Question 1

What are surplus funds?

Accepted Answer

Surplus funds (sometimes called excess proceeds or tax-sale overage) are leftover money after a property is sold at a tax sale, sheriff sale, or foreclosure auction. If the property sold for more than was owed, the leftover money may belong to the former owner, an heir, or a junior lienholder — not the buyer of the property.

Question 2

How do I know if I am owed surplus funds?

Accepted Answer

You usually find out one of three ways: the county or court mails a notice (people often miss these), a relative tells you, or a research company contacts you. You can also call your county clerk, tax assessor, or sheriff's office directly and ask. Halos Over Houses can also run a soft eligibility pre-screen for you on this site.

Question 3

Is this a scam?

Accepted Answer

Surplus funds are real and the recovery process is legitimate — but the industry has bad actors. The honest answer is: you can claim funds yourself by going directly to your county at no cost. Halos Over Houses exists for people who want help building a clean, attorney-reviewed file, but we will never pressure you and we will never tell you that you must use us. See our /is-this-a-scam page for the full breakdown.

Question 4

How much does Halos Over Houses charge?

Accepted Answer

We use a tiered fee that drops as the claim size grows: 35% under $5,000, 30% from $5,001–$15,000, 25% from $15,001–$50,000, 20% from $50,001–$100,000, and custom pricing above $100,000. Fees are only collected if funds are successfully recovered. We never charge upfront.

Question 5

Will you ask for my Social Security Number, bank info, or ID?

Accepted Answer

Not through the website. Any sensitive documentation is handled later, by the reviewing attorney, with written consent and through secure channels. If anyone calls or emails asking for that info up front, that is a major red flag — and not how we operate.

Question 6

Can I just contact the county myself?

Accepted Answer

Yes — and we honestly recommend it if you have time, comfort with paperwork, and the records. Counties don't charge you to ask. Halos Over Houses is for situations where the paperwork, deadlines, or heir documentation feel like more than you want to handle alone, or where the case benefits from attorney review.

Question 7

Do I need an attorney?

Accepted Answer

In many surplus-funds cases an attorney is required by the court or strongly recommended for filing the actual claim. Halos Over Houses is not a law firm. Our role is to research the public record and build the evidence packet. The legal filing is handled by an independently licensed attorney we route the file to.

Question 8

How long does the process take?

Accepted Answer

It varies. Some counties release funds in 60–90 days after a clean claim is filed; some take six months or more, especially where heirship documentation is involved. We'll be honest with you about the timeline for your county and won't promise speed we can't deliver.

Question 9

What if I don't live in the same state as the property?

Accepted Answer

That's common, especially for heirs. Most surplus claims can be filed by mail or by an attorney appearing in the county where the property was located. We routinely work with claimants who live in a different state from the property.

Question 10

Are you a law firm or competing with attorneys?

Accepted Answer

No. Halos Over Houses is a research and intake company. We never appear in court, never file claims ourselves, and never solicit attorney–client relationships. Every claim is routed to an independently licensed attorney for review and filing. We are a referrer of well-documented work, not a competitor.

Question 11

What does a Halos evidence packet look like?

Accepted Answer

A clean packet includes: county record citations (case number, sale date, sale price, original judgment), deed history and chain of title summary, public lien search results, heirship indicators where relevant, a written claimant interview summary (no sensitive identifiers), and our internal eligibility memo. Sensitive documents are not collected by us; they are collected by the reviewing attorney with the client.

Question 12

How do you handle compliance?

Accepted Answer

We work from a written red-line list (see /compliance): no SSN/bank/ID intake via the website, no recovery guarantees, no government-affiliation language, no high-pressure outreach, no funds handled directly by Halos. AI tools deployed on the website operate under the same guardrails enforced in their system prompts.

Question 13

How are referrals routed and what is the fee split?

Accepted Answer

Routing and any fee arrangement depends on the state's rules of professional conduct and is structured to comply with applicable bar rules. We typically operate as a fee-paid research vendor, not a fee-share partner, but exact arrangements are agreed in writing per attorney and per jurisdiction.

Question 14

What states and counties do you cover?

Accepted Answer

Active focus: Texas (Dallas, Tarrant, Collin, Denton), Georgia (Fulton, DeKalb), Florida (Miami-Dade, Broward), and Ohio (Cuyahoga). We are expanding county-by-county based on attorney coverage. See /areas for the current map.

Questions answered honestly.