♠ Posted by Marc J. Soss in elder abuse,elder fraud,elder law,estate plan,florida estate planning,florida probate attorney,Florida Retirement,Last Will and Testament,post-marital agreement,Revocable Trust,Sarasota attorney at Wednesday, February 04, 2015
The first signs of elder financial abuse are easy to miss. Maybe there's a
new, overeager "best friend" who gives off a strange vibe, excessive secrecy
around a new friend, or paranoia or anger when talking about money. It is very rare to discover the sudden withdrawal of large sums of money.
A perfect storm of factors
make America's elderly the target of a fast-growing, insidious crime. Americans
are living longer, and with the shift from pensions and toward retirement
savings, they face an array of complex choices about what to do with
their money. Making matters worse, as each year passes, their cognitive
abilities tend to decline while the stakes of their money decisions get higher. Criminals always steal from where the money is, and
scam artists always flock to wherever financial confusion can be found.
MetLife estimates that older Americans
are cheated out of $2.9 billion annually. In another study, one in 20 older
adults report being victimized by "financial mistreatment" at some point in the
recent past. The average loss is between $100,000
to $150,000, an entire lifetime of savings, with no opportunity to rebuild their savings.
Variations on a Scam
There's a wide range of
crimes older Americans face. Some crimes or deceptions are committed by family, friends or trusted advisors. It is not uncommon to hear about a neighbor, acting as a caregiver, stealing from someone suffered from dementia. In most cases the funds are gone forever, used it to pay for improvements on homes, and
to purchase luxury items (boat, fancy car, etc.).
Elder fraud can also
involve professional financial advice ranging from ill-conceived to criminal. Everyone has heard to story about elderly Americans being placed into costly annuities or bad
insurance products.
The Biggest Challenge
To make matters worse,
research confirms what those who would cheat older Americans know that the elderly are often the last to know their mental capacity is slipping. "Participants who suffer
cognitive decline experience a reduction in their financial literacy but no
change in their confidence in managing their money." That leaves children or
other family members in the unenviable position of trying to wrest financial
control from aging relatives who don't want the help.
Signs of Elder Abuse
The National Committee for
the Prevention of Elder Abuse offers this detailed list of signs that someone
might be suffering from elder abuse.
"Some of the indicators
listed below can be explained by other causes or factors and no single indicator
can be taken as conclusive proof," the agency cautions. "Rather, one should look
for patterns or clusters of indicators that suggest a problem."
- Unpaid bills, eviction notices or notices to discontinue utilities
- Withdrawals from bank accounts or transfers between accounts that the older person cannot explain
- Bank statements and canceled checks no longer come to the home
- New "best friends"
- Legal documents, such as powers of attorney, which the older person didn't understand at the time he or she signed them
- Unusual activity in the older person's bank accounts including large, unexplained withdrawals, frequent transfers between accounts, or ATM withdrawals
- The care of the elder is not commensurate with the size of his/her estate
- A caregiver expresses excessive interest in the amount of money being spent on the older person
- Belongings or property are missing
- Suspicious signatures on checks or other documents
- Absence of documentation about financial arrangements
- Implausible explanations given about the elderly person's finances by the elder or the caregiver
- The elder is unaware of or does not understand financial arrangements that have been made for him or her.
