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I'm curious and a bit suspicious as to why step mom's distant family would go through hoops to reach out after many many years of no contact. Step mom is under hospice and at end of life. Step mom never had children but Dad does. Other than being polite, what else could they possible want?

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You may well have someone doing geneology research. It is exceptionally common these days. The stuff is often even given as gift.
I am uncertain what you mean by "reaching out". I would simply tell them that your Mom is unwell and unable to communicate with them. Should they pursue I would tell them that she had no contact with them for _______ years and you are not comfortable sharing any information with them. Wish them well. And that's that.
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While you may have every right to be suspicious, they might just want to make their peace with her, before she dies. so they don't have to live with the guilt of ignoring her all these years. Try giving them the benefit of the doubt, until they prove otherwise.
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I think AlvaDeer might be on the right track. With the TV shows and the commercials as well as people having time at home to do things that they would not have had tome for in the past it is common to find "long lost family"
Or it is possible that someone else in the family has recently passed and now their family is going through papers and "finding" relatives.
If you wish, make contact. Keep it on line for now and see what the purpose of the contact is. If these are "distant" as you indicate they should have no "claim" to any assets that step grandma has. But give no information or confirm any info until you feel comfortable. (And if you have a family lawyer you might want to run it by them if there is a sizable estate)
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Money.
But maybe kindness..?
I'd be polite but wary.
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A very distant family member contacted us. She was, in fact, doing genealogy. She very nicely shared pictures that had my dad in them as a baby. We had never seen them before.
She also shared HUGE genealogy charts with us. They went back hundreds of years. I was grateful that she got in contact with us. No money was ever mentioned.
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Update:

First thanks to all who have chimed in so far.

I spoke directly to the niece of my mom's step mom, my step grandmother and she restated that she is at end of life and wanted to let her step children know. She further stated that should would be visiting the nursing home tomorrow and would keep us updated.

I'm still not certain if pending death is the reason for the contact.

A bit of backstory: step mom/grandmother came received a large settlement as a result of my dad/granddad's death over three decades ago. I doubt if anything is left.
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AlvaDeer Jan 2021
If something is left hopefully she has left a will. It will then go to whomever she left it to. Does sound odd at this point. But some people have these movie like deathbed screnarios in their brains that almost NEVER do pan out. It honestly doesn't matter what they want at this point; I would imagine it is much to late for them to "get anything" even if that is their nefarious goal, and I doubt it is.
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OP here, just posting another update. I never heard from the distant family members regarding step mom/grandmother and believe it was just a fishing expedition to see if family was still around and living.

I did a bit of skimming and I believe that since my mom was never adopted by her step mom she really wouldn't be entitled to anything. As I've stated before, the Dad, my granddad was tragically killed many years ago and I'm sure the money from that incident is long gone.

Thanks everyone!
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AlvaDeer Jan 2021
Thanks for the update. So few come back to fill us in on what happened in any given situation. It is appreciated. Hope you stick around on the forum so as to help others with all you learn!
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That's right, Beatty... inheritance.
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Here is another guess, but making sure say we can only guess unless they are actually asked. What if Step Mom came into money from the passing of someone in the estranged distant family?
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cwillie Jan 2021
I don't know how it works there but when I was settling my mother's estate all beneficiaries got a letter from the lawyer that was helping me in my duties as executor. Even if someone was working without legal advice I kind of doubt they wouldn't be upfront about the reason they were looking for distant/estranged family members if this was the reason.
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Lets be honest they are sniffing around for possible money. What else would be the reason? We have experienced this many times in the past and recently. Be very aware.
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