I received a letter from a reputable financial company stating that they had just bought out a "lost" IRA in my name. I talked to my current's retirement account guy, and he said it's legit and I filled out the info to roll it over into my current account. However, the company that they list as the "employer" that the IRA came from is actually another IRA holding company. So I have no idea where this money came from. I know for a fact that I don't have any old retirement accounts, much less ones that would have 5 figures. So now I'm assuming it's some other kind of money that went unclaimed and ended up put into an IRA. But where is that money from??
So, my father passed away almost 5 years ago. If he had any IRA, it's possible it hadn't started drawing from it. But given his employment and financial history, it's very unlikely that he had a retirement account at all. My aunt dealt with whatever "estate" he had, which was likely nothing. My step-mother, my father's ex wife, passed away a few years before him, and she did have history of working in jobs that likely had some kind of retirement plan. My only thought is that she had a retirement account, started it when they were still married, and the kids were under 18, and named him as a beneficiary (or whatever), and then didn't remember about it at all by the time they divorced, as she was on disability at that point, and then got sicker, etc. So maybe that money went to him, and then eventually they found me? (I'm his only child.)
How do I backtrack the money? And if it's inherited somehow, do I have to pay taxes on it? And if it's somehow not actually mine, then what? I just don't want to stick it in my retirement account and have to give it back someday!
Submitted February 27, 2019 at 10:46AM by hijiki95 https://ift.tt/2U9XqZ5
