Guide · Reviewed October 2026

Got a Call About Illinois Tax-Sale Surplus Equity? How to Tell If It's Real

By Marc E. Marcus, Founder · Former IRS auditor · Serving Cook, Lake, Will & McHenry County, Illinois

Illinois' surplus equity fund (Public Act 104-0553) is claimed by petitioning the court that issued the tax deed. No county office calls to register you, and no one needs to pay to join the Kidd v. Pappas class action.

What the new law actually does

For decades an Illinois tax deed transferred the whole property to a tax buyer and the former owner kept nothing, however much equity had been in the home. After the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 decision in Tyler v. Hennepin County held that governments cannot keep more than the tax debt, Illinois passed HB 4537. It was signed as Public Act 104-0553, effective July 10, 2026, and it added a surplus equity fund to 35 ILCS 200/21-302, financed by fees on tax buyers. A former owner (or the owner's estate) petitions the court that ordered the tax deed, naming the County Treasurer as trustee of the fund, for the equity above the taxes, interest, and costs. Our step-by-step guide to the surplus equity fund covers the petition itself; this page is about the phone call that usually comes first.

Because the law is new and the money is real, the calls have started — from lawful firms and, inevitably, from people imitating them. The framework below is the same one we use on every surplus call, adapted for the tax-sale branch.

The call was probably legitimate if all of these hold

1. A tax deed was actually issued on a property you owned. Not a tax-sale notice, not a certificate of purchase, not a redemption letter — a deed, ordered by the Circuit Court in a tax deed case and recorded with the county. If you are not sure, the checks below take a few minutes.
2. The caller could state public facts — the county, the property address or PIN, the tax deed case number, roughly when the deed was issued — and did not need your Social Security number, date of birth, bank details, or ID photos to “confirm” you.
3. The math is plausible. Surplus equity is the property's value above the taxes, interest, penalties, and costs. If the home was worth little more than the tax debt, or was heavily mortgaged, the claim may be small; a caller quoting a large figure without explaining where it came from is guessing or selling.
4. Nothing upfront, one fee in writing, and the court pays you. A legitimate contingency firm or attorney charges a single percentage of what is actually recovered, puts it in writing before any work, and the court or Treasurer disburses the money. An upfront “registration,” “filing,” or “processing” charge is the signature of a scam.
5. They said you can do it yourself. The claim is a court petition any former owner may file, with or without a lawyer. A company that hides that, or claims to hold an exclusive right to file, is misleading you.
6. The company exists and never claimed to be the government. It appears in the Illinois Secretary of State business entity search (or its home state's registry), has a real office and a phone that reaches a named person, and never said it was the County Treasurer, the County Clerk, the Clerk of the Circuit Court, the Sheriff, the court, or the State of Illinois.

Several firms calling at once about the same property is not a sign of fraud. Tax deed files, recorded deeds, and the Treasurer's sale records are public, and recovery firms, attorneys, and claim buyers all read them. Our guide Why are companies calling me? explains the mechanics; they are the same for a tax sale.

Walk away if any of these appear

• A fee to “register” for the surplus equity fund, to be “added to the list,” or to “join” the Kidd v. Pappas class action. None of those things costs money, and two of them do not exist.
• The caller or text says it is the Treasurer, the Clerk, the court, or “the county” and needs a payment or your details to release money. Government offices do not call to solicit claims. The Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County warned residents in September 2026 about fraudulent texts demanding payment in the court's name.
• A “county claim form” that must be filed “this week,” or a warning that the money “disappears in days.” There is no county claim form as of September 2026, and the statutory deadlines run in years.
• Gift cards, wire transfers, cryptocurrency, or a payment app to “unlock,” “bond,” or “insure” the payout.
• A request for your Social Security number, bank login, or ID photos on the first contact, or a link in a text or email to “verify your identity.”
• A deed, a blanket power of attorney, or an assignment of your whole claim for a lump sum that does not disclose what the claim is worth.
• The property was never yours, was never lost to a tax deed (you redeemed, or only the taxes were sold and you still own it), or the caller cannot tell you which county the deed came from.

Why these calls are so confusing: three different things with similar names

• The annual tax sale. Each year the County Treasurer sells delinquent taxes to a tax buyer. That sells a lien, not your home. You keep the property and can redeem by paying what is owed during a statutory redemption period. Nobody is owed “surplus” at this stage; a surplus call here is premature at best.
• The tax deed. If the taxes are never redeemed, the tax buyer petitions the Circuit Court and, if the court agrees, a tax deed transfers the property. This is the moment equity is lost — and the only moment a surplus equity claim under Public Act 104-0553 comes into existence.
• The Kidd v. Pappas class action. A federal case over past Cook County tax sales in which a judge found that homeowners were unconstitutionally stripped of their equity; our explainer on the ruling has the background. It is a lawsuit with court-appointed class counsel, not a fund you register for. A recovery in the class action may reduce what the statutory fund pays, and vice versa, so it matters which path fits your facts — but neither path charges you to be part of it.

A fourth thing, mortgage-foreclosure surplus, is different again: it arises when a foreclosure auction brings more than the loan balance, and it is claimed in the foreclosure case under 735 ILCS 5/15-1512. Callers sometimes blur all four. Our general guide to surplus funds calls covers the foreclosure branch.

How to check for yourself, free

1. Find the tax deed case. Search your name or the property's PIN in the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County case search (for Lake, Will, or McHenry County, that county's Circuit Clerk search). A tax deed is issued only by court order in a tax deed case; if there is no case, there is no deed.
2. Confirm the deed was recorded. Look up the PIN with the county recorder (in Cook County, the Clerk's Recordings Division). The recording date drives your deadline, so note it.
3. Check the sale history. The County Treasurer's records show whether and when the taxes were sold; in Cook County the Treasurer's website lets you search by PIN. If the taxes were sold but no deed followed, ask the County Clerk about redemption instead.
4. Check the company. Search its legal name at the Illinois Secretary of State; if a lawyer is named, check the Illinois ARDC. Match the name on the registry to the name on any agreement.
5. Read the terms with our checklist. Our ten questions to ask before you sign and six-check verification guide apply to a tax-sale claim exactly as they do to a foreclosure claim.
6. Report a scam. Federal: ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Illinois: the Attorney General's Consumer Fraud Hotline, 1-800-386-5438. The FTC's March 30, 2026 alert on unexpected calls about unclaimed funds describes the pattern.

If a tax deed really was issued: your options and your deadline

You have three lawful ways forward, and the caller's company is at most one of them. You can petition the court yourself in the tax deed case (the step-by-step guide explains what the petition must show, including valuation evidence, and why the Treasurer may contest it). You can hire an attorney, on contingency or otherwise. Or you can use a contingency recovery firm that gathers the records and works with counsel. Whichever you choose, watch the clock: for deeds recorded roughly July 2024 through July 2026, petitions are generally due by about July 2028; for later deeds, generally two years from the recording date. Our deadline guide works through the dates. If the former owner has died, the claim generally runs through the estate; the heirs' guide covers the documents.

Not sure whether any of this applies to your old property? Start with Am I owed money from a Cook County tax sale? — a self-check that takes a few minutes.

How Lakeshore handles these calls

We make surplus equity calls too, so hold us to the tests above. Lakeshore Asset Recovery LLC is an Illinois company at 10 S. Riverside Plaza, Suite 875, Chicago; a person answers 773-270-9629. We tell you the county, the case, and what the public record shows before you decide anything, and we never ask for a Social Security number, bank details, or ID on a first call. Our fee is a single contingency percentage, in writing before any work, with nothing owed if nothing is recovered; the court or Treasurer disburses the money. We are not a law firm and not class counsel in Kidd v. Pappas, we do not charge anyone to “register” for anything, and if the record shows you do not need us, we say so. Details are on how it works and about us.

Sources: 35 ILCS 200/21-302 as amended by Public Act 104-0553 (HB 4537, effective July 10, 2026); Tyler v. Hennepin County, 598 U.S. 631 (2023); Kidd v. Pappas (U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois) and our explainer; 735 ILCS 5/15-1512 (mortgage-foreclosure surplus); Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County public warnings on fraudulent court texts, September 2026; FTC consumer alert, March 30, 2026; Illinois Secretary of State business entity search; Illinois ARDC; Illinois Legal Aid Online. Deadline statements are general; the statute and the recording date control.