ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
Commons Forms Of Financial Elder Abuse
How Abuse Occurs
Protecting Older Loved Ones
Financial elder abuse comes in many forms but two of the most common, and often overlapping, forms of abuse are fraud by caregivers on older persons and abuse of an older person’s financial power of attorney. Recently, a United States Attorney gave an interview on PBS identifying precisely these two forms of abuse, and there’s more on that interview below. But whatever the form of financial elder abuse and whatever the amounts, any taking of a senior’s property, or any assistance in that taking is a crime and grounds for civil liability of the person doing the taking and anyone assisting him or her. California Penal Code § 368 and Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code § 15610.30 (definition of financial elder abuse). California broadly defines what constitutes financial elder or dependent adult abuse:
(a) “Financial abuse” of an elder or dependent adult occurs when a person or entity does any of the following:
(1) Takes, secretes, appropriates, obtains, or retains real or personal property of an elder or dependent adult for a wrongful use or with intent to defraud, or both.
(2) Assists in taking, secreting, appropriating, obtaining, or retaining real or personal property of an elder or dependent adult for a wrongful use or with intent to defraud, or both.
(3) Takes, secretes, appropriates, obtains, or retains, or assists in taking, secreting, appropriating, obtaining, or retaining, real or personal property of an elder or dependent adult by undue influence, as defined in Section 15610.70.
If you or a loved one is a victim of financial elder abuse in San Francisco call us today at (415)441-8669. Our toll-free number is 1-888-50EVANS (888-503-8267).
Caregiver Fraud And Power of Attorney Abuse
In a recent interview on public television, the United States Attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia, William Ihlenfeld, had this to say[1] about these two forms of abuse:
Another important thing for people to keep in mind is to be careful with a power of attorney. Power of attorney is an important document that allows you to have someone else take care of your business affairs and your medical affairs if you’re no longer able to do so. However, we’ve seen many cases where a power of attorney has been abused by the person who’s been provided with that authority. So you have to be very careful and make sure that you can completely and 100 percent trust the person you’re giving that power to. Another way to go about it is to give someone a limited power of attorney and not give such a broad power, which is what we typically see in those documents. Most of the time a power of attorney is going to give someone authority to basically stand in your shoes, but it doesn’t have to be that way. You can ask an attorney to draft something that’s more restrictive, and that limits the power that the person has, that you’re trusting to help you.
The last thing I would say is with regard to in-home care. Sadly, after adult children, the second most common category of perpetrators of adult theft are in-home care providers. Those would be nurse’s aides and rehabilitation workers and others who come into your home to take care of you. But unfortunately, there are a large number of cases involving folks like that who are taking advantage of the person they’re caring for and writing checks from their account, transferring money from their accounts, gaining access to their credit card or their debit card and using those for their own benefit. My advice there is if you to have someone coming in to take care of a loved one, to make sure that you secure all the valuables, that you make sure that checking account and investment account information is locked away, and that there’s no access to information, or documents that might allow someone to steal from the person they’re supposed to be caring for.
Protecting Older Loved Ones
A caregiver should never have access to a senior’s cash, checks, PINs, ATM cards or credit cards. Ever. Even if you consider the caregiver to be trustworthy, just don’t do it. You’re only asking for trouble. A dishonest caregiver or other stranger in a senior’s home will grab whatever they can get. Keep cash, checks and cards out of their reach. Regularly monitor all of a senior’s accounts; view account activity online every day if you can. Never, ever give a caregiver a Power of Attorney, ATM card, credit card, or a blank check.
Contact Us
If you sense any kind of abuse of an older loved one in San Francisco, call us right away. Ingrid M. Evans has years of experience in representing seniors and their families against abusers of any kind, including in-home caregivers. You can reach us at (415) 441-8669, or by email at info@evanslaw.com. Our toll-free number is 1-888-50EVANS (888-503-8267).
[1] You can listen to the full interview here: https://wvpublic.org/u-s-attorney-warns-elder-financial-fraud-on-the-rise/
