ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
Common Signs of Financial Elder Abuse
What You Can Do About It
Elder abuse is currently on the rise, and elders are more vulnerable than ever to financial abuse wrought by caretakers, insurance agents, financial advisors, girlfriends or boyfriends of the senior, persons acting under a Power of Attorney, nursing home staff, or even strangers.. The Marin County, San Francisco, and California elder abuse attorneys at Evans Law Firm, Inc. know how horrible abuse of the elderly can be, whether theft or financial elder abuse or physical abuse involving sexual assault or rape or overmedication, neglect (causing bed sores, pressure wounds or infections), abandonment, or injuries sustained from unsupervised wandering/elopement. If you or someone you know is suffering elder abuse in Marin or elsewhere in California, call the elder abuse attorneys at Evans Law Firm today at 415-441-8669, and we can help.
Elder abuse too often goes unreported, but a recent study estimated that the financial loss from financial elder abuse could total as much $3 billion a year. The best way to prevent financial elder abuse is to spot it early and deal with it immediately.
Spotting Financial Abuse
Visit your senior loved one often and unexpectedly and look for signs of financial elder abuse such as:
• Unexpected changes in wills, trusts, or powers of attorney.
• Sale to the senior of an inappropriate annuity or life insurance policy.
• Changes in spending habits and cash withdrawals or different types of spending than the senior normally incurs.
• The disappearance of valuable objects.
• An unexplained increase in check cashing, transfers of money, ATM withdrawals, or credit card activity.
• Opening of a new bank or brokerage account (or multiple accounts) or changing banks and brokerage firms.
• Unpaid bills.
• Unusual increase in investment activity or change in investment style toward riskier or unregistered investments.
• A senior who is overly reluctant to discuss financial matters perhaps out of fear from retaliation from a caregiver or other abuser.
• Allowing a new “friend” or caregiver to make decisions on the elderly person’s behalf.
• A caregiver or other person screening the elder’s phone calls or going through their mail.
Never ever give a Power of Attorney to a caregiver. Keep valuables and bank information and checkbooks in a secure place. Respond quickly if you suspect any financial elder abuse. Notify the authorities and seek qualified financial elder abuse lawyers, such as the elder abuse lawyers at Evans Law Firm, to pursue all remedies available to California financial elder abuse victims including restitution (getting your money back), rescission (undoing an invalid contract), punitive damages, and recovery of attorneys’ fees and costs incurred in bringing a financial elder abuse action against wrongdoers.
Contact Us
If you or a loved one is or has been the victim of financial elder abuse or elder physical abuse or neglect in Marin County, San Francisco or elsewhere in California, contact Ingrid M. Evans and the other nursing home abuse attorneys at the Evans Law Firm at (415) 441-8669, or by email at <a href=”mailto:info@evanslaw.com”>info@evanslaw.com</a>. We can help guide your case through a jury trial or toward an equitable settlement. We handle cases involving physical and financial elder abuse, qui tam and whistleblower law, nursing home abuse, whole life insurance and universal life insurance, and indexed, variable, and fixed annuities.
