She has recently escalated to using a lot of emotional abuse which my husband told her to please stop , which caused a rage and split. My husband went to a counselor who told him there is no hope for an 80 year old woman. He should do whatever he has to , to get back in with her and then have a superficial relationship. 

My main concern is putting my children back into an abusive situation. I feel they have already suffered enough abuse at her hands. On a scale of 1 to 10 I would rate her borderline behavior an 8. Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much for your time and consideration. 

A. I would need some additional information about your circumstances to give a more comprehensive answer, but here are my thoughts:

First, as long as someone is alive, there's "hope" for them! Just because your mother-in-law is upward in years does not mean that she does not have the capacity to change and that any harmful or dangerous behavior she demonstrates should be excused because of her age. (Obviously, there are other things such as dementia or other degenerative brain conditions that could be influencing her behavior, however). My other thought is that - no matter what counsel you receive - it's important to remove your children from any abusive behavior she displays, no matter what the cause.