Elderly Parents – Beware of Your Own Children?
A recent Wall Street Journal article reported that lawyers and financial advisors across the nation are seeing a rise in elder abuse cases, particularly in the form of financial exploitation. Senior citizens who have become too fragile mentally or physically are being taken advantage of, being coerced into making decisions regarding their financial assets that may not be in their best interests. Shockingly, the opportunistic culprits of these wrongful acts increasingly tend to be the victims’ own adult children or grandchildren.
According to MetLife Mature Market Institute, more than half of all elderly financial abuse cases involve family members or caregivers. Elder-law attorneys often represent seniors in lawsuits brought against family members. One attorney said he has litigated seven elder abuse cases in the past year, including one suit where a granddaughter allegedly convinced her terminally ill grandmother, who was on morphine at the time, to cut out a brother from a half-interest in the grandmother’s house, allowing the granddaughter to immediately sell the grandmother’s house upon her death to pay off $100,000 in debts. In other cases, adult children who are taking care of their parents and have access to their bank accounts are often tempted to dip into these funds. Some may have every intention of repaying the money, but often find they are later unable to.
While it might seem unfathomable that family members or caregivers could take such advantage, experts recommend that it may be in seniors’ best interests to have bank, credit care and investment statements regularly reviewed by a known and trusted independent party. Though it may cause some awkward tension at the dinner table, it will help ensure the protection of the parents’ money as they grow older.
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Tags: elder abuse, financial abuse