[USER]

Hi all. My father passed away when I was 11 and I’m just now learning that he had left behind some retirement accounts at his time of death.

I suspect there may be more out there but I’m not sure where to start.

How do I go about finding out what else he may have left behind?

[Lauren]

I second the unclaimed funds website. Should be fairly easy to find, it does not cost any money to use.

If he lived in multiple states during his life, you will want to use the site for each state that he lived or worked in.

I used it and found some money(a decent amount).

If you think you found money for him, simply select it and put your email in, and they will send you detailed information on the amounts that it is, whereas on the websites it’ll only tell you over 100, over 250, et.

[Alys]

I would start with your state’s unclaimed funds website. You will have to go through probate if you aren’t already executor of his estate.

[Christine]

If you have the correct documentation that they are decreased and you are an heir: Tax returns, mailed bank statements, some items will go to unclaimed property you can search online.

If they were employed, their employer may be able to tell which financial institutions they used for investments and you can call them.

Property records can be found online with the county.

A probate or estate planning attorney may also be able to help.

[Kenneth]

If your lawyer doesn’t know how to help you, which I find odd, you should reach out to a forensic accounting service.

They may be your best guide.

[Kevin]

Start calling the big brokerage firms perhaps? Vanguard, Fidelity, schwab, etc

[Aaron]

There’s some sort of service I’ve heard about called Beagle, they can find 401k stuff.

[Russell]

A credit report should pull up a lot of his accounts. Probably not all, but not a bad place to start.

[Felicia]

There is a national registry for unclaimed retirement benefits.

[Arun]

Start in all the states he resided in for any unclaimed properties.

You would need ss number, dob details etc.

[Katelynn]

I would reach out to his employer. Bigger places have people that are dealing with pensions and what not you can contact them and give them all of your information and your dad’s.

They probably won’t give you any information until you provide a death certificate and a will, and or an executor, stepping forward with paperwork, it takes a while.

My mom had a pension at one company that had to be distributed by the time she would’ve been 65 or it would be forfeited.

We had to rush around and get all the appropriate paperwork.

They tried to reopen the estate due to taxes, but we were able to have it distributed to each air since the estate had been closed for so long.

[Kiki]

every place he ever worked at or banked…. and the state treasury where he lived in.

[Mary]

This seems simple but when you are able to after your probate process contact usps and get all of his mail redirected to you.

These accounts will send mail for decades.

[Thomas]

I’m sorry and I know this must be difficult for you. I recently had several losses in my family all

of which I served as the administrator to the probate. In each case the funeral director used the SSN and ran a query to see if they could find anything.

Not sure what kind of database they used but I would go to your nearest director and ask if they would be willing to assist

[Meghan]

Try Capitalize to see if they can help find the 401K. I’m not sure about their “rules” when it comes to executors…

[Author]

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