Finding my deceased fathers stock?

my father died about 4 years ago. he had invested in several differant stocks. i do not have any information as to how many or what stocks he owned ,i just recived a letter from one company saying they found 100 shares of stock in one company and want a 30% finders fee. is there any way i can find out what this stock is on my own and is there anyway to find out what other stocks he owned. . somehow all the paper work on what he had disapeard. thanks

I am leary about paying anyone 30% for a finders fee. To hell with that.
I am assuming your father had a will? And there is no mention in there of it? Then this could very likely be an issue that will find its way into Probate Court. Is your mother still alive? Were they married at the time? Whomever he was married to at the time of his death can access his financial history in order to determine where this account may be. A likely approach is to have her obtain his and her credit history reports. This is allude to what accounts he has that are opened and where these funds may be. If they were funds awarded by an employer, they may not show up on a report...but to find that, simply contact every employer he has had for the past 7-10 years. I know he died 4 years ago, but it may have been an employer from a ways back.

hope this helped.

1. You shouldn't have to pay a finder's fee of any type

2. If your father owned stock, it was
a) bought through a broker
b) part of his company's pension plan

If it was bought through a reputable broker, the brokerage would still have his account records and holdings on file (and should have been issuing annual statements to him). I would suggest contacting the brokers in your area and see if any of them are familiar with his account(s) (Larger brokerage companies can look up on their systems in case the accounts are held by another broker for the firm)

If it was part of a company's pension plan, it would have been paid out to him until his death, and then a lump sum paid to any surviving beneficiary as listed.

If the company is no longer operating, the pension will have already been paid out to him, or there will be a trustee that will have contacted your father to discuss this at the time (Pensions rarely if ever get 'lost').

Some things you should know
a) There is the possibility that the stock is worthless. Your father may have opened up an account with a small brokerage that died out, and your father chose not to transfer the amount to a larger broker as would have been required at the time

b) This could be a phishing exercise. Somebody is sending you a phony letter hoping you will respond, and that in the process of 'an investigation' they will get information they can use to rob you blind (date of birth, account numbers, SSN, etc).

If your mother is still alive, talk to her. She is the legal heir of his financial affairs.

If she has passed away, and the will stated no mention of accounts, or whom they were to be passed to, then most of these accounts have reverted back to the government.

My advice, talk to a lawyer (most initial consultations are free) and then decide from there what your best action to take is

Check with the state treasurers office for unclaimed property. After a certain amount of time all dormant accounts, stocks, IRA's, 401ks, pensions, etc are suppose to be turned over to the state.

Maybe he had an investor at his bank who has a record of this?

I'm assuming you have already checked his safety deposit box and looked through all of his files? That's my only suggestions.

Who was the executor of his estate? This information should have been available to that party.

Check with the bank he was with, he may have invested through them or they may be able to help trace them through his social security number. That is another good reason why we need to have living wills in place.

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