My mother-in-law is poor with no savings and will soon need care. Any ideas of possible solutions?

JoAnn you are correct a woman can't draw SS from her own contributions unless she has worked ten years. After hubby receives his wife can get a portion equivalent to a percentage of his. My husband's son received a portion of hubby's till he reached 18. Once I reached 65 son's portion was reduced because i was entitled to a portion in addition to my own SS so the available $s were shared. It is all very complicated but that is what happened in our case. I found out later that I could have delayed mine to 70 but received my share of hubby's at 65. Hubby does not loose anything by others claiming on his the Govt allows a certain percentage equivalent to be made available for dependents. My retirement age was still 65 at the time. Once I reached 65 the son lost at least some of his because the available $s have to be shared. You have to really pull this out of the SS people because they try not to tell you anything so i may not have all my facts straight. FreFlyer is usually good at explaining these things if she sees this.

Agree with 97yroldmom.

Has your loved one applied for Medicaid? That will be necessary for her to live in a nursing home.