  • The lookback module: what Tyler won, what Pung limited (the extra money is the sale price minus the debt — not your home's value), and the dated state lookbacks, including Illinois claims that die in July 2028

Get the TaxSaleDecoded Kit — $49

One payment of $49. No subscription. The kit is a web page you can return to and print — the claim pack, the redemption playbook, the heirs page, and the scam shield.

Heir questions

Can an heir claim a parent's tax-sale surplus?

In most states, yes — the surplus follows the ownership, and heirs stand in the owner's shoes. What changes is the proof: death certificate, your relationship, and in many states an heirship affidavit or a probate filing before the county will release money.

The notices went to a house our parent no longer lived in. Is that legal?

Usually, yes — counties mail to the address of record, and Tyler did not change notice law. That is exactly why heir cases cluster around surplus claims: the family learns about the sale from a recovery company's letter, months later.

Do we need probate to claim?

Sometimes. Small amounts and clear heirship often move on affidavits; contested heirship, multiple estates, or a will dispute means probate first. The honest line: when siblings disagree or the paper trail breaks, stop and hire the attorney — the claim deadline keeps running while you decide, so decide fast.

A company contacted us about 'found money' from the house. Trust it?

Verify before you sign: call the office on your state page and ask whether a surplus exists and its amount. That call is free. The company's percentage is charged on money the county will confirm to you directly. See the scam shield.

The surplus claim, explained · The recovery-company letter, decoded