Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Georgia

Speak to your lawyer. Whether you have a right to know depends on who he named as beneficiary.

It depends. Your father must have named a beneficiary for his IRA. An IRA is an asset that passes outside of your father's estate and would not be administered by you. The beneficiary or you would then have to contact the IRA administrator to notify them of your father's death They would then contact the beneficiary and arrange to transmit the funds, less any taxes owed. Logically, the beneficiary would have been your mother and this now might be part of her estate or the funds can all be gone if she got them when your father died. You do not divulge how this came to your attention so I don't know if its just a rumor or if you have actual knowledge. Or your father may have named a contingent beneficiary (a backup in case the first beneficiary died). Are you also the personal representative of your mother's estate? If not, talk to that person and see. If you are not on speaking terms, then go and take a look at the court file for your mother's estate.

If you are not the named beneficiary of the IRA and are not your mother's personal representatve (assuming that your mother was the beneficiary), then no, you do not have a right to know and its none of your business. The named beneficiary need to contact the IRA administrator if there truly is money there. I do not know where the named beneficiary lives, but they can try looking up the information for any state at:

http://www.unclaimed.org.

Once they find the right place to go, there will be a link to that state treasurer or revenue department. The beneficiary will have to comply with the requirements of that state if the funds are there.