<prompt> Human: Hi rpersonalfinance, Thank you all for taking the time to read my post. So my wife had a 401k with which she contributed to for 5 years,but being young and naive she forgot about it and lost all paperwork. What makes the situation a bit more murky is she doesnt recall the name of the institution through which the 401k is through, also the pharmacy with which she worked for Brooks Pharmacy was acquired by Right Aid. I guess if we want to claim it we need to do some detective work. Do any of you know and possible actions we could take.Thanks again guys and gals.  <response>: By law, companies cant administrator their own 401ks. So, there is a 3rd party company that does that for them. Ton of text coming:1. As stated previously, you need to contact Rite Aid HR and ask if they have the name of who was the 401k administrator of the wifes company when they acquired them. They would have given all the active Brookstone employees at that time the choice to moverollover their plan to Rite Aids or leave it. They should have memos or something with the name. It sounds like your wife did not work for Brookstone at the time of the buy-out. If they do have the companys name, ask HR for the contact phone number they have for that administrator. These retirement plan administrators serve many companies and this way you will get to the right division. Also, finding customer service phone numbers for these can be challenging I had to track one down. 2. If Rite Aid HR cant come up with the name of the Brookstones 401k administrator, then ask for the name of the company that handled Rite Aids 401k plan at the time of the buyout. I say at the time because not knowing how long ago this was 5 years ago, 20 years ago? Rite Aid could have switched 401k administrators. It doesnt happen often because it came be disruptive, but it does occur for lower management fees, etc.2. Once you have the name of the company that administered Rite Aids 401k, again get that phone number, your wife needs to contact them. Explain the situation and they should know which 401k admin company your wife had because they would of had a lot of direct rollovers at that time for all the incoming, newly acquired employees. Depending on how long ago this was, they may have to do some research and get back with you. 3. Once you get the name where her 401k is setting, you can contact them to set up a rollover to eIther her own Traditional IRA or into her current 401k. This way no tax consequences. 4. Chances are they still have the monies. They only automatically distribute if it drops below a certain amount. Usually it is very small, like below a 1000. If they did, she would have also received a 1099-R tax form that year. 5. Depending on the amount, most plans charge a small periodic Maintence fee i.e. 15-30 a quarter for accounts that dont belong to active employees. These fees could have eventually dropped her below their minimum and then issued her the check years later when she crossed that threshold. 6. If they issued a distribution check that was never cashed, it would eventually become escheated and eventually turned over to the states unclaimed property of the last address they had for your wife. The rules vary for how long this can take, depending on the type of escheatment. It can be a year or two or Ive seen after 7 years they turn it over to the state. If she has moved states, check with all the states where she has lived, just in case. 7. If they did issue a check to the old address on file, so also went the 1099. You will need to get them to issue you a corrected one and possibly amend her tax returns. Not sure how an escheated distribution would be handled. Check with a qualified tax advisor on handling that. Good luck and keep us posted if she is able to track it down! 