I'm not sure if my knee jerk response is fair or not. FiL is in his late eighties and is pretty frail. He's never been good with money - DH says he's the kind of guy who will win £10,000 on the horses and then invest it immediately in some hair brained scheme set up by a mate of his down the pub. He did have a fair amount of money when he retired but decided to invest it in a couple of business ventures set up by "mates" which promptly failed and left him in a financial hole. As a result, he took out a mortgage on his house a few years ago, which was apparently fine because MiL did have a civil service pension which covered the costs of the mortgage.
She has since sadly died, and in addition the fixed rate on his mortgage has come to an end and he is now struggling to make repayments. He has therefore asked DH if he can buy the house and get a new fixed rate which he thinks will bring his mortgage repayments down to something he can afford. I think the idea is then that DH gets the house when he dies. He's also putting a fair bit of pressure on DH - comments about 'not being able to keep your mum's home that she loved' and 'this place is all I have left'.
I'm freaking out a bit. I don't even know if it's legal - I think it highly unlikely FiL will be a fit state to remain living independently for the next seven years - and if it is legal I am very worried that he'll get himself in a state, stop paying the mortgage, tell no one and put our house at risk. DH, I think, is torn between my anxiety and his feelings towards his DF.
Can anyone talk some sense into me, either way?