Death in a family...need advice

Last Thursday, a father of a man my husband works with died suddenly (thought he had the flu, but apparenly his appendix burst and he never had it checked out).

Parents are divorced (mom remarried on Saturday).

No one seems to know whether:

<UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI>Dad had a will (so we don't know if they need to see a probate attorney or not.)
<LI>what insurance policies he may have had (I am helping out by calling around to the larger ones to see if he was a policy holder)
<LI>Where his bank accounts are and/or if he had a security deposit box. </UL>

Just at a loss as to where to look for information.

We do know that he is:

<UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI> an ex-Navy chief petty officer and so the son will be contacting them NCOA to find out if they can help in any way
<LI>Will be contacting the retired pay operations to notify them of a retiree's death
<LI>Lived in the State of California.</UL>

Can anyone give me some advice to pass along:

Thanks in advance.

Peggy

Read the probate section on FreeAdvice.com and remember this is the role of the heirs and family. They should get help from a probate lawyer.

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This is intended as general information only and NOT LEGAL ADVICE. You are not my client, and I have no obligation of any kind to you. To retain a lawyer, go to http://AttorneyPages.com

I am very well aware that this is the role of the heirs and family and that they should get help from a probate lawyer. Having worked in law offices, although more on the corporate and business level, then family law, I always suggest contacting an attorney.

My main purpose for coming to this board was just to seek information, wherein I could relay said suggestions onto the family for consideration. Although this man has siblings, there are being of no help to him and he requested help from my husband and myself.

I had already read the section on probate at FreeAdvice.com and it did not answer any questions I had.

Thank you, though, for taking the time to respond to my post.