Answer: Your family needs to take action, but setting your mother up for not just one but possibly two future moves probably isn’t the best course. Moving is terribly disruptive, and AARP surveys show that the vast majority of older people prefer to “age in place” rather than leave their homes.

Investigate reverse mortgages as one option. With a reverse mortgage, your mom could pay off her small mortgage and tap the substantial equity in her home. She could get a lump sum, a stream of monthly checks or a line of credit that could allow her to fix her home and live more comfortably. She wouldn’t have to make payments or pay income taxes on this loan, and it wouldn’t have to be paid off until she dies or moves out.

Reverse mortgages can be expensive because of the fees involved, although a new version of the federal Home Equity Conversion Mortgage offers lower upfront fees, and some lenders will waive or reduce their fees. You’ll want to do plenty of research, and shop around to make sure you get the best deal. The AARP and U.S. Housing and Urban Development websites have a lot of information about reverse mortgages.

If your mom decides she’d rather sell, she should consider a move directly to a senior community that offers assisted living as an option. She will have the most choices if she’s healthy when she moves in. Although she may never need the assisted living option, many people start to need some kind of help with daily activities by the time they reach their mid-80s.

Answer: Medicaid planning is a controversial topic, since the federal program is designed to help the indigent, not those trying to preserve assets. That’s why the programs have look-back periods (typically five years, although it’s 30 months in California) to discourage people from transferring assets just to qualify.

But your point is well taken that estate planning and elder-law issues are too complicated for do-it-yourself solutions.

Answer: You’ll probably have better luck with mom-and-pop landlords than with the corporate kind that run huge complexes. The mom-and-pop types tend to have more flexibility with potential renters who have tattered credit, particularly if those renters can make substantial deposits. If your parents don’t have much cash left over after bankruptcy — and they probably won’t — you may need to front them some money or consider letting them live with you while they save up.

You also should get a better idea of what caused their financial train wreck to see what you can do to help avoid further crises. If they’re suffering from diminished capacity, you may need to talk to an elder law attorney about taking over their finances for them. If they’re chronic overspenders, they may benefit from budgeting classes from a nonprofit credit counseling agency or community college. Even if the only bad decision they made was to continue borrowing against their home rather than paying it off, they could still benefit from some financial education and advice about how to live within their means. A session with a fee-only financial planner could help you all figure out what that will look like.

Answer: You may want to cash out at least some of the stock to hire a good elder law attorney who can advise you about the Medicaid look-back rules.

These rules are designed to prevent what you seem to be doing, which is trying to hide assets from the government by transferring them away from the potential Medicaid recipient. Medicaid is the government-run healthcare program for the poor, and recipients are supposed to have exhausted their assets before they apply. Any transfers made within five years of applying for Medicaid will delay eligibility.

As for your original question, having more than 10% of one’s assets in a single stock is extremely unwise, and you shouldn’t have any money invested in stocks if you’re likely to need it within the next 10 years. After you’ve consulted with an elder law attorney you might also want to make appointments with a tax pro and a financial planner so your mom can better manage what she has left.

Answer: Every adult who cares about his or her family should have durable powers of attorney for health care and for finances. As you’ve discovered, the lack of these documents can cause huge problems, forcing families to go to court to get authority to make decisions.

Many people assume incorrectly that their spouses can just take over. In reality, without a durable power of attorney a spouse may not have the legal authority to transactions involving real estate, investments and other assets, even if they’re jointly held. If the spouse is also incapacitated or dies first, getting anything done—down to paying the light bill—can become impossible.

Your father’s living trust may have language that allows the successor trustee (the person who would manage his assets after his death) to make decisions regarding the assets in case of your father’s incapacity. But he still needed a durable power of attorney for finances so that someone else had legal authority to make decisions about assets held outside the trust and to pay bills.

Answer: Incapacity is hard for everyone involved, but failing to acknowledge the new reality could leave your in-laws in dire financial straits.

It often helps to involve a trusted third party who is not a family member. Your father-in-law may well resent your intrusion into their finances but may be willing to work with an accountant or a financial planner, particularly if it’s framed as a way to help his wife deal with her new responsibilities.

Your in-laws also should consult an attorney experienced in estate planning and elder care issues. At some point, paying for long-term care is likely to be an issue, and an attorney knowledgeable in this area can make appropriate recommendations.

Whatever you do, tread softly. You don’t have this disease and can’t know how he feels — or how she feels, for that matter. Offer to help, give your support, research and recommend appropriate resources, but try not to judge or impose your idea of a solution on this couple. This is their path to walk, not yours.