Another option if you just want to be done with these miles is to look at the hotel & car rental rewards available: www.aa.com/carandhotelawards

I would ONLY use them this way if it's for a trip that you're (or she) already taking and you can find a good value for them. A quick glance at Chicago area hotels showed the lowest one at about 8,000 miles, but there is a cash + miles option. Again, compare that option very carefully to what it would cost you to just book the hotel outright. Also be sure to check the reviews of the hotel.

As others have said, it makes no sense to pay the fee to transfer them to you. If there is no immediate use for them that is valuable, there are plenty of cheap & easy ways to extend the expiration, but I would take advantage of one of them NOW as some of the shopping malls can take a while to post (or at least, they don't guarantee that it will post quickly).