How to Find Everything a Person Owned: A Step-by-Step Asset Search

Most people leave behind more than their family realizes: an old 401(k) from a job decades ago, a life insurance policy no one mentioned, a forgotten bank account, a savings bond in a drawer. And most of it won’t find you; you have to go looking. The good news is that the most useful tools are free and official. The most important rule is to ignore anyone who offers to find it for a fee.

Where should I start?

Start at home, with the paper trail, because it tells you where to point the official searches. Look for:

• Mail. Statements and notices reveal accounts. Have the mail forwarded to the executor; see our guide on protecting a deceased person’s mail and identity
• Last year’s tax return and any tax forms (such as 1099s), which often list the banks and brokerages that paid interest or dividends
• Bank and credit card statements, checkbook registers, and old checks. Checks written to pay insurance premiums can point to a policy
• Safe deposit box keys, wallet cards, and a phone or email account that may hold online statements. See our guide on digital accounts after a death
• Employers, current and former, which may have records of group life insurance and retirement plans

You can also request the person’s credit report. The Iowa Attorney General notes that a spouse or executor can request a copy, which can reveal accounts and debts you didn’t know about. See which accounts to cancel first.

Do I need legal authority to search?

Many searches are open to anyone, but claiming what you find usually requires proof of who you are and your authority. Expect to need a death certificate and, for an estate, the court’s letters (see our guide on letters testamentary) or other proof that you’re an heir or representative. Keep several certified death certificates on hand; see getting death certificates.

How do I find a lost life insurance policy or annuity?

Use the NAIC Life Insurance Policy Locator, a free nationwide service run by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. According to the NAIC and state insurance regulators:

• You enter details from the death certificate: Social Security number, legal name, date of birth, and date of death, plus your relationship to the person
• Participating insurers search their records. If one finds a policy or annuity and you’re the beneficiary, the company contacts you directly
• It can take up to 90 business days or more. If no match is found, you’re not the beneficiary, or you lack legal authority, you won’t hear back
• To collect, you’ll typically need a certified death certificate and the company’s claim form

Regulators also suggest checking whether the person’s former employer offered group life coverage, and looking through personal papers for checks used to pay premiums. The locator searches participating companies, so it can’t guarantee finding every policy. For the full step-by-step, including what the locator doesn’t cover and how to file the claim, see our guide on how to find a lost life insurance policy or annuity. See also our guide on life insurance and final expense insurance.

How do I search for unclaimed property?

When accounts go dormant, financial institutions, insurers, and employers must eventually turn the money over to the state, which holds it as a custodian for the owner or heirs. It’s mostly money: bank accounts, insurance benefits, wages, security deposits, stock dividends, and the contents of safe deposit boxes. The Comptroller of Maryland notes it doesn’t include real estate, boats, or cars.

How to search:

• Search every state the person lived or worked in. Each state and the District of Columbia has its own free office, so check each place the person lived, starting with the most recent
• Use MissingMoney.com, the multi-state search endorsed by the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA). AARP reported in 2025 that it covered 49 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico, but it isn’t complete, so also check individual states directly, starting with where the person lived
• Use unclaimed.org, NAUPA’s site, which links to every state’s official program

Claiming is free, and in nearly every state there’s no deadline, according to the Maryland Comptroller, so heirs can claim long after a death. For the claim process in detail, see unclaimed property after a death. You’ll typically need documents proving your identity and your connection to the account, plus the death certificate and, where applicable, letters of administration.

What about pensions and old 401(k)s?

This is where families most often go wrong, because the obvious federal tool doesn’t work for someone who has died.

• Don’t rely on the Labor Department’s Retirement Savings Lost and Found database. Its own FAQ says it only searches by your own Social Security number through your own verified Login.gov account, and it can’t be used to search for a deceased spouse’s benefits. It also doesn’t cover IRAs or government and certain religious plans, and results only show that someone participated in a plan, not that money is still owed
• Contact the former employers and unions directly. The Labor Department’s advice for a deceased spouse is to contact the employers or unions and ask about retirement benefits. If you can’t tell who they were, an EBSA Benefits Advisor can help you find them at AskEBSA.dol.gov or 1-866-444-3272
• Check with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). When a private-sector pension plan ends, the employer may have transferred benefits to PBGC. PBGC’s search tool covers unclaimed retirement benefits, and its guidance has been that if the participant has died and you’re a beneficiary, you should contact PBGC to find out whether you’re entitled to a benefit. PBGC also takes reports of a participant’s death

Retirement accounts with named beneficiaries, such as IRAs, usually pass directly to those beneficiaries rather than through the estate. See probate vs. non-probate assets, and for more on finding pensions, lost pensions and old retirement accounts.

What about savings bonds?

Savings bonds are easy to lose track of. TreasuryDirect has a page specifically on what to do when a savings bond owner dies. The rules depend on how the bond is titled: if a surviving co-owner or beneficiary is named on a paper bond, the bond goes to that person; if two people are named and both have died, it belongs to the estate of the one who died last; and what happens next depends on whether the estate has a court-appointed representative. If the person had an online TreasuryDirect account, you contact TreasuryDirect. Treasury retired its Treasury Hunt search tool on September 30, 2025; searches for matured, unredeemed bonds now go through state unclaimed property programs, starting at unclaimed.org. See savings bonds after a death for the forms and rules.

Where else is it worth checking?

• Failed banks and credit unions. AARP points to the National Credit Union Administration for unclaimed deposits at failed credit unions; its unclaimed deposits page explains how to check whether a credit union was liquidated and says shares claimed within its 18-month insurance period are paid at the full insured amount, while later claims may be paid pro rata
• Unpaid wages. The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has a “Workers Owed Wages” search (dol.gov/agencies/whd/wow)
• Final pay and employer benefits. See our guide on notifying employers
• Digital assets. See cryptocurrency after a death

For final wages, refunds, and Social Security rules, see final paychecks, refunds, and other money owed after a death.

Should I ever pay someone to find it?

No. The Maryland Comptroller warns that if you sign an agreement with someone to recover unclaimed property for a fee, you may be liable for substantial fees, and notes that searching and claiming through the state is free. The Labor Department says it never charges a fee to recover funds. Companies that charge a cut are generally searching the same free public databases you can use yourself.

What if I find a debt instead of an asset?

You’ll find those too, especially on a credit report. Debts generally belong to the estate rather than to you personally; see our guide on handling debts after a death before paying anything from your own funds.

How should I keep track of everything?

To work through these searches step by step and mark each one as you go, use our interactive Find the Money checklist.

Keep a simple master list: each institution, the type of account, the last four digits, who you contacted and when, what they asked for, and the status. It’s easy to lose the thread across a dozen phone calls. Our free Executor Checklist can help. And if you’re thinking about your own family, the kindest thing you can do is list where your accounts and documents are. Add that to your Final Day Plan.

If the person died by suicide, see life insurance after a suicide for how the policy’s dates and wording can matter.

Once you find assets, record each with its date-of-death value; see Keeping the estate’s records: what to track, keep, and report to beneficiaries.

To request the person’s medical records, see How to get a deceased person’s medical records.

This is general educational information, not legal or financial advice. Procedures, documentation requirements, and which tools apply vary by state and by institution - an estate attorney or the relevant agency can address your specific situation.