Account overlooked during property settlement

[Danielbeisenber]

Currently reside in Florida. Property settlement/divorce in New York. Administrator of acct. apparently in Pennsylvania.

When my ex-wife and I worked out our property settlement, about 2007, an account with currently $5,800 was overlooked. This is an investment account in both our names using "and" and says "Jt Ten WROS". We were divorced in 2008.

I wrote my ex-wife about this in 2011 proposing that we split it 50-50. She did not answer, and the letter did not come back.

I wrote her again in 2012 and the letter came back "Forwarding order expired."

I have not seen her in years, do not have her phone number or address, and do not know whether she's alive or dead.

How can I handle this situation? Thank you.

 

[LdiJ]

Currently reside in Florida. Property settlement/divorce in New York. Administrator of acct. apparently in Pennsylvania.

When my ex-wife and I worked out our property settlement, about 2007, an account with currently $5,800 was overlooked. This is an investment account in both our names using "and" and says "Jt Ten WROS". We were divorced in 2008.

I wrote my ex-wife about this in 2011 proposing that we split it 50-50. She did not answer, and the letter did not come back.

I wrote her again in 2012 and the letter came back "Forwarding order expired."

I have not seen her in years, do not have her phone number or address, and do not know whether she's alive or dead.

How can I handle this situation? Thank you.

Do you have any contact information for any of her family? Do you know her social security number? If so, you could check it through the social security death index.

 

[Danielbeisenber]

Negative

I have vague information about a sister but do not have an address and am not even sure of how to spell her quite unusual name. I have had no contact with her for at least 15 years. I know the city she and my ex-wife's mother lived in at that time. Definitely don't remember her mother's name, from whom she was estranged.

I could probably get her s.s. from one if our old joint tax returns, I assume IRS keeps summary information forever. But how would that help me? Why would IRS/SSA supply me a current address for her, if they had one? And remember she didn't reply even when I had her address.

I was hoping to learn from this forum:

a) if she's dead, what do I do?

B) if I don't know that she's dead or alive, what do I do?

c) if she is alive but continues to refuse to cooperate (apparently is so angry at me will pass up money rather than respond), what can I do?

 

[single317dad]

Address services are only available from the USPS for 18 months after an address change, with reduced service after 12 months. If you (or anyone reading this) runs into this problem in the future, resend your document with "Address Service Requested" within the forwarding window. You can be notified of the recipient's new address with this method.

As to the OP: people are easier than ever to find in today's society. I'd suggest you start with Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks; people just love to share their location and other personal information on those sites. Court record sites are often useful. Try the free or low cost ones from government agencies, and save the "people finder" sites for a last resort. Whitepages.com has a free people search that connects possibly related people, and can often find someone through their family members or associates.

I do not recommend you pay for any search you make unless a government agency requires payment for an official record. There are enough free options out there that paying to find someone shouldn't happen very often.

a) if she's dead, what do I do?

If she's dead, she'll be listed in the SSA's Death Master File, and there should be an obituary somewhere online unless she had no family or friends at all.

 

[Bali Hai]

I have vague information about a sister but do not have an address and am not even sure of how to spell her quite unusual name. I have had no contact with her for at least 15 years. I know the city she and my ex-wife's mother lived in at that time. Definitely don't remember her mother's name, from whom she was estranged.

I could probably get her s.s. from one if our old joint tax returns, I assume IRS keeps summary information forever. But how would that help me? Why would IRS/SSA supply me a current address for her, if they had one? And remember she didn't reply even when I had her address.

I was hoping to learn from this forum:

a) if she's dead, what do I do?

B) if I don't know that she's dead or alive, what do I do?

c) if she is alive but continues to refuse to cooperate (apparently is so angry at me will pass up money rather than respond), what can I do?

Item(c): Since the account was not addressed at the time of the property settlement it appears that it's fair game for who gets to it first. She'll probably be thinking that when you finally tell her about it.