Old business records

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Indiana

My mom and stepdad ran a business in town. My mom passed away in 2003 and my stepdad just passed away in May. My brother and I get my mom's house and his children get his farm and his possessions. The estate is settling in late August and they have been working to get his possessions out of her house even though I have repeatedly told them we are in no hurry. We have worked very well together through this thing which has been nice. Anyway, his daughter called today to let me know where they were on things and asked me about the old business records. Her dad sold the restaurant in 2005, two years after mom died, but he still has records in the house. I don't know what all they are as I haven't gone through them, but she is wondering whether they need to keep them or get rid of them. I told her I would pose the question here. The business has been in someone else's hands for 5 years now, so I don't see a need, but I don't know everything either. Her concern is that they don't have a place to store them. She said half the stuff in the garage attic is business receipts and things and it's just overwhelming.

Do these records need to be turned over to the current owners? Does she need to hang on to them for tax purposes? I figured once the estate is settled, it's a done deal as far as anyone coming after them for anything. I tihnk at the very least they need to go through and destroy any employee records that have social security numbers, etc. I do know that the restaurant was paid off. He had taken his 401k money when he retired and paid off his farm and the restaurant and then used the money from the restaurant sale to pay off mom's house so there is no debt. If they need to hang on to them, I may just tell her to leave them in there since we will be moving into the house anyway. Any suggestions? Thanks.

I would at least try to keep tax returns and employee W-2's if you can find them.

Whether the records should be turned over to the new owners depends on the structure of the business.

If the business is Joe's Diner, Inc., and your stepfather was the owner of the corporation, the records belong to Joe's Diner, Inc., and should be turned over to the owners of the corp.

If the business was Stepdad, doing business as Joe's Diner, and the new owner is Fred, doing business as Joe's Diner, the records belong to stepdad, and are part of his estate.

I didn't think about the DBA vs. corporation. I'm pretty sure it was a DBA, but I'll have her go through the records to find out. I think they do need to save any tax related items, but there is obviously a lot more than that. Looks like it may be a pretty big job to sort through. Thank you.