Forgiving or otherwise reducing Maw's debts? As a followup to this question , I've arrived at an effective financial mechanism to help me provide for Maw, however while evaluating her overall financial health I learned that she's acquired alarming (given her previous state of relatively low income) debts. Specifically, at 67 years of age she's never earned more than $18K, but somehow has managed to convince three lenders to front her some $20K in debt. I believe most of this is unsecured, but I haven't seen all the paperwork yet and as a further indication of Maw's lack of financial knowledge she has no idea herself. My current activities have been focused on migrating higher interest rate debt into lower rate facilities, but the final outcome is unsatisfactory even if I can get all of her debts into a secured vehicle.

Setting up a financial trust for Maw? My mother has tremendous problems handling money. Or, to be more specific, holding onto it. I left the US in 1998, and every year since I've given her $10K for a Christmas gift and every year in it's all gone in two months or less. She work(ed) as a Health Care Aide, earning about $18K but recently lost her position. Upon investigation of her affairs I found she's only got about $4K in cash, and she's not even certain about that. Her and I disagree about money, so she's probably inflating this a little. In the past every time I tried to get her to save there was a lot of hollering (not from my direction mind you) so I just gave up and let her enjoy herself. Now's she's got a problem, but there are pluses: the house is fully paid for, she lives in my very small hometown where almost everything is within walking distance, she already receives a small Social Security cheque and I'm liquid.