<prompt> Human: Hi PF. Ive been a lurker for some time and am now turning to you for advice! This is a complex issue that walks the line between a rpersonalfinance and rrelationships challenge, but Ill try to keep it on topic. I apologize for the length.My sister and I along with our spouses are taking over my mothers finances. Up until now her elderly parents have been paying for her living expenses, but they are no longer able to. She has mental and physical health issues that have led to her not holding a job for several years. My questions: Whats the best way to manage her finances? A joint checking account, etc.How should we go about figuring out a budget for her living expenses and long term care?Can weshould we declare her as a dependent? How can we minimize personal risk to our credit, given her reckless financial history? Here are the variables: She receives 180month in food stamps She has nothing saved, including retirement funds of any sort. She is 5 years away from qualifying for SS benefits, but those will probably be meager since she only held a job for less than ten years. She currently has a free housing situation with a friend. She claims that she is welcome indefinitely, but she has been kicked out of similar situations 4 different times in the past 10 years. My aunt will take her in an emergency situation, and we are insisting that she sign up to be on low income housing wait lists in the meantime. She has free health insurance thanks Massachusetts She will not be able to physically take care of herself or live independently in the near future. She has terrible rheumatoid arthritis which makes her hands all but useless. She has injured herself recently mostly due to denial about her disability. In other words, shell need to be in some sort of assisted living situation. She has REFUSED to apply for disability despite our tireless efforts. Now that we hold the purse strings, we finally will have some leverage. She will never be allowed to live at our houses. I wont get into the gritty details, but this is non-negotiable. My sister and I and our spouses are comfortable but not wealthy. Each of our households earn 160k-180k, although we live in expensive areas of the country. She has been living off of 400month from her parents for the past year. Since her room and board are currently taken care of, wed like to get that down and reallocate the money towards her long-term care. Weve ran a credit check on her and she isnt in debt. Or at least, any debt she did have has been written off long ago. Her credit is shit, though. Shes a compulsive liar, so any situation we set up cant rely on her to be honest. Shes an rpersonalfinance nightmare. She spends every cent she gets on frivolous, ridiculous things. She has done this her whole life. Thank you in advance, and sorry for the wall of text.  <response>: Her applying for disability should be a condition of your assistance. Its absurd that shes dropping this in your lap while refusing to take a benefit she qualifies for, choosing instead to take money from your family. Her being honest is also a condition of support. You cant take charge of a financial situation when you are being consistently fed terrible information that is fabricated by a manipulative person. If you cant address those issues up front, I wouldnt help enable this. It sounds like youre looking for a fairly hands off arrangement. It may make sense to get together with your sibling and throw some money into an annuity that will throw cash at her every month. She NEEDS to keep working until she qualifies for social security. Her effective hourly wage is sky high once those benefits are factored in. Thats a non-negotiable. I get that she has medical issues, but there are jobs that require little more than her physical presence somewhere and she should be looking for those. 