When a property sells for more than what was owed, the leftover — the "excess proceeds" — sits in the Harris County District Clerk's registry until someone claims it. We research which cases have unclaimed funds and who they belong to.
We file a public information request for the current excess-proceeds list held by the Harris County District Clerk.
We cross-check cause numbers, sale dates, and filing deadlines against the District Clerk's own case search, so the list we work from is current, not stale.
Appraisal district and county clerk deed records only — we don't run private database searches to locate people, which keeps this a research service rather than a licensed investigations business.
You get the case number, amount, deadline, and a documentation checklist — enough to file the petition yourself or take to an attorney of your choosing.
Bayou Claims Group was started by a small group of Harris County natives — people who grew up here, went through school here, and have seen up close how much money the system quietly holds onto simply because the person it belongs to never found out it existed.
Excess proceeds sit in a court registry, not a mailbox. Finding out you're owed money means knowing which government office to ask, what a "cause number" is, and how to read a case file — none of which is obvious, and none of which should stand between someone and money that's already legally theirs. We built this because the people most likely to be owed these funds are often the least likely to have the time, connections, or information to go looking for them.
We're not attorneys, and we don't pretend to be. What we do is the unglamorous part — reading registries, cross-checking case numbers, tracking deadlines — so that by the time it reaches you, claiming what's yours is a lot less intimidating.
A self-serve, flat-fee directory — we don't match, screen, or recommend any attorney over another. Browse and contact directly. Attorneys: see below to apply for a listing.
This directory is new — the first attorneys to apply will appear here. Each listing will show name, State Bar number, practice area, and direct contact info only.
No — but you should be skeptical of anyone contacting you about money you're "owed," including us, and verify independently. Everything we reference is public record. You can look up any case yourself, for free, using the Harris County District Clerk's own search tool (linked below) before trusting anything we send you.
You don't have to — the county, the case search, and the law library are all free and open to the public. We charge a flat fee for the time it takes to find, verify, and package a case, as an option for people who'd rather not do that legwork themselves. You're always free to file directly.
No. Texas law (Tax Code §34.04(i)) only allows licensed attorneys to charge a fee contingent on recovering excess proceeds. We're not attorneys, so we don't do that — our fee, if any, is flat and paid up front for the research itself, regardless of outcome.
See our Privacy Policy for the full detail. Short version: we collect only what's needed to verify a case, we don't sell personal information, and you can ask us to delete your record at any time.
Use the District Clerk's Search Records tool directly, or contact the Accounting Section at court.registry@hcdistrictclerk.com / 832-927-5800.
Under Texas Tax Code §34.04(i), only a licensed attorney may charge a fee to obtain excess proceeds on someone's behalf — capped at 25% of the recovery or $1,000, whichever is less. We are not attorneys and we do not file petitions or charge a fee contingent on what you recover.
You can always look up and claim these funds yourself, at no cost beyond court filing fees, using the Harris County District Clerk's Search Records tool and the self-help resources at the Harris County Law Library, 1019 Congress, Houston.