She's trying to get approved for disability income, as she does have a degenerative disease(bone I think, not 100% certain). She's been out of work for over a year, but the doctors are saying she's still in a good health and should be able to work. Especially since she's gone to college for things that can be remotely, and should be able to work from home.
Instead, my brother works 40 hours a week, has to put in 40 hours over time a month, and find about 60 hours of time to door dash just to come close to earning enough to cover her spending.
He was here yesterday, and said they have a $700 house payment, water/electricity, and internet bills. Despite earning over $5,000 a month working like he does they still can't afford to pay their bills because of her spending.
She's "in charge" of the finances to make it easier on him, supposedly. Yet, he's locked out of his own accounts and she refuses to let him see where the money goes.
They've been asking for us to give the $2,500 for a new car for her. Mom and dad couldn't get that kind of money, cousin refused, so I offered them $1,500 instead. My brother came and picked it up yesterday. To make things easier on him, dad offered to let him use my mom's car. So last night mom got a message from them thanking for giving them the car for free(which wasn't the intention, but apparently was worded badly enough that took it that way).
So, I asked the obvious "If they're taking the car, do I get my money back?" Because at this point it totally sounds like giving them money is the same as burning it, and is already agreed before we knew the situation they were in... Nope! They're keeping the money too.
Idk, I guess I just never expected to be taken advantage of by him. He's always been the financially responsible one and would never let himself get in over his head. So when they couldn't afford a car, I just figured things were a little tight and I could help them out.
He said he tells her when they buy dinner "This cost me an hour of my life." To try and demonstrate that he works for the money she spends... but he didn't seem to grasp that he took an entire month paycheck from me. >_>
Work in progress, please be patient.