Nobody keeps a master list of their accounts, and no one else keeps one for them. So when someone dies, the family becomes a search party — for bank accounts, retirement plans, insurance policies, safe deposit boxes, and debts that all have to be found before anything can be settled. The search is slow, but it is not random. It has an order, and the order matters.
Start with the paper trail
The cheapest, fastest answers are usually already in the house.
The mail keeps coming
For months after a death, the mail keeps arriving — and it is remarkably informative. Bank and brokerage statements, premium notices, property tax bills, and renewal letters each name an institution and prove a relationship. Keep every envelope, even the ones that look like junk, and forward the mail if you can. A single quarterly statement can answer a question that would otherwise take weeks.
The desk, the files, the checkbook
Tax returns are the richest single document: the 1099 forms attached to them name every institution that paid the person interest, dividends, or retirement income. Checkbook registers and old statements do the same for banks. Look for the folder labeled “important,” the safe deposit box key, the filing cabinet’s bottom drawer — and the email inbox, which is the modern filing cabinet. Whether and how a family can reach the inbox is its own subject; our guide to online accounts covers it provider by provider.
The tax record that names institutions
Every January, institutions report what they paid your person to the IRS — and those information returns form the closest thing to a complete list that exists. The IRS collects them as the wage and income transcript: every W-2, 1099, 1098, and 5498 filed under the person’s Social Security number, naming each employer, bank, brokerage, and insurer that reported paying them.
An executor or administrator requests it with Form 4506-T, signing under their authority — the form names letters testamentary as the document that authorizes someone to act for an estate. It is not fast, and it lists income sources rather than balances. But when the paper trail runs cold, it is the sweep that catches what the desk drawer missed — including the Form 5498 that names an IRA’s custodian, as our IRA guide explains.
The official locators
Three free, official tools each answer one slice of the search. None of them overlaps much with the others, which is why each is worth the few minutes it takes.
Life insurance: the NAIC policy locator
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners runs a free Life Insurance Policy Locator. You submit the person’s details and your relationship; participating insurers then search their own records. If a policy is found and you are the beneficiary, the insurer contacts you directly. If there is no match — or you are not the beneficiary — you will not be contacted, so treat silence as “no news,” not as “no policy.” Our life insurance guide covers the claim itself.
Employer plans: the paper trail, mostly
The Department of Labor runs a retirement-savings lost-and-found for forgotten 401(k)s and pensions — but it is built for the living worker: it searches only your own Social Security number, behind an ID-proofed Login.gov account, and it doesn’t cover IRAs or government plans. For someone who has died, the path runs through the paper trail instead: last year’s W-2 names the employers, and each employer’s benefits office — or the plan administrator — confirms what plan exists. Our employer plans guide walks through that claim process.
The final sweep: state unclaimed property
Whatever the first search misses doesn’t disappear — it waits. Accounts that go quiet for a state-set dormancy period are turned over to the state’s unclaimed-property program, where they stay claimable by the owner or the heirs. Searching is free, through the official program of every state the person lived or worked in, with MissingMoney.com as the multi-state shortcut. Our unclaimed-property guide is the full walkthrough — it is worth running this sweep even years later.
Credit reports as a map
So far, the search has been about assets. The other half of the picture is debt — and for that, one document does the work of a dozen letters. A credit report lists the cards, loans, and mortgages in the person’s name: the relationships that need to be found, settled, or closed.
A spouse or an executor can request it. Under Equifax’s published process, you mail a request to each of the three bureaus — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — with the person’s legal name, Social Security number, dates of birth and death, and last known address, plus a copy of the death certificate or letters testamentary, your own details, and, for an executor, the court document showing your authority. It’s paper mail and a wait — and it turns up debts the family never knew existed, which is exactly what it’s for.
No single search finds everything. The order is the shortcut: paper first, locators second, the tax record last.
A sensible order
Put the pieces together and the search sorts itself by cost and yield:
- First, the paper trail. Secure the mail and the desk. It’s free, immediate, and answers most of the easy questions.
- Then the free locators. The NAIC policy locator and the state unclaimed-property sweep cost nothing but minutes.
- Then the credit reports. One letter per bureau maps the debt side.
- And when gaps remain, the IRS transcript. Form 4506-T is the slow, thorough net — the information returns that name what everything else missed.
Through all of it, keep a list of what you’ve found and what you’ve written to. The search takes months, and the list is what keeps a second search from repeating the first.
The other way this can go
Everything in this guide is the long way around — months of mail, forms, and waiting, done by a grieving family, with an answer that’s still incomplete at the end. The short way is a map made in advance: which accounts exist, where they live, and what should happen to each. That is what Trust Relay keeps — not the passwords, never the keys, but the map — delivered to the people you name, only when it’s needed. If this search is ahead of you, you have our sympathy and this guide. If it’s ahead of your family, you can spare them the search entirely.
Common questions
How do I find out what accounts a deceased person had?
In layers. Start with the mail and papers at home — statements, renewal notices, and the January tax forms (1099s and 5498s) that name each institution. A spouse or executor can request credit reports by mail from the three bureaus for the debt side. The NAIC’s free policy locator searches life insurance. State unclaimed-property programs are the free final sweep. And an executor can request the IRS wage-and-income transcript with Form 4506-T, which lists the information returns — W-2s, 1099s, 1098s, 5498s — filed under the person’s Social Security number.
Is there a central database of someone’s accounts?
No single search answers it. Each official tool covers one slice: the NAIC locator searches life insurance and annuities; state unclaimed-property programs hold only what has already escheated; the Department of Labor’s lost-and-found covers employer retirement plans but searches only the living worker’s own Social Security number; and the IRS wage-and-income transcript lists income sources, not balances. The search works because each tool answers a different question — and because the paper trail fills the gaps between them.
Can I get a deceased relative’s credit report?
Yes, if you are the spouse or the executor of the estate. Per Equifax’s published process, you mail a request to each of the three credit reporting companies with the person’s legal name, Social Security number, date of birth, date of death, and last known address, plus a copy of the death certificate or letters testamentary, plus your own details and — for an executor — the court document showing your authority. The report maps the debt side of a life: cards, loans, and mortgages that need to be found, paid or closed.
How do I find a life insurance policy when there’s no paperwork?
Start with the NAIC’s free Life Insurance Policy Locator. You submit the person’s details and your relationship; participating insurers then search their records. If a policy is found and you are the beneficiary, the insurer contacts you directly. If there is no match — or you are not the beneficiary — you will not be contacted, so silence is not a yes. Alongside it, watch the mail for premium notices and check the tax record for insurance-company dividends.
What if accounts turn up years after the death?
That is normal, and the money usually still exists. Accounts that go unclaimed for a state-set dormancy period — commonly three to five years — are turned over to the state’s unclaimed-property program, where they remain claimable by the owner or the heirs. Searching every state the person lived or worked in, through the free official programs and MissingMoney.com, catches most of what the first search missed. Our unclaimed-property guide walks through that sweep.
If your family is the search party someday
The kindest version of this guide is the one your family never needs. A Trust Relay membership is a quiet map of where everything lives — kept current by you, released only after careful verification, and only to the people you chose.