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Home >> Special Situations >> Deceased Individuals
Trying to Find Accounts of Husband
My husband died in February. He had a savings account and IRAs, but I don't know in which bank or building society they are. I can't find any paper work, so how do I find these accounts?
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 Call, ask, or just send a letter explaining your circumstance. Use the telephone book. If these accounts are out of your area, there is a mechanism that provides a central resource. In the former, they will want a copy of the death certificate before they will do anything more than tell you that he has an account. If you do the latter, send a copy of the death certificate with the letter. Some banks may tell you over the phone to send a written request. Privacy laws actually protect a lot of this information, which is why the death certificate is needed.
If these accounts are joint with someone else, you may have no rights to the funds. Also, if there is a beneficiary denoted, those rights can take precedence over yours. Banks may choose not to reveal these if the funds are now owned by the other party.
If there is a deposit account you should also ask if there was any insurance associated with it. These often go hand in hand.
The last advice on this is to watch his mail and email for any bank-sent notices and escheatment accounts published periodically. Escheatment is when unclaimed funds are sent to the state because of inactivity. There are free websites which will help you find these funds, but it often takes several years before an account has been dormant long enough to be considered abandoned. It varies from state to state.
Published on BankingQuestions.com 4/01/10
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