FLGIT and Your Equity: Where Does the Interest Go While Florida Holds Your Surplus Funds?

If your home went to foreclosure auction in Florida and sold for more than the debt, the difference belongs to you. But while you're trying to find out if this is real, your money is not sitting idle in a county account. It's being invested. And your county, along with 66 others across the state, is earning substantial returns from it through a structure that most former homeowners never discover exists. Every day it sits there, your equity earns interest for the counties that hold it. The principal becomes yours again the day you claim it.

What Is FLGIT?

FLGIT stands for the Florida Local Government Investment Trust. It's a pooled investment fund created by two organizations: the Florida Court Clerks and Comptrollers and the Florida Association of Counties. These associations formed FLGIT so that local governments across Florida could combine their available cash reserves, including surplus funds from foreclosure and tax deed sales, into a single, professionally managed investment pool.

Think of it this way. Individual counties hold small amounts of unclaimed surplus from foreclosures and tax sales. Alone, those amounts are too small for a county to invest profitably. But combined across 67 counties, the total grows large enough to reach institutional-grade investment vehicles and professional money management. Picture having an 850 credit score and pooling your cash with 67 neighbors to earn the best return possible. Now picture that the money in the pool is yours, and every dollar it earns supports only the system holding it. Your money, and the described profit for the county through the investment trust, is exactly what FLGIT does. The required notice is mailed to the home you just lost, and the clock starts the day it was mailed, whether the letter reaches you or not.

The Scale: Billions in Unclaimed Funds

As of June 2026, FLGIT manages two primary funds. These figures were researched at the time this article was published and are subject to change as the trust reports new balances.

Combined, that's approximately $2.32 billion in pooled government funds. A substantial portion of that pool is money that belongs to former homeowners and property owners who haven't yet come forward to claim it. Your surplus, if you haven't claimed it, is likely part of these numbers.

How Your Money Gets Into FLGIT

Florida law authorizes local governments to invest public funds, including money held by the court after a foreclosure or tax deed sale. The court receives the surplus from the sale. The law requires the court to hold that money for the former owner. But the law also allows the court to invest it in the meantime.

So the surplus is deposited into FLGIT. The trust's investment manager, Payden and Rygel, a major institutional asset manager, deploys the funds into U.S. Treasuries, mortgages, commercial paper, government-related securities, and high-quality corporate bonds. These investments earn yield. The yield accrues as additional shares in the FLGIT fund.

Meanwhile, the original surplus sits there, listed in the county's books under your name. You have a right to the original surplus funds. The yield it earns while it waits stays with the FLGIT pool. It pays for the professional management, the compliance work, and the administrative cost of running the trust. The remainder flows back to participating counties as a collective dividend.

These funds are pooled and governed by Florida's county clerks of court and comptrollers together with the Florida Association of Counties. In other words, the same offices that auctioned your property, hold your unclaimed surplus and also help govern the trust that invests it.

Why This Matters

FLGIT was designed as a legitimate, well-governed, AAA-rated, high-yield investment structure for the counties' benefit, authorized by Florida law, with investment committee oversight, competitive bid requirements, and quarterly performance reporting. But here's what matters: your surplus was earning interest while it sat in that county account. You'd hope that interest belonged to you, or at the very least to be held in trust for you. Instead, that interest is earned by the county, shared across the FLGIT pool, and used to benefit the system that's holding your money.

In June 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court drew a hard line in Tyler v. Hennepin County. A county seized the property of Geraldine Tyler, a 94-year-old Minnesota woman, over a roughly $15,000 tax debt, sold it for $40,000, and kept the entire $25,000 surplus. Her attorney had to file an appeal, and the Supreme Court of the United States ruled unanimously that keeping that surplus was an unconstitutional taking of private property. The principle it confirmed protects you: your surplus equity is your property, and the government cannot simply keep it. But that protection only reaches you if you claim what is yours within the deadline Florida sets. The Constitution says the money is yours. Florida law says you have to claim it in time. Claim inside the window, and the right that Tyler protects delivers exactly what it promises.

The Clock Is Running

If your home went to a mortgage foreclosure, you have one year from the sale date before the unclaimed surplus is reported to the state and transferred to the State of Florida. If your property went to a tax deed sale, you have 120 days from the day they claim to have mailed the surplus notice to you, whether or not you received it. Once the funds move into the state's unclaimed property system, the path to recovery becomes more complicated.

Why Recovering Your Equity Is More Involved Than It Looks

Can you file a claim on your own? Yes. Florida law lets you proceed pro se, representing yourself. Just as with any legal matter, most people who qualify to represent themselves still choose professionals who know the process, and for the same reasons.

In practice, the complexity catches most people off guard. The paperwork must be complete, notarized, and submitted before unmovable deadlines. If your property had co-owners, a homeowners association, a second mortgage, or old judgments attached to it, each of those parties has the right to file a competing claim. When that happens, the court sets a hearing, and the outcome turns on documentation, legal positioning, and an understanding of lien priority. One missed requirement can delay or end your claim entirely.

How Abraham and Associates Protects Your Recovery

Many families come to us after trying to handle it alone, only to be stopped by a missing document, a county procedure they did not know about, or a competing lienholder. By the time they reach us, the situation has gotten harder than it needed to be.

• Over 50 years of combined real estate experience, we know the procedural quirks of individual Florida counties.
• Every claim is filed by attorneys who work on your behalf.
• We work entirely on contingency. You pay nothing out of pocket, and our fee comes only from a successful recovery. If we recover nothing, you owe nothing.

We help families do more than recover funds. We help them breathe quietly again, sleep at night, and call a place home. Every case is different. The only way to know what's in your name is to let us look.

Find Out What Is in Your Name: Start With a Free 15-Minute Consultation

At Abraham and Associates Asset Recovery Services, the first step is a free 15-minute consultation. We will explain how the recovery process works, what matters most in your situation, and the most direct path to bring your equity back into your hands. From there, The Abraham Recovery Method carries your claim from start to finish: we Verify, we File, and we Deliver.

Common Questions

Disclaimer: This article is provided for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. The information here reflects general principles under Florida law and may not apply to your specific situation. Florida foreclosure and surplus fund recovery law is complex and subject to change. Abraham and Associates Asset Recovery Services, LLC is not a law firm. We work in partnership with licensed Florida attorneys to assist clients through the recovery process.