all though our circumstances are somewhat different..the outcome is much the same..comeing from a large family of 5 children and i the middle child..two older siblings moved provinces away and a younger sibling to me moved hours away from where both my parents and i resided..leaving the sole care of my parents to my self and the very youngest of the family..first when my father became invalid due to an accident ..thus leaving his care solely to our mother and i and somehwat to my youngest sibling .but really not so much involved as the youngest had just began a marriage and family of there own..years after when my mother began to show signs of self neglect because i was the one so close to her and first noticed because of only my self being there..only to result in my older siblings moveing back in to her home and pushing me aside as if i had never existed in my parents life and did not know the care she required..going so far as to refuse suggestiouns on how to keep my mother safely in her home for some years to come by facilators of elder care..resulting in my mother being torn from her home and placed in a nursing home ..by the ones she believed were acting in her best,,simply because of there ignorance and feelings of self importance over looking the actual placeing our mother first before there own interest..unfortunatley my mothers last 5 years of her life before alzhiemers had completley over taken her were lost due to what i believe was there egos .self importance and placeing me as a nobody who was the only one here for her before they came back home for the last few years of her life.. ..oh and yes ..the abilty to access her estate ..it hurt me so bad to see what they had done to mother and like you.. i carried that pain ..until i realized i would not allow them to continue to place me as a nothing even after her death..leaving me no choice but to remove toxic people from my life..when its family its hardest..but i am at my most healthiest and most content emotionally and at peace in that area of my life..bless you for being there for your mother and yes you should write a book or a blog..as i know we ..people such as our selves are more common then you would like to believe..bless..

My late Mother started to show symptoms of such neglect and when I could not get my brothers involved, I took it upon myself to move her into the city, from her lifetime homestead, and to share a home with her, I tried my best to care for her for 17 years, while raising a diabetic young son on my own, with no compassion or assistance from my 2 older (better off) brothers. Yes, they lived elsewhere, but everything was a struggle, more with them, than with the actual care of Mom. I wish people would have a better attitude towards the elderly and those of us who truly care for our parents, instead of questioning in terms of 'elder abuse'? Caring for Mom was NOT easy, on too many levels to list, but criticizing, instead of helping is just a 'smoke screen' for THEIR 'elder neglect'. Now that Mom is gone, my brothers are still causing difficulties, fighting over her estate and what they assume should be coming to them, Bless their 'little' hearts! I cannot get 'closure' over Mom and the stress is getting to be too much, but if I ever regain the energy, I want to do something (write a book, join a group, etc.) to 'tell it like it is' for lonely seniors. If your folks are still with us, call them, visit them, give them a hug and kiss,...be grateful and generous to the fact that you still have them, nomatter what their status is at this point in time?!?