<prompt> Human: Our mother is severely disabled with hearing problems, a speech impediment, poor personal hygiene, and hallucinations. Shes 58. And shes an absolute pest to deal with.Growing up, our mother was abusive towards us, putting both my sister and I in dangerous situations constantly. My mother even tried to kill me twice when I was an infant. But for whatever reasons, she was still granted joint custody with my dad and we still had to deal with her all throughout our childhood. I always hated going to see her because she was dirt poor and married several abusive husbands which made going to see her much worse. I remember several times she would be on the brink of homelessness, and my dad and stepmother didnt like seeing her in this state, so they decided to help support her.Fast forward to now, and shes a little milder. However, shes developing a lot of problems mentally and physically. Right now, she lives in a retirement village under disability. Shes been informally evicted from her last apartment where shes convinced a man and woman were following her, trying to steal her stuff. Our family moved her to the retirement village because it was affordable under HUD housing, but even now shes convinced the people from her old apartment followed her there: theyre spying on her, tapping into her phone, waiting for her to leave the apartment so they can swoop in and take stuff, breaking in at night and raping her while shes asleep, and so on. Shes so afraid to leave her apartment that she stockpiles bags of trash and calls us to drive all the way across town so that we can watch her apartment while she takes the bags of trash to the dumpsters. She wont shower unless someones there with her, but she claims this is because shes afraid of falling in the tub. Taking her out in public is a crapshoot because you dont know if shes going to have an outburst in public regarding her quality of life.Again, shes an absolute pest and right now its my dad and stepmother taking care of her. Occasionally my sister and I.Well, at this point my dad and stepmother are getting on up there in years, and they all of us, really are sinking a lot of time and money into supporting my mother. They pay for her cable, utilities, electricity, groceries, dog food, phone bill, etc. They have to drive with her to go grocery shopping which eats up a lot of time. They often have very little money for themselves because the money goes to supporting her. And it seems like theyre ready to quit. This has been going on for maybe the last 16 years.My sister wants to step up to the plate and continue to support her by buying her a house in a much more manageable neighborhood: one where it doesnt require driving 10 miles just to go do whatever mundane task she calls us to do. Right now, I have no job so I have no income. I am currently trying to look for a job. My sister approached me about a house she was interested in buying solely for my mother so we can just leave her there and be less inconvenienced with her. We were not able to get HUD qualifications on the house, so its currently going to be full-price. My sister asked me if I would contribute financially to the house payments since she is our mother. I know shes my mother, but I quite simply just dont want to do it.I feel peer-pressured to contribute though, and I am concerned with the risks involved with this situation. Obviously if I had stable income once I find a job, how would my taxes be affected? In what ways would supporting my mother financially benefit me? Am I allowed to write it off somehow? I just dont understand what can be done here. Is this even a wise decision in the first place?  <response>: Your first obligation is to secure yourself, both financially and, in this case, mentally. So tell your sister no, that first you need to get your own job situation settled and then build up your own savings so that you are secure.On a long term basis, this situation does not seem sustainable. Your mother clearly has health issues which need to be addressed. If she has not been evaluated for mental competence, now would be a good time to have that done. Furthermore, you are not in any position to take on a large role in your mothers ongoing care. This is not your fault. Your sister needs to know that if she goes forward with this, she does so without you contributing the way shes envisioned. Youre not a bad child for refusing to agree to an unsustainable care plan. You are being realistic, and should not feel guilty for recognizing facts as they are. 