Bank account numbers found, but no idea where the money is

[Frwinkley]

In cleaning out my mother's house (we recently moved her into assisting living), I came across a piece of paper with two of my nieces' names (my mother's grandchildren), along with bank account numbers. However, there is no record of any bank name. My mother told me she was going to open an account for these girls and deposit money towards their college expenses. My mother has dementia and has no recollection of any of this.

I went to 2 banks that she did her everyday banking with, but had no success.

Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[tink89]

Sometimes banks will close accounts if there is no activity and the money is taken by the government as unclaimed property.
Do you have a routing number anywhere that would help.
Or go to any banks by where she lives.

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

Did she live in any other town or part of town when the kids were younger?

 

[Frwinkley]

No routing number. I've checked her local banks and have come up empty. She's lived in the same location for the last 45 years.

 

[bearzabout]

Search the state records for unclaimed property in both your mother’s and niece’s names. Inactive accounts will be turned over to the state for safe keeping after about 3-5 years of inactivity.

 

[Karenj2]

Could you look up info about 529s? They can be online, and not via a bank. (The downside is that there are a lot to choose from). Maybe she talked to the nieces' parents' about where to open an account?

 

[kymom99]

Surely you will come across a statement of some sort. I hope you figure it out. Good luck to you

 

[gottalovepluto]

I remember seeing credit karma has an unclaimed money tool: https://www.creditkarma.com/unclaimed-money idk it it’s any good.

If she funded a substantial or even a recurring amount of money you should find record of it in the transaction history of her normal bank accounts. She would have had to have pulled money from somewhere to fund the accounts. If there is no money trail it’s also possible she opened the accounts but never funded them.

ETA: if the bank/brokerage accounts were never funded they most likely would have been closed with no funding to keep them operational.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Duplicate post

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I would start with asking your nieces if they’re old enough to understand or their parents.
My parents have college savings for all of their grandchildren. The kids didn’t know until they were older but it was no secret to all of the parents of the kids.

 

[dcfromva]

Did she keep her old tax returns (or more importantly--did you find them)? Maybe she reported interest earned on earlier tax returns.

 

[Sadie22]

Have you asked her estate planning attorney for help?

 

[sablebomb]

Are you sure they are bank account numbers and not RESP numbers or TFSA numbers?

 

[LovesTimone]

We went through this with my grandmother... I would consult a estate attorney they have many more resource to find out what where and what, also banks are more willing and able to release information to local attorney ... They also will help you with figure out, the laws concerning her home, her bills, and final expenses. He was a true resource, and gave us solid advice on how to handle her money, and house and property... things like prepaying for her service and burial, what Medicare would take care of, her supplements and what to expect once her money was gone, filling for Medicaid if it came to it, and how if would effect her home and paying back Medicaid if we needed that resource, handling her social security checks... all important info...at a time when your thoughts and concerns are with her....

It took my mom, dad, myself a year to clean out her house... My Uncle handled all the paper work... which there was more than a mountain of it, she has been gone 2 years and still there are thing that are coming up. At the house there was so much stuff, she lived during the depression and kept everything...there was money all over the house tuck here and there... un-cashed checks, credit card that were never used...so every piece of paper, card ( she kept them all), box, container, had to opened and gone through...

I know how overwhelming this all is... sending you a hug...

 

[barkley]

un-cashed checks, credit card that were never used

Search the state records for unclaimed property in both your mother’s and niece’s names. Inactive accounts will be turned over to the state for safe keeping after about 3-5 years of inactivity

the state websites will also show checks that were never cashed (we found some for refunded co-pays on some old medical bills and other odds and ends). I'm still finding things occasionally-and it's been over 7 years since mom passed.

i'm assuming you have power of attorney for your mom at this point-if that's the case then you can find out some information about finances by going to a local credit bureau and having them run a credit report on her. we had to do this w/a family member b/c we found tons of credit cards (some still in sealed envelopes). this showed us where the person had active credit at so we could shut down the cards/see if she had any loans we were unaware of (loans through banks can indicate if she had a connection w/certain banks you are unaware of which could indicate where accounts may be located at). there is also a process for getting copies of prior year's tax returns from the irs which would indicate where she was reporting 1099 interest from-of course if she used the grandkid's ssn's to open the accounts it won't show though.

 

[a742246]

Search the state records for unclaimed property in both your mother’s and niece’s names. Inactive accounts will be turned over to the state for safe keeping after about 3-5 years of inactivity.

Best advice, I would do this every year for the foreseeable future.

 

[barkley]

Best advice, I would do this every year for the foreseeable future.

check under current name, and any former names (including maiden name). depending on the type of asset it may not be cross referenced under a social security number so using any name the person was known by for any period of time can pull up more results (I found monies related to a life insurance policy on ANOTHER long deceased family member who had named my mom beneficiary back in the 1930's-no ssn connected to it and it used my mom's maiden name).

 

[usnuzuloose]

I just checked the credit karma and found I have money so I would check there for sure.

Thanks for putting it out there for checking

 

[scrapquitler]

In cleaning out my mother's house (we recently moved her into assisting living), I came across a piece of paper with two of my nieces' names (my mother's grandchildren), along with bank account numbers. However, there is no record of any bank name. My mother told me she was going to open an account for these girls and deposit money towards their college expenses. My mother has dementia and has no recollection of any of this.

I went to 2 banks that she did her everyday banking with, but had no success.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Check with the Secretary of State of your state. If there's no activity on an account for something like two (maybe it's 3?) years, the fund are sent to the state for safekeeping and you can search your mother's name to see if the state is currently in possession of those funds. If you can prove that they belong to her (or the granchildren) the state will send it back to you.

 

[tvguy]

Check with the Secretary of State of your state. If there's no activity on an account for something like two (maybe it's 3?) years, the fund are sent to the state for safekeeping and you can search your mother's name to see if the state is currently in possession of those funds. If you can prove that they belong to her (or the granchildren) the state will send it back to you.

3 to 5 years of inactivity is supposed to be the range. However I'm not sure every financial institution plays by the same rules. I had a credit union turn over an account for no apparent reason. It was my "emergency fund" account that I made deposits to every three months. I went in to make a deposit and they said the account had been closed and turned over to the state for "inactivity". But when the manager pulled up the archived account history she said she had no idea how it got closed because clearly I had been making quarterly deposits to the account for 15 years.