Severance and unemployment, do they overlap? - what worked for you?

My employer is paying severance in instalments and I am not sure whether to file now. I also wonder about the job-search requirement. Who should I ask before signing?

Some states only count certain kinds of severance. A local workforce centre could tell me which.

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it last year, and it settled down once I kept a simple log of every call and form.