Elderly relative with dementia can't help, how do we get her financial and legal information?

So much information missing I can't hazard a guess. Where did they rescue her FROM? Her home? Because clearly documents would be in her home, correct? That would be where to start. She didn't come off the street homeless I am assuming, or am I wrong in assuming that. Lordy. Where to start? I haven't a clue. I hope others do. You may need a Private Investigator on this one, quite literally. They do much of their work online now and are wizards with public records searches and etc. Is there any next of kin other than this friend?

for the deed to house, contact the county assessors office in the county the house is in. Might be called something else where you live but here, it is the assessors office.

But first, your friend needs to get proof of the relatives identity. And if they know who the person with all the paperwork is, she may have to take legal action to get the paperwork. Hopefully nothing has been changed, the relatives name is still on the deed to the house and the financial accounts are in her name.

My first question is, who has her documents? Or where should they be? If your friend knows The Who & the where, she might be able to retrieve them by having the police/sheriff accompany her to the house (assuming it’s a house) while she retrieved the documents. Law enforcement presence may or may not result in documents being handed over to her.

Does the friend have a government issued ID? Such as a drivers license or passport.

For her birth certificate, your friend should try to find out where she was born. If the friend cannot remember, there are sites like ancestry that can provide info. She’ll need to know what county because that is where she’ll go to get a new birth certificate. Some counties will let you do it by mail or online. My county for example will let you submit the request online BUT you have to go down in person with a government issued ID to get the actual birth certificate.

To get a new SS card she will have to go down in person since you don’t have the information required to do it online. And SS will need all original documents-a current government issued photo ID.

Without identifying documents, I don’t think the financial institutes will be willing to give anyone information or access to her accounts.