My father worked for 18 years at a factory in shelby vill ind and my mother never got his 401k when he passed away 8 years ago shouldn't she have something coming and how does she go about seeing

She needs to contact his employer . They don't automatically make a distribution. She needed to present them with a cpy of his death certificate. Then the sccount would be distributed to his listed beneficiary.

While she's at it she should check to see if your father had a life insurance policy at work.