My Dad died, upon his death, the "qualified" executors emptied out all the contents of 6 safety deposit boxes of my Dad's. They were unaccompanied by anyone/bank officials. This occured in VA with federal banks. Now, all the heirs inheritance is gone! $ and the corporate stock is "missing" except that of course of the 2 executors. This is a blended "family" situation. I have researched VA codes, contacted various agencies, so any help would be appreciated. The Exec. cleaned out the boxes without a death certificate and before the coffin was even closed! Need new banking regs. so this does not happen to anyone else. GA has since changed their procedures. We feel we would not have lost our inheritance IF the bank had done thier job. Thank-You.

I believe the all that is allowed to be removed from the safety deposit box is the will. The executors should have taken inventory of the box, only after receiving testamentary letters from the probate court.

My best advice at this point is that you contact an attorney. If there has been any skullduggery on the part of the purported executors, the probate court will need to sort it out.

I can telll you in MI, the banks no longer search the obits and you don't need a death certificate to go into the box. It's been that way for over 20 years. So long as the person was on the signature card for the box they can claim the items.

Were the executors on the signature card for the box? If so there is nothing a bank can do about it. We don't accompany people into the rooms, the contents are private. Exact details are needed.