My sister is in total control of my mom in every way (by their mutual agreement). Last time I visited there from out of town I called my mom on her landline and got a message that the service had been temporarily disconnected. My sister had apparently forgotten to pay the bill. Then my mom gets a credit card statement in the mail that is much higher than usual. She has my sister pay the whole balance every month. Well, my sister had only paid $100 on a $500 statement the prior month, so there was interest accrued. Anyway, my mom asked my sister about it and she gave her some lame excuse why the total amount wasn't paid. Mom also told me the doctor had specifically told my sister that she was to dispense my mom's pills for each dose. She wasn't doing it, so my mom was doing it herself, and I witnessed her confusion over trying to sort them out. My sister had gone out of town for the week without concern for my mom's meds.
I think my sister and her new deadbeat boyfriend are spending a lot of time getting stoned on pot. She admitted to my brother that that is what new boyfriend does most of the time. So I can only assume she's doing it too. My concern is that my mom, totally dependent on her to take care of any and all of her needs (by choice) is being taken care of by someone in a marijuana fog most of the time.
Should I get involved and do something about this or just ignore it? My mom seems happy enough and is oblivious to my sister's altered state. The problem is my mom will defend her no matter how neglectful she gets, so I worry that this is just going to get worse over time. Anyone dealing with this kind of situation?
How old is your sister? It does seem like she would be too old to be acting this way. But then I have a SIL who still enjoys partying, even though she is around 65. I know how it can go.
Pointless to address this through your mother if your mother is simply going to leap to your sister's defence (and, worse, start keeping secrets for her). You need to speak to your sister. Don't be judgemental about the b/f or the dope, just keep strictly to your concerns about recent lapses in your mother's care and the simple fact that if your sister starts falling down on this routinely then you will be forced to intervene - directly or through social services, her choice. Ask her what she's planning in terms of arranging cover, for example. She can't just swan off when she feels like it and she needs to be called out on it. Best of luck, let us know how it goes.
Based on what you have stated you probably should be concerned but it may not warrant world war three with sis.
As far as WWIII with my sis, I don't speak to her and haven't for about 7 years, and don't intend to ever again. So I'm not too worried about making her mad, it's more about possibly causing problems for my mom if I file a complaint. It could backfire and she could end up in guardianship of the state - that's what concerns me. But I feel she is not in very good hands. My sister is very occupied with her new boyfriend and is not as attentive to my mom as she was at first after my dad died. It's so hard to explain to normal people with normal families, but my sister is a lying sociopath. To make a very long story short, her agenda in being so close to our mom is to have total control of the $$$. So I feel like she is only going through the motions now since she has my mom in the palm of her hand. I thought about letting my one brother know about this, but he seems to not really care about anything at this point. This whole situation since my dad's death has pretty much blown our family apart. My sister is always trying to drive a wedge between my mom and my brother and me. The other brother is her minion. So my last visit my mom told me that my sister told her it "really makes me mad that he (my brother) never calls or visits her (my mom), but that we can be sure he'll be there as soon as she's gone!!" Always planting the seeds to try to get our mom to cut us out of her will. The whole thing just nauseates me...so hard for people with normal families to relate.
After considering all of the problems and issues with my parents and their handling of their estate, I came to the conclusion the other night that it is much better to give your heirs the money up front, especially if you have a lot, and that way you don't have all the predators crawling out of the woodwork. I would like to know my kids are visiting and helping me not clamoring for their share of inheritance when I'm gone, but that they just love me and want to spend time with me. So I think I'm going to do things a lot differently than my parents have. Hopefully that way my family will remain intact after I'm gone.