They got it from the brokerage for me. I don’t think they had a copy. For some reason I couldn’t log on online but they were able to. Sorry I kind of shortened all that in the post above.
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Will your parents cooperate with you in order to create an IRS account? You can pull past tax filings once you have that account.
I can’t remember how I created mine, and I only did so to check on some correspondence.
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I think that requires ID.me or some other way of verification of identity. That is how we set up our accounts (IRS, SSA, and others).
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I have been doing my mom’s taxes since my dad passed away. The biggest problem I have seen is with the brokerage statements. They sometimes do not have basis for some stocks (shows up as NA or 0), especially if one has inherited some stocks or transferred stocks from one brokerage to another. It would then incorrectly show much large capital gains. I have caught that quite a few times with my mom’s statements.
It was why I decided not to have an account to do my mom’s taxes because they missed it twice and I had to fix it after they were filed.
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For the inheirited situation, there is step-up basis. If you know date of death, you can google to find stock price that day.
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I had no issue of figuring it out for the inherited situation, but a lot more difficult when it is a transfer from one account to another.
Each brokerage treats the situation differently. One assumes the basis is 0, so there is a huge capital gain, and another just shows capital gain as 0, and it could then lead to IRS audit, which happened to my mom.
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Congress changed the law in the earl 80’s to require reporting of basis for transactions. Prior to that, a brokerage did not track purchase price (or inheritance basis), including folks that hold certificates themselves. Regardless of what basis they “show”, check the statement to see if it is “reportable to IRS”. If not, then the tax payer can enter the appropriate basis. If the stock has been held for many years (pre-80’s), then best estimate will work. Of course, teh IRS will always accept zero basis.
Since the 80’s, a basis should track for transfers, if done electronically (ACATS).
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It should in theory but it doesn’t always happen in practice. Even with stocks purchased in the early 2000s and transferred by the same person between their own accounts within the same brokerage. That was one time we were happy that the pile of very old paperwork had not been shredded yet. 
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One more thing to consider with retirement place - threat of a data center and accompanying issues (with rising utility costs as well as strain on water systems and potential water problems with wells for example). One just has to research a little to learn about houses near data centers that have had a well dry up or unusable water (including unusable even for toilet/shower).
This is a gift article, so all should be able to read.
I already know a few ‘caveats’ for where we will be moving. Water from the tap drinkable (some places in the area not - IDK if it is due to old plumbing in a house or water coming to the house); potentially needing a whole house generator for brownouts; reliability of internet service (and any interference). Growing checklist. Maybe people can add things they wish they had learned about before purchasing their home.
How Meta Got Everything It Wanted in a Secret Louisiana Data Center Deal - The New York Times
How Meta Got Everything It Wanted in a Secret Louisiana Data Center Deal - The New York Times
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One of the few things that make me not want to move from my house/area is that we have really good tap water. I recognize that every time I go somewhere else.
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My daughter has good tap water where she is, but the Airbnb that we rented totally not. We know we just have a lot of caveats in purchasing. Our home for the past 30+ years has had good water and good lots of everything else.
Our move will be like eating an elephant “one bite at a time”.
I wonder if it was from the same source? We are at the edge of where our water company serves so people within a half mile, inside the town limits, get their water from a different source.
Our daughter/family is in a very big city (San Antonio TX). Her home (that they rent) is actually in Helotes (NW of SA) but her mailing address says San Antonio - and her water is fine. I think some of it might be aging of some of the water lines, or even the specific house (it was an older house that was superficially updated to be AirBnB). There is some truth in how various areas have water source. Where we are in AL, we are in a city that crosses between two counties, and our house is within 2 miles of the two cities and main county. We have water from the smaller city and power from the major city. We had lived in the major city and have better water where we are now (main city you could smell the chlorine or fluoride in the water). We do receive an annual water report with all the testing etc.
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IDK if it was on this thread or another with talking about major advice columns/advice on retirement (it may have been on the parents caring for parents thread) but Dear Abby has a change “I am now in my 39th year of penning the “Dear Abby” column, which started on Jan. 9, 1956, written by my late mother, Pauline Phillips. When I began writing it in 1987, I promised myself that when the time came to retire, I would step aside to live life without a deadline. I am grateful for the support of my two loyal and able assistants, Steven Andrews and Jose Fuentes. Please don’t worry about me; my health is fine. I plan to indulge my long-postponed itch to travel. In the years ahead, my column will continue to serve you. It will be written by a capable editorial staff. Please wish me a happy retirement as I open this new chapter of my life. I love you all. — Jeanne Phillips aka Dear Abby”
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I got an email today telling me that our FA is leaving. That makes me sad. Not like I spent THAT much time with him, but you develop a relationship and trust, ya know? 
And I was just going to reach out to him today. I guess I better because he’ll be gone by the end of the month!
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Have you had that FA for a long time? We have a lot of our funds in one “place” but since my DH does most of the investing/trading himself, whoever is “assigned” to our account seems to change frequently.
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We work with a financial planner who is part of a group…I think there are about 20 in total. We started out with a different planner before I retired, and he then retired. We were switched to the person we have now…had an introductory interview before he started handling our accounts. He is excellent!
Will the FA you have recommend someone to you?
Is he retiring or just moving somewhere else where he will keep working? If the latter, he can’t initiate the talk but you can ask in private. He can’t solicit clients from his old firm but a client can move her money to his new firm on her own.
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This is through Vanguard so they will assign a new person to us. He’s 30, unmarried and has done this since he graduated eight years ago so now he wants to take a sabbatical and travel the world, like all his retirees are doing. 
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I fully understand. My former FA who was extremely competent, left Fidelity. I have a replacement but she is not as experienced as I had hoped.
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