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Jesus' brothers were not believers at this point. They became believers after He appeared to them resurrected. To this point (the crucifixion) ... the brothers had only demonstrated their unbelief and animosity to His ministry. [See John 7]

Excellent. I thought this must have been the case, but I didn't have the goods to back it up. :) Thanks.

If Jesus truly honored His mother, ... why would He place (or allow) her in the care of such as these ... when He had a loving disciple standing right at hand.

Clearly He would not have, nor should He have. In this argument, it sounds like we have one side arguing for one interpretation of the letter of the Law, and the other side arguing for a common sense approach to the Spirit of the letter of the Law. On this one, perhaps I do have the goods :) -

Luke 14:1-6 : 1 One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. 2 There in front of him was a man suffering from dropsy. 3 Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?" 4 But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him away. 5 Then he asked them, "If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?" 6 And they had nothing to say.

The Spirit of the Law was not to FORCE widows upon their children, if the widow was already well provided for. Jesus made such arrangements.