u/Glittering-Pirate618

So long story short, my mom 60YO and uncle inherited a home from their grandmother (their mom passed a while ago). No will, no testament nothing unfortunately. NYS

They can’t get along so my mom wanted to cut ties to the whole thing, took him to court and they settled on him buying her out. $65k

Now, my mom has been on disability for at least 20 years. SSDI, SNAP, Medicaid and Food stamps. Her personal bank accounts are in the negative, and she’s already living in a government assisted apartment. $450/mo. She receives roughly $900 a month in assistance and can barely pay for everything with that’s esp in New York.

She’s afraid that when she receives her settlement (minus lawyer fees and paying my brother back for the money he put up for the lawyer) that the government will take the settlement. She wanted to buy a car, and other necessities that she needs since she’s been borderline surviving all these years.

We’ve been looking into trusts/other accounts or other options where she wouldn’t have to spend her money to stop it from being snatched. Has anyone heard of an ABLE account? I told her she should talk to a New York elder-law/special-needs-planning attorney or an estate lawyer. She seems to think that Google and ChatGPT would suffice. Ughh

Can anyone give any insight or advice?

I’m doing some research and honestly it’s just coming from a real place. I want to understand what it actually feels like for other everyday people (like me) when their car acts up.

Not people with money to just drop it at the dealership, I mean the rest of us. I’ve been through it all! The panic when a weird noise starts or the check engine light coming on three days before payday. I’ve cried while sitting at the shop not knowing if I was about to get taken advantage of but had no other choice. And the worst for me is nodding along while someone explains something I didn’t understand because I don’t want to look dumb.

I’m not selling anything. I’m genuinely trying to understand the experience.

A few questions if you’re willing to share: • What’s the most stressful car situation you’ve been in that you couldn’t afford to fix properly? • Did you ever feel like a mechanic talked down to you or wasn’t being straight with you? • When something goes wrong, what’s the first thing you do? • Is there anything you wish existed that would make dealing with car trouble less overwhelming?

Drop your story in the comments. The messier and more real, the better. I genuinely want to hear it.