Tracking stocks

[Stephen1]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? WA
My in-laws owned several different stocks as joint tenants. One died and the survivor is in a dementia care facility so he is of little help in this project. My wife has a Power-of-Attorney for her father and is trying to identify his assets and appropriately manage them. How do we go about tracking down what stocks he owns?

For some of the stocks my in-laws held the paper certificate. Other stocks they are held electronically though Computershare or Wells Fargo Stockowner Services with the only evidence being the dividend payments. Stocks paying dividends give us a paper trail by sending checks and a 1098. I know one stock that exists even though it has not paid any dividends recently because it is on Computershare's list for my father-in-law. Computershare needs us to surrender the original certificates. We learned that to get the name changed on the AT&T stock we need to surrender the Southwest Bell and SBC Communications certificates (sure glad they told me as I would have been looking for AT&T certificates). Digging through my in-laws files I also found stock certificates for companies not listed for Computershare or Wells Fargo. So when I find a random certificate I have no idea what company I really need to be looking into.

So I am aware that:
- they own stocks for which the only paperwork seems to be the dividend check and 1098.
- they own stocks for which there seems to be no paperwork (no dividend check, no 1098).
- they own stocks for which we hold the paper certificate however, the company name on the certificate bears little relationship to the current company name.
- they have stock certificates which I haven't tied to an account and may have little value, no value, or a great value. I don't know.

My questions are:
- Is there something that companies managing/holding stocks are to send annually even when no dividend has been paid? That way we would know who to talk to.
- If they don't send something, then how do we find the stock if we don't hold the paper certificate?
- If I do hold a paper certificate, how do I learn whether the random stock certificates have any value?

Any guidance would be appreciated.

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? WA
My in-laws owned several different stocks as joint tenants. One died and the survivor is in a dementia care facility so he is of little help in this project. My wife has a Power-of-Attorney for her father and is trying to identify his assets and appropriately manage them. How do we go about tracking down what stocks he owns?

For some of the stocks my in-laws held the paper certificate. Other stocks they are held electronically though Computershare or Wells Fargo Stockowner Services with the only evidence being the dividend payments. Stocks paying dividends give us a paper trail by sending checks and a 1098. I know one stock that exists even though it has not paid any dividends recently because it is on Computershare's list for my father-in-law. Computershare needs us to surrender the original certificates. We learned that to get the name changed on the AT&T stock we need to surrender the Southwest Bell and SBC Communications certificates (sure glad they told me as I would have been looking for AT&T certificates). Digging through my in-laws files I also found stock certificates for companies not listed for Computershare or Wells Fargo. So when I find a random certificate I have no idea what company I really need to be looking into.

So I am aware that:
- they own stocks for which the only paperwork seems to be the dividend check and 1098.
- they own stocks for which there seems to be no paperwork (no dividend check, no 1098).
- they own stocks for which we hold the paper certificate however, the company name on the certificate bears little relationship to the current company name.
- they have stock certificates which I haven't tied to an account and may have little value, no value, or a great value. I don't know.

My questions are:
- Is there something that companies managing/holding stocks are to send annually even when no dividend has been paid? That way we would know who to talk to.
- If they don't send something, then how do we find the stock if we don't hold the paper certificate?
- If I do hold a paper certificate, how do I learn whether the random stock certificates have any value?

Any guidance would be appreciated.

Just FYI, its a 1099, not a 1098. 1099's are for money received, 1098's are for money paid out.

I think that you will find that anything that does not have a certificate will show up on a brokerage statement at least annually (such as Compushare or Wells Fargo).

For all those where you have certificates but do not get any (or do not believe that you get any) annual statements you need to do some research to determine whether those companies still exist or have merged with other companies. If that is the case I would recommend merging them into management with a broker such as Compushare or Wells Fargo, or selling them off.

 

[RedemptionMan]

Just FYI, its a 1099, not a 1098. 1099's are for money received, 1098's are for money paid out.

I think that you will find that anything that does not have a certificate will show up on a brokerage statement at least annually (such as Compushare or Wells Fargo).

For all those where you have certificates but do not get any (or do not believe that you get any) annual statements you need to do some research to determine whether those companies still exist or have merged with other companies. If that is the case I would recommend merging them into management with a broker such as Compushare or Wells Fargo, or selling them off.

I think he is talking about putting money into an IRA with a 5 thousand dollar cap being tax deductible they would use a 1098 form. For distributions and pay outs it would be a 1099. I think he is trying to estimate the values of the the individual 401 k plans and not what was paid out. If you have a power of attorney then what ever investment bank/ firm holding the lines should be able to detail the investments off of his social security number and name. Good Luck.

 

[anteater]

I think he is talking about putting money into an IRA with a 5 thousand dollar cap being tax deductible they would use a 1098 form. For distributions and pay outs it would be a 1099. I think he is trying to estimate the values of the the individual 401 k plans and not what was paid out.

How exactly do you come to that conclusion?

My in-laws owned several different stocks as joint tenants.*

 

[RedemptionMan]

How exactly do you come to that conclusion?

For some of the stocks my in-laws held the paper certificate. Other stocks they are held electronically though Computershare or Wells Fargo Stockowner Services with the only evidence being the dividend payments. Stocks paying dividends give us a paper trail by sending checks and a 1098. I know one stock that exists even though it has not paid any dividends recently because it is on Computershare's list for my father-in-law. Computershare needs us to surrender the original certificates. We learned that to get the name changed on the AT&T stock we need to surrender the Southwest Bell and SBC Communications certificates (sure glad they told me as I would have been looking for AT&T certificates). Digging through my in-laws files I also found stock certificates for companies not listed for Computershare or Wells Fargo. So when I find a random certificate I have no idea what company I really need to be looking into.

form this???

 

[anteater]

For some of the stocks my in-laws held the paper certificate. Other stocks they are held electronically though Computershare or Wells Fargo Stockowner Services with the only evidence being the dividend payments. Stocks paying dividends give us a paper trail by sending checks and a 1098. I know one stock that exists even though it has not paid any dividends recently because it is on Computershare's list for my father-in-law. Computershare needs us to surrender the original certificates. We learned that to get the name changed on the AT&T stock we need to surrender the Southwest Bell and SBC Communications certificates (sure glad they told me as I would have been looking for AT&T certificates). Digging through my in-laws files I also found stock certificates for companies not listed for Computershare or Wells Fargo. So when I find a random certificate I have no idea what company I really need to be looking into.

form this???

Which has nothing to do with an IRA or a 401(k).

And Form 1098 has nothing to do with IRA's or 401(k)'s.

 

[RedemptionMan]

Which has nothing to do with an IRA or a 401(k).

And Form 1098 has nothing to do with IRA's or 401(k)'s.

your right, tuition interest deductions come on 1098 and investments on a 1099- R

my bad ..... I knew 1098s were for something....