My brother is 47 and lives with my 77 year old mum. He's got pretty bad anxiety and has never worked. It suits my mother to have him there, however, as she's a widow and is frightened of living on her own. What worries me is that he's not registered as unfit to work. He's never seen a GP and got an official diagnosis, nor has he ever claimed benefits. I don't know what will happen to him down the line when my mother dies. If she gets ill and has to go into a nursing home, will he be allowed to stay in the family home? Or will the council want to sell it to pay the care fees? Then again, if she dies at home, I don't know he'll cope. If he's, say, 56, and she's 86, he'll be a 50-something man with a blank CV, no job, no friends and no life. He'll inherit enough to buy a small flat, but how will he pay for food, gas, electricity, etc?

I'm in the UK by the way, if anyone can relate. Or has any advice. I suffer badly with anxiety myself.