Found out my grandpa left me a savings bond and I'm not sure what to do since I was adopted AFTER. {Complicated Story/long-ish post, apologies beforehand.}
Like the title says, I am not sure how to go about this. I ended up in foster care when I was 8yrs old. Then adopted at 13yrs, went back into foster care because my adopted father was a pos, THEN in my 20's I came back to be with my bio family and have remained with them since.
I am 33 a of May 6th and my grandpa died back in 2015. I just found out about the bond from my grandpa's side of the family, people whom I never really knew and still don't. I honestly thought it was a scam at first, they contacted me through Facebook so obviously I didn't trust it. They contacted me again and this time we talked over the phone, I recognized my grandpa's nephew and NO PERSONAL INFO was requested, we chatted, they told me about the bonds and asked for my address so they could mail them.
This is my issue, the bond is in my birth name. Because I was taken away and adopted at such a young age and I have been out of foster care for well over a decade, I have no access to my OG birth certificate, the family doesn't have it, foster care doesn't have it and the only copy of my by birth certificate that I have is the new one I got when I was adopted which has my new name and my adopted father's name on it. It doesn't even have my bio mother's name on it. Like the mother is literally blank because he wasn't married.
I have no records of my actual birth...which sounds shady af now that I think about it, but whatever.... What exactly am I supposed to do here? How can I prove I am me and that I am my grandpa's granddaughter without proof? My social security number is the same obviously, but will that be enough? Any advice will be appreciated before I go on a wild goose chase trying to figure this out on my own. Side note in case this matters since states do things differently, I am from Illinois.