Recently, I received a phone call at iAdvisor that broke my heart. A widow reached out for help to trace deceased spouse’s investments. She explained that her husband had recently passed away, leaving her to care for their young daughter. Her husband usually told her that “he had made a lot of investments” over the years.
The problem? He never told her where that money was.
Initially, I offered the standard advice:
“Let’s check the websites of major insurance companies and brokerages one by one. We can enter his mobile number, request an OTP, and see if an account exists.”
Her response highlighted a massive flaw in modern digital finance:
“His phone number has expired, and I have absolutely no way to access his email.”
When a loved one passes away, their digital life often dies with them. Without OTPs, PINs, or email passwords, widows and surviving heirs are left staring at a digital wall, assuming the money is lost forever.
But it isn’t. In India, a person’s financial footprint is permanently anchored to one document: The PAN Card.
Here is the exact blueprint on how to legally bypass the need for emails and OTPs to uncover hidden life insurance, mutual funds, stocks, and gold.
The Legal Arsenal You Need First
When you don’t have digital access, physical, court-backed documents become your currency. Financial institutions will not speak to you without them. Before starting your search, you must obtain:
- Original/Notarized Death Certificates (Get at least 15-20 copies).
- The Deceased’s PAN Card (and Aadhaar).
- Your own KYC documents (PAN and Aadhaar).
- The Master Key: A court-issued Succession Certificate, a Probate of Will, or a strict Legal Heir Certificate from the revenue authorities.
Once you hold these, institutions are legally obligated to bypass OTP protocols and share the deceased’s financial details directly with you.
Step 1: The Ultimate Financial X-Ray (Income Tax Records)
You do not need the deceased’s login credentials to see their tax records. You can legally pull their data into your account.
- Log in to the Income Tax e-Filing portal using your own PAN and credentials.
- Navigate to
Authorize / Register as Representativeand select “Register yourself on behalf of another person.” - Choose “Estate of Deceased” and upload the death certificate, the deceased’s PAN, and your Succession/Legal Heir Certificate.
- Once the tax department approves your request, their profile merges with yours.
You can now download their Annual Information Statement (AIS) and Form 26AS for the last 3–4 years. This document is a goldmine. It will reveal exactly which mutual funds they bought, which companies paid them dividends, and which insurers received premium payments.
Step 2: Uncovering Life Insurance Policies
Since there is no single master database for all life insurance, you have to follow the money trail left behind.
- Scan Physical Bank Statements: Submit your legal heir documents to the deceased’s bank and request physical account statements for the last 2 to 3 years. Look closely for annual, semi-annual, or monthly auto-debits marked as NACH, ECS, or ACH favoring insurance companies (like LIC, HDFC Life, etc.).
- Search “Unclaimed Amounts”: IRDAI mandates that every life insurer host an “Unclaimed Amount of Policyholders” search tool on their website. Using just the deceased’s PAN, Name, and Date of Birth, you can manually search the top insurers to see if a matured policy or payout is sitting in their name.
- Check for an e-Insurance Account (eIA): Write a formal letter to the four insurance repositories (CAMS Rep, NSDL NIR, Karvy, CDSL IR) with your notarized legal documents. If the deceased had digitized their policies, these agencies can pull a consolidated master list linked to his PAN.
Step 3: Tracking Stocks and Mutual Funds
Since the digital Consolidated Account Statement (CAS) requires an email OTP, you must take the offline route.
- For Mutual Funds: Locate the nearest physical branch of CAMS or KFintech (the registrars that manage almost all Indian mutual funds). Submit a written application for a “PAN-level search” along with your notarized death certificate and legal heir proof. They will run a backend trace and route the investment statements directly to your email or physical address.
- For Stocks & Demat Accounts: Draft a formal letter to the head offices of NSDL and CDSL. These two depositories hold all electronic shares in India. By submitting a notarized Succession Certificate and a request for a master search, they will mail you a physical list of all Demat accounts (e.g., Zerodha, ICICI Direct) registered to the deceased’s PAN.
Step 4: Locating Gold and Forgotten Bank Accounts
- Digital & Sovereign Gold: If he invested in Sovereign Gold Bonds (SGBs) or Gold ETFs, they will automatically appear on the NSDL/CDSL Demat statements you requested in Step 3.
- Physical Gold: Check the physical bank statements (obtained in Step 2) for an annual deduction labeled “Locker Rent.” This is the easiest way to locate bank lockers where physical family gold is usually stored.
- Forgotten Bank Accounts: To ensure no savings account was left behind, you can register your own mobile number on the RBI’s UDGAM Portal. This centralized gateway allows you to search across multiple banks for unclaimed deposits using the deceased’s name and PAN.
A Note to the Living
To the woman who called me, and to anyone navigating this labyrinth: the money is not gone. It will take paperwork, physical branch visits, and patience, but the system is designed to eventually route that money back to the rightful family members.
To everyone else reading this on iAdvisor.in: Do not let your investments become a treasure hunt for your grieving family.
Take 30 minutes this weekend. Write down your bank names, brokerages, and insurance companies on a physical piece of paper. Tell your spouse where it is. Financial planning isn’t just about growing your wealth—it’s about making sure it actually reaches the people you are growing it for.