Loooooong story short, my cousin’s ex has taken the kids to MO, the eldest basically against his will, and in the process she made sure to tell everyone what a horrible person my cousin was (my aunt, his mom, got the majority of this discussion — classy) while everyone else just sort of watched her, slack-jawed, through all of this because she is THAT much of an asshole (with serious problems, not the least of which is nicknaming her 12 year old daughter "Tits.). In addition, because my cousin had never formalized his will, and because the estate by default goes to his kids, and because she got a lawyer to grant her custody, she gets the estate, too. Not that she cares — she took the kids to the airport as soon as she could, and is gone.  We are all fairly confident that we won’t see the kids ever again, unless they survive her to adulthood and realize just exactly what’s gone on in the last 2 weeks — hell, their whole lives. In. Fucking. Sane.  And unbearably sad, mostly for my parents (who were, for example, the emergency contact for the kids — they would spend sick days in the studio with my mom) and for my aunt (who has not only lost her son, but now, his kids too) and for the kids, who may never know exactly what they’ve lost.