My wife passed away 3 years and I am now getting around to cleaning everything up. She worked for a hotel in ca for many many years. We met and she moved to peoria AZ with me. We married and within 14 years she died unexpectedly. She was empolyed with Cummins Southwest in Phx. For 5 + years and then transferred to Cactus Bolt, also in AZ. She gave us a beautiful girl and 4 days after our girl 6th b-day she passed. I have tried to contact the 3 companies but they are no longer or at least the location where she worked have closed or changed hands. How do I find here 401k so that I can set something for our little girl.

Some suggestions:

1. If your wife had a 401(k) plan the administrator should be sending quarterly satements in the mail. So check to see whether these are coming. If you can find any of her old statements in your files it should have contact information so you can call the plan admimnistartor - it's typically a bank, insurance company, or investment house like Vangurad or Fidelity.

2. Keep trying to track down her employers. You want to talk to HR - they should be able to verify whethere there are any 401(k)'s in her name. You may have be a sleuth on this. If the company has been sold or merged it can be difficult to follow the trail - perhaps an old colleague would be able to tell you who to call. I found contact info for Cummins Southwest here: Cummins Southwest Inc - 602-252-8021 - Phoenix, Arizona (AZ) 85009 | BlogFlux Local Directory (http://yp.blogflux.com/directory/us/arizona/phoenix/cummins-southwest-inc-2239-n-black-canyon-hwy/)
And for Cactus Bolt here:
Cactus Bolt - Tempe, Arizona (AZ) | Company Profile (http://www.manta.com/c/mmlzcfs/cactus-bolt)
Even if thee aren't the same physical locations, they should be able to tell you who to contact.

3. It's possible that if your wife didn't keep current mailing address on file with the administartor(s) that they have turned the plan assets over to the state assuming that the account owner is lost. Every state has a program to try to reunite people with their lost assets. Here is a free web site that lets you search your state's database of abandoned assets: Missing Money Free Search for Unclaimed Property - Officially endorsed By The States and Provinces (http://www.missingmoney.com/) It's a good idea to do a search on every state she ever lived in to see if there are abandoned assets in her name.

Good luck!