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[quote=Anonymous]For years I've been waiting for my fiscally-irresponsible mother-in-law to start asking us for money, and that call came today. My father-in-law wasted most of their savings before he died 10 years ago, but MIL wasn't left destitute, and she received about $300,000 from the sale of some property not long after he passed. Since then MIL (age 85, sharp mind and good health) has been renting an overpriced condo in an exclusive retirement community; leasing a new car every couple of years; overpaying for cable TV that she barely watches and a mobile data plan that she doesn't need... She makes no effort to save, and refuses to adjust her lifestyle to match her means. (She receives $3,000/month in social security but spends more than $6,000/month.)

Today she called my husband and asked for $10,000. Apparently my husband's brothers have given her an estimated $200,000 over the last 10 years; this is the first time she's hit us up (that I'm aware of).

I've seen this coming for years and have asked my husband several times to force her to face reality before it becomes a crisis. He says he's raised the issue but she gets defensive and shuts him down. (In my family, this would have been escalated to tough love, but I guess that's just not how his family rolls.)

I wanted to hear from those of you who've been in similar situations and can help me gain some perspective. At the moment I'm feeling unsympathetic and a rather pissed - both at my mother-in-law, and at my husband and his brothers for allowing this to go on for so long. (Not necessarily relevant to the story, but we have a young child, earn a middle-class income, and live very deliberately within our means.)

My husband told his mother that he would get back to her by the end of the week. He's inclined to give her the money while demanding that she take measures to curb her spending. I think she'll agree, take the cash, and never make good on the promise.

Thank you for reading![/quote]

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