ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
Financial Elder Abuse By Caregivers
Seniors here in San Francisco and throughout California are vulnerable to financial elder abuse, often at the hands of the caregivers hired to help them. In one recently reported case, a caregiver withdrew over $100,000 from her 100-year-old patient’s bank accounts before the authorities responded.[1] A bank employee alerted authorities of the unusual activity in the elderly man’s account.
The San Francisco financial elder abuse attorneys at Evans Law Firm represent victims of this kind of financial elder abuse here in San Francisco and throughout California. Our litigators pursue any person responsible for financial exploitation of a senior whether it’s a caregiver, stock broker, trustee, agent under a Power of Attorney, conservator, financial advisor or retirement planner, or an insurance agent selling inappropriate products like annuities or certain forms of life insurance. If you or a loved one has been the victim of financial elder abuse in San Francisco or elsewhere in California, call our financial elder abuse lawyers today at (415) 441-8669.
How to Prevent Financial Elder Abuse
Early detection of financial elder abuse is your best defense. Report suspicions to Adult Protective Services and the police but also contact elder abuse counsel to pursue all available remedies against those responsible. 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.
- 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 someone you love is the victim of financial elder abuse by strangers or a caregiver, trustee, stock broker, insurance agent, financial advisor or other party here in San Francisco or elsewhere in California, call Ingrid M. Evans and the other financial elder abuse attorneys at Evans Law Firm, Inc. at (415) 441-8669, or by email at info@evanslaw.com. Our attorneys have experience with securities, annuity, and other investment fraud, financial elder abuse cases and complex qui tam or whistleblower cases including offshore tax avoidance cases, complex financial contract cases and cases against large insurance companies. We can help guide your case through a jury trial or toward an equitable settlement. We also handle cases involving physical elder abuse, nursing home abuse, whole life insurance and universal life insurance, and indexed, variable, and fixed annuities.
[1] Evans Law Firm, Inc. was not involved in the case in any way.
