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My aunt is in a nursing home with dementia, has no assets to speak of, and I am her DPOA and executor. She is a widow with no children and on Medicaid, so her assets were exhausted in the spend down. She is 84 and recently had bit of a health scare which is what prompted me to make sure her affairs are in order. My aunt's will states she has personal bequests in a "statement that exists". However, that statement is not attached to the will and we cannot find it. Now what?

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If Auntie has liquidated her assets (sold home, car, savings, investments) & done a spend down to be LTC Medicaid eligible; and basically gotten rid of the contents of her home when she moved into a care facility, she sadly may well have no “estate” to speak of. If so, that will is of no importance. It exists but there will be no assets to be able to do a distribution (to heirs mentioned in the will). Ends up being no reason or requirement to do a probate court actions and so that “personal bequests” missing document is of no importance as no probate platform to do it within.

The issue, in my NAL experience but on this forum a long l…o…n…g time, will be family & friends who somehow fully have the expectation that they are going to get jewelry, collectibles, artwork, $, even real property from Auntie. Perhaps those who are clueless on the how stringent LtC Medicaid is. Perhaps those who only remember Auntie back in her financially well off days. Perhaps those who are 1 will distribution from having the $ for a deposit for an old used car. And they can be quite relentless in haranguing you abt this.

A big shout out to you for doing this for a maiden Aunt. Even if “no good deed goes unpunished” nonsense comes from errant family & friends of Aunties.
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Rascal12 Nov 16, 2024
Thank you so very much for your response! I appreciate it very much. The one thing I do need to do is make an inventory of the few personal items she still has. Nothing of any real value, but I don't want any issues down the road. Thank you again!
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It doesn't exist.
And it is unlikely that any of these things she once bequeathed even still exist.
You have been through things and there are no such bequests. So that's that. What doesn't exist doesn't exist. And if they are not legally done in a will they mean not much anyway.
If you can't currently discuss this with Aunt then just consider it over and done until/unless something shows up.
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Rascal12 Nov 16, 2024
Thank you very much for your response!
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My MIL was suppose to have a cidicil too and never did it. The lawyers name should be on the Will. See if he has a copy with the codicil attached. If not, there is none. If your Aunt had anything of worth when applying for Medicaid, those items need to be valued and sold for her care. Lets say she had a necklace valued at 10k, that had to be sold.
I never had to take an inventory of my Moms home. Basically she had nothing. My brother told me what he wanted and those things were put aside. I took very little, the rest got given to thrift shops and clothing closets. Furniture got given to Habitate gor humanity. The junk went on the curb for pick up.
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