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?
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.
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.
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.