I was on the other end of a situation like that about 15 years ago. My father died suddenly, he owned/ operated a gun shop for some 30 years. Did lots and lots of repair work, thousands of guns there. So many people came after my mother saying they had left this or that there for repair years earlier etc, some was sorted through bookwork , but most not. It was very difficult, my mother was harassed, threatened with court, etc over and over again. She had no money, no savings, etc and made a bad situation even worse for her. At some point we borrowed money and just paid off most people for what they claimed they had, tried to be a decent judge of character, but who knows. Keep that in mind that a widow or partner probably won't have any idea about what a pinball board even looks like