Reply # kim This is my situation. My Mother-in-law. She retired at 62 so she could have a new car. She had 0 savings. She divorced my husbands step father -- am only 51. My mother is passed, and my father well off. He works still at 73, although he doesn’t have too.My Mother-in-law would take my last dime. I have helped for years, but I will have to sacrifice MY retirement, and I’m not going to anymore.May sound harsh, but I am struggling with the ability to work overtime anymore. My husband hasn’t gotten disability yet. My Mother-in-law knows about my nest egg and thinks I’m cruel. It isn’t that much, only $300,000.What do you guys think? -- @ PennyRex If your comment is directed to Kim…..its not even her mother, its her mother in law. Why in Gods name should she use HER money to support that woman? -- Reply + Amber So what if it was your mother in law? Would it be okay too since she raised your husband, etc. And she was in her 50’s, completely able to work, previously making over $100,000 a -- parents money? NO. Will I welcome them into my house and help pay for their food and basics if necessary? Yes. I expect to have to do this with my mother and mother-in-law. As far as medical expenses, I don’t feel obligated to pay for debts in someone else’s name. My parents may have to declare bankruptcy. That’s what those laws are -- Reply + Nicole My 75 and 80 year old in laws retired at 45 with the belief that they were going to screw the system. All they did was screw themselves. They are very broke. Their house is a dump -- Reply 16. PigPennies This hits close to home today regarding my parent’s in law. It’s funny how most of the people who are shocked anyone would even consider not helping have responsible or hard working parents. In that case sure, if something drastic happened, they would help. But in the situation with my in laws, where they are both over 50 and in an extreme debt situation (I would be overjoyed if they had anything close to $10K in savings!) and are in their situation -- No. My parents would not help with college, my wedding, and I have worked since age 14. They give money to 2 brothers and don’t save at all. In laws are even worse off and have asked us for money several times. They did not pay for hubby to go to school but paid for sis then asked us to help pay for her school when she was still -- an incredibly emotional topic, and as such it is difficult to think in the abstract about what you would do. I do not foresee this issue with my parents, but I do worry about my in-laws. How would others feel about taking on the burden of the spouses parents? It is much easier to feel resentment! Reply + Agree with BW I face a similar situation where my in-laws have been financially irresponsible. They have portrayed a lavish lifestyle while making bad decision upon bad financial -- Reply 27. So Angry!!!! My in-laws are completely financially irresponsible. They have no savings and they have a small amount of CC debt, but a house they “rent” to no profit to them, in AZ that the bought during the -- it’s worth after the recession. And not only that, THEY WERE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS working at minimum wage jobs the whole time!! (Now they’re legal). My mother-in-law was working 80 hrs a week to pay for it all–it’s really her that wants it all too. They were well off in their own country, and she can’t handle the status change I guess. But that house was nicer than any house my parents have owned and my dad’s a dean at a university. Umm, yeah. Oh, and they also spent oodles of money supporting my lame brother-in-law who only wants to party and drink and get tattoos. My other brother-in-law is nice and financially responsible, but whenever my husband tries to talk to him about plans for their retirement, he acts like he has the emotional capabilities of a 15 yr old girl and -- possible. (Yeah, I’m one of 9–I love big families–but my parents are extremely smart with their money). And one of our children is an adopted family member that my mother-in-law asked us to take in years ago, and because of that instead of having 15 yrs to pay off our own debts and free up some money before needing to help with -- to college in 6 yrs. Having that old of a child given to us threw off all our financial planning to begin with. And I know my mother-in-law just expects us to take them in. In fact she’s made comments along the lines of “I’ll never forgive you if you put me in a nursing home.” Anyway, it’s so frustrating because in 10-15 -- Reply 29. angela t my parents i would help yes. my mother in law, no. she screwed over her kids so bad. they had vehicles repoed and even when my husband had tried cosigning a loan (big mistake which was also before we -- harsh but i dont care. every bit of it is true. the baby boomers CANNOT rely on us to take care of them 100%! we can help but the last thing i want is my mother in law living with us when she gets older. you’d have to be frickin nuts Reply -- My name is Kim and I wrote one of the first posts in here and had mixed comments. Most of which most agreed with me at shouldn’t feel responsible for my mother-in-law’s retirement. should have added that if my MIL had become indigent through medical reasons or no fault of her own I would, of course, be more open to assisting her. -- hungry and has a roof over her head. I still assist with very limited personal items she needs. If I give her cash she will give it to my drug addict, non working sister-in-law who is younger than I am and needs to go to work. I am no longer paying for her to get her hair dyed ect. I was a single mom for years and had to do