The Arkansas Auditor of State holds the state's unclaimed property and is, in the words of its own search page, statutorily obliged to return it to the rightful owners or heirs, which it does through the Great Arkansas Treasure Hunt. Each year businesses and government agencies, the holders, report millions of dollars to the state, and what arrives includes savings and checking accounts, unpaid wages or commissions, stocks, bonds, utility deposits, insurance proceeds, cashier's checks, money orders and the contents of safe deposit boxes. The office defines its two sides plainly: an owner is a person to whom unclaimed property is owed, and a holder is a company that reports and remits it to the state. The owner, the estate or a lawful heir may file a claim, and the office states that it will never charge anyone to claim their property.
One thing the search will not show is how much is at stake. To protect owners' privacy the office does not publish exact dollar amounts, and the amount owed appears on the claim form once the claim has been filed, which means a claim is worth starting even when the record looks unpromising. Most claims are filed electronically on the state's claim site, and anyone who prefers can telephone 1-800-CLAIMIT, which is 1-800-252-4648, and have a representative help them file. For Arkansas records held locally, see the Arkansas county pages.
- Notary line: a notarised claim form is required for any claim worth $1,000 or more, and for any claim containing shares of stock or safe deposit box contents.
- Electronic signature: allowed only on a single owner claim under $5,000; multiple owners, stock, royalties and box contents all need a signed paper form.
- Payment: checks are processed weekly and posted on Fridays from Little Rock, with no same day checks and no direct deposit.
- No deadline: the Auditor keeps unclaimed property in perpetuity, and a claim that has gone inactive can be restarted at any time.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Arkansas's own systems: the Arkansas Auditor of State search for property page, the state service listing for searching unclaimed property, each read on October 14, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
What every claim needs, and what some claims need as well
The Auditor sets a base list and then adds to it. Every claim requires a copy of a government issued identification document and a Social Security number or, for a business, a federal employer identification number. Beyond that the requirements depend on the kind of claim, since an owner claim, an heir claim and a business claim each call for different evidence, and the office may ask for further proof of ownership such as evidence of a previous address or verification from the holder that reported the money.
The useful part of the process is that the office tells the claimant what it needs rather than leaving them to guess: once a claim is filed, an email sets out any additional documentation required, and supplying it promptly is what moves the claim up the queue. A changed name is evidenced with a marriage certificate or a court document showing the change. Where the property stands in the name of a deceased relative, legal heirs, meaning beneficiaries, spouses, children and the like, may claim, and the office asks for documents proving heirship such as a probated will or an affidavit of heirship, with its claim line available to talk through whether a particular relative qualifies.
How the form must be signed
Two thresholds decide whether a claim can be finished on a screen. A notarised claim form is required for claims valued at or above $1,000, and for any claim that contains shares of stock or the contents of a safe deposit box, whatever it is worth. An electronic signature is accepted only on single owner claims valued under $5,000, so a claim with more than one owner, or one that includes stock, royalties or box contents, still requires a signed claim form submitted with the supporting documents.
In practice that means a straightforward claim for a few hundred dollars can be completed online in a sitting, while anything larger or shared involves printing, signing and, above a thousand dollars, finding a notary. Documents can be uploaded from a computer or a mobile telephone, posted, or brought to the office in person, although the Auditor says the best way to deal with a claim is by telephone.
Timing, and how the money arrives
The office states its goal as expediting claims, and then gives the realistic figure: depending on the complexity of the claim and the office's claim volume, processing can take up to 90 days. The status of a claim is checked online with the claim identifier, which appears in the upper right corner of the claim form under the barcode or in the email sent when the claim was filed, and the property identifier from the property detail section is the other number worth having before telephoning.
Payment is deliberately unhurried: checks are processed weekly and typically posted on Fridays by ordinary post from Little Rock, there are no same day checks, and the office does not offer direct deposit at all, so an out of state claimant should allow for postal time on top of the processing time. A claim that does not meet the requirements is not simply dropped, since the office notifies the claimant by email, letter or telephone, and only denies a claim where it decides the person is not the rightful owner.
Scams, fees and other states
Two warnings sit in the Auditor's own questions. Anyone offered help to locate unclaimed money for a fee is told that the office's representatives will assist free of charge and given the claim line to call instead. And the office states that it will never text anyone to notify them about unclaimed property, describing that as a common tactic used by scammers to get personal information, so any such message is not legitimate. For property in other states the office points to the national search, with a caution worth repeating: a name on the national site may match without the property being the searcher's, because a person must have lived in a state to have unclaimed property there.
Reading an Arkansas result
A record here is listed under the name a holder reported, with no amount attached, so the only way to learn what it is worth is to file. That makes the search cheap in effort and uncertain in reward, which is the opposite of most states and an argument for claiming anything plausible. Nothing expires, since the office keeps property in perpetuity, and a claim abandoned halfway can be picked up again later rather than started afresh.
Before filing it is worth knowing which side of the two thresholds the claim will fall on, because a notarised form and a posted check are a different exercise from an electronic signature and an email.
Questions about unclaimed property in Arkansas
Related Arkansas records
Arkansas's other public records guides on this site are the Arkansas background check guide for the State Police criminal history service, the Arkansas court records guide for the judiciary's online case information, the Arkansas arrest records guide for what a booking makes public, and the Arkansas county pages for every county office.