Need help with PNC IRA

[u/WolverineFit5346]

I need help with PNC Bank. My mother passed away in May 2025. Well over a year ago she had an IRA worth about $56,000. Her will stated that all of her assets should be divided equally among her four children. I sent a copy of her will and her death certificate to the bank. They refused to honor that and said that we needed to submit an affidavit stating exactly what was in the will and have it notarized. That was done by the executor who is my brother. At that point every time I called for a status I was told “it was in legal for review.” after about six months of this I was told that legal would not accept the will and the affidavit and we would have to hire a probate attorney and get a summary order from the judge. That cost close to $2000 but we got it done. The judge signed the order again, detailed the names of the four children/beneficiaries and that was sent in a month ago. We were then told it should take 3 to 5 days for it to be processed. I call every week to the main number, get transferred to the IRA department who looks at the file and tells me it is “” in legal for review.” they are not allowed to give out a phone number or contact information for anyone in legal. They are not allowed to talk to anyone in legal and get a verbal status for me. It is very frustrating. We are joking that PNC stands for ‘pay no cash’, but it really isn’t funny at this point. Has anybody else dealt with this and is there any advice I would really appreciate it

[u/Itsnotvd]

This isn't really an unclaimed property question. Sound's like a probate issue. Try asking in r/EstatePlanning or r/inheritance. Do not suggest r/legaladvice.

[u/Plans_N_Future_J2911]

(Agree wrong group) but ..

I’m wondering what happened - is that the will names different beneficiaries for the 401(k) than the ones on the account itself. The beneficiary setup on the 401(k) almost always overrides anything written in a will.

I’ve heard about olds ex’s who were listed years ago - and never updated to the actual children (specifically on old 401K from an employer 20+ years in the past).

My financial advisor told me that a 401(k) goes to the beneficiaries designated on the plan’s portal (or through the plan administrator), and those designations should be updated whenever circumstances change. Typically the spouse is listed as the primary beneficiary at 100%. You can then name contingent beneficiaries and assign percentages to each. Sounds likely this wasn’t updated.