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Elderly parents

Struggling with MIL assumptions

57 replies

sunintheeast · 03/03/2026 06:12

My lovely FIL died 18 months ago. MiL struggled hugely after caring for him for 2 years with no family nearby. After he died she asked if she could move nearer to us.. he had wanted her to so that was a big part in it..200 miles from where she had lived her whole life.. we gladly said yes. I get on with her and we have similar values hobbies etc.. we wanted to give her the support but with some worries about moving her away from her friends. To make it work financially we had to go in with our savings to make up the difference on a new place and also do it up as our area is more expensive than hers. In spite of her really trying it has been hard so much harder than i thought.. I think she thinks we are much better off than we are and DH is so generous hes just got in the habit of paying for her everywhere we go and taking her on holiday with us. Its getting to me.. the house has been hard work for a woman in her 80s so even though we are spending a fortune she is missing her old home, friends, town and is emotionally flat alot of the time. I have very little time with DH now hes either doing DIY or she's with us because shes lonely. To be fair she has joined a couple of groups so she is trying. I dont want to feel resentful... she lost her husband and dealing with a massive change but im starting to fester about the time, our massively depleting savings (everything has to be done ASAP! ) and general assumption that its her son's role now to do what her husband did and looking after her .. we didnt realise how much he did ! how do I manage it and move on ??

OP posts:
DoloresDelEriba · 03/03/2026 14:02

Not your husband. Not your MIL.
What is his chronic condition? I fear you are being played OP.
He can move in with his mum.

sunintheeast · 03/03/2026 14:15

It all sounds worse written down the reality check i needed.. we both have our own pensions and he released part of one to help buy the house. We didnt realise the extent of the work needed which has meant more £££..re health hes waiting for an op and hopefully will be working more too. Also he's not a freeloader he helped me pay off my mortgage after a redundancy so its not as black and white as it first came across.. but does underline the need to sort out our situations and future proof things. I dont want him on deeds of my house as I have kids ... i am probably funding his mum out of my guilt about this !!

OP posts:
WhereYouLeftIt · 03/03/2026 14:35

"DH is so generous hes just got in the habit of paying for her everywhere we go and taking her on holiday with us. Its getting to me."
It's always easy to be generous with other people's money. I expect his mother was grateful at first, but it never ceases to amaze me how quickly gratitude morphs into entitlement.

"Massively depleting savings" - how much money are we talking about, re her/his house? (Not asking you to state the amount here, just checking that YOU know the numbers.) The reason I ask is, when you total up money that has been paid bit by bit over a period of time it can come as quite a shock. Have you been keeping tabs? Has he? Has she? You and he needs to sit down and look at the hard financial facts of this situation. You need to know that he knows the cost to you of his generosity.

But it's not just the money, it's the time - his is now spent with her, not you.

I often think the benefit of Mumsnet is that it can be a huge sounding board. You run a situation past a load of strangers and since they don't know you or the other people they can give their tuppence-worth unaffected by emotional attachment to any party. We're not in the situation personally, we're at a distance looking at the woods not the trees. We're also coming in from a standing start, so haven't been the boiling frog as the OP sometimes turns out to be. And all we have to go on is what the OP tells us, which is often more revealing that the OP realises. (Sometimes, by noticing what the OP hasn't told us.)

Personally, I'm looking at a man whose lifestyle is subsidised by his partner (which allows him to work part-time) who uses 'joint' savings (predominantly provided by his partner because she works full-time) to the benefit of his mother and himself (since they jointly owns a property), and his subsidised part-time lifestyle also facilitates spending his non-working time enhancing the value of their property via DIY without his chronic condition affecting his DIY efforts (pretty sure OP would have mentioned if it was affecting his health) which is why he's part-time in the first place.

Those are the bald facts that have struck me.

WhereYouLeftIt · 03/03/2026 14:40

Cross-posted (as I often do, I take so long to type)

"he helped me pay off my mortgage after a redundancy"
I'd be worried he'd have a financial claim on my house.

saraclara · 03/03/2026 14:46

If he helped pay off your mortgage, then he absolutely could make a claim on your house.

Maray1967 · 03/03/2026 23:41

OP, you have mixed up your finances with a man you’re not married to. Both of you seem to have put money into each other’s property. It sounds like a mess that needs to be addressed. At the least you need to get the calculator out and start working out who owes whom and what.

Dunglowing · 03/03/2026 23:59

What was his financial situation when he got with you? Did he own a property or have any assets? I am worried that he has paid off your mortgage to make a claim on your house - whilst at the same time setting himself up with a nice little flat that he also owns to retreat to.

What money did he use to buy the flat with his Mum - how much of your money has he used to renovate it - as well as keep her financially cushioned. She may well have plenty of savings which she isn’t touching because you are subbing her every move - and building a nice nest egg to leave solely to her DS - or is currently flushing it through his pension.

You have DCs - every bean you make should be for you and them

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