Location: current-Alabama, resided/owned property in Texas at time of dementia onset
My 88 y/o old aunt has severe dementia that has progressed quickly that has caused a few financial questions to arise as we navigate her long term care options.
The main issue: In the late 70s/early 80s, she won 2 “very large” settlements. Because of the NDAs required in the settlement agreements, she was always very secretive about all money, bills, etc and she never disclosed the amount of the settlements or where she had them invested, only that she “had never touched it” since she received it and she implied to 1 family member that it was in excess of $25 million (this was in 2021 but had made the “never touched it” comment to 3 family members several times over the past 40 years). She also told almost all of us over the years that her and her husband set aside “$1 million for retirement” in the late 80s to supplement their income over the rest of their lives that was in stocks and IRAs.
We have found all the investment accounts and IRAs from the million she stated they had set aside for retirement that they only used for large purchases/year insurance/etc but all monthly expenses were covered with pensions, social security, dividends.
We found no paperwork or statements for an account that we did not know about but I understand from the Medicaid specialist that some accounts can be set up to constantly rollover forever and they do not have statements or tax forms unless withdrawal or closed.
*note: In my entire life, I never heard this woman be boastful or tell even a small white lie to save your feelings (and the million for retirement was confirmed) so I cannot rectify her saying she would like to see “how shocked the family will be” when she died and they found out she was actually “the richest person in the family” if she didn’t truly have the other account.
So the question is, how do we find out if she actually has any accounts from the settlements that she “never touched”?