Elder financial abuse is a subset of elder abuse. If you’ve been charged with elder abuse, or you believe someone you care about is being victimized, then this is a guide you’ll find helpful.
Elder financial abuse covers a broad spectrum of conduct
There are many different types of conduct that can be considered elder financial abuse. They include:
- Taking money or property from someone who’s not capable of offering consent.
- Telemarketing scams in which a person calls the victim and scares, deceives, or exaggerates information to get the elder to send in money. This may also involve charging a senior’s credit cards without legal authorization.
- Forging the signature of a senior citizen.
- Fraud for financial gain using trickery, dishonest acts, deception, false pretense, or dishonest statements.
- Pressuring a senior to sign a legal document, such as a Power of Attorney, Will, or deed, by using coercion, undue influence, or deception.
- Confidence crimes in which the alleged perpetrator uses deception to gain the confidence of the person who’s later victimized.
- Using property or possessions with permission.
- Offering lifelong care in the future for money or property and then not follow through on that care.
- Scams and other deceptive acts or fraud.
The typical perpetrator of elder financial abuse
In most cases, those who take part in elder financial abuse are family members, including children, grandchildren, and even spouses. It’s often the case that one or more of the following are true:
- They had a bad relationship with the senior and felt they were getting what was owed to them.
- They have financial issues, were addicted to some type of substance, or engaged in gambling on a regular basis.
- Are in line to inherit and didn’t see anything wrong with taking what would eventually be theirs.
- Were worried that their family member would use up their savings, which would prevent the alleged perpetrator from getting their inheritance.
- Have bad relationships with other family members, especially siblings, and want to prevent said family members from inheriting assets.
Some seniors are more at risk than others
All seniors are at some risk but there are some factors that can put certain elders in a more dangerous situation:
- They’re lonely.
- They have family members with substance abuse issues.
- They’re isolated.
- They have unemployed family members.
- They’ve recently suffered a significant loss.
- They aren’t financially savvy.
- They have mental disabilities.
- They have physical disabilities.
Have you been charged with elder financial abuse?
Understanding the ins and outs of elder abuse can be challenging. If you’ve been charged with elder abuse, or if someone has accused you of it, then your next step should be to contact an elder abuse defense attorney. At Chambers Law Firm, we have years of experience helping clients just like you. Our goal is to get you the best possible outcome and we’re prepared to fight as hard as we need to in order to ensure that’s what happens.
