🔺 r/personalfinanceumental_garden99·71 days ago
My dad passed and now his 401k is a mystery. Seeking help for my family.
Hello everyone, My father passed away after an intense battle with cancer last year, he was 73. After he passed, I took over his estate finances since my mother does not speak English and has no experience navigating this system. Since I was fairly young when he got sick, I assumed he had his finances in order, especially because he would reassure my mom that she would be financially set if he passed. Everything...was impossible to find. When we accessed his 401k post passing, there was less than 20k total. For context, my dad worked as an IT manager at a major company for over 30 years, contributed yearly and retired late at the age of 70. So, I was very confused at this low balance. I finally spoke with his former employer and they told me he had taken out major chunks of money since turning 64. Since he passed, we do not have access to his banking history and therefore I have no idea where this money went. After my father retired, he moved abroad and sold all his major assets including our house. He came home at 6pm everyday, did not like drinking and his internet history is clean of any gambling etc. The 401k company refuses to give me any access to his history to see if there…