Identifying Financial Elder Abuse

It’s often been said that elder abuse is a pervasive problem without any boundaries; it transcends all economic and social lines. The recent case of Brooke Astor, the New York socialite and philanthropist, illustrates that elder abuse can occur even to the wealthiest members of society. Elder abuse can take many forms; there is physical abuse, neglect, and financial abuse. In the Astor case, there are allegations of both neglect and financial abuse by her only son, Anthony Marshall. Astor was reportedly living in squalor while her son allegedly sold her assets without her knowledge or consent.

Unfortunately, it is often those closest to an elderly person who engage in the abuse, especially where financial abuse is concerned. It is not uncommon for a caregiver or relative to take advantage of an elderly person’s lack of capacity. Seniors are often easy victims of scams, fraud, identity theft and other forms of financial abuse.

Tips On How to Protect Yourself from Financial Abuse

• Cancel credit cards you are not using
• Don’t allow friends or family members to use your credit cards or ATM card to purchase things for you. Whenever possible, give them cash or reimburse them with a check.
• Don’t keep your ATM pin number in your wallet. If you must write it down, keep it in a secure place.
• Balance your checkbook every month, and report any suspicious activity to Adult Protective Services at 1(877) 4-R-SENIORS or to your local police department.

When to Suspect Financial Abuse

• When you notice unusual activity on a bank account, including unexplained withdrawals
• When you see recent changes to estate planning documents, including changes to a Will or Trust, or creation of new Powers of Attorney
• When bills begin to pile up when the elderly person should have the ability to pay them
• When the elder lacks basic necessities, such as clothing and grooming items, when the elder should have the ability to pay for these items
• When a friend, family member or caretaker asks for a loan, but doesn’t sign a promissory note or other documentation evidencing the loan, or asks for the loan to be kept “secret” or “confidential”.

Financial abuse of an elder is often tied to neglect and/or physical abuse. The elder is often subjected to physical abuse or threats in order to intimidate the elder into complying with the abuser’s demands for money or assets. Once the elder becomes the victim of financial abuse, the elder’s needs are often neglected as the elder’s income and assets are diverted to the abuser. If you suspect that someone you love is the victim of elder abuse, contact me for immediate assistance.

New Information Regarding the Monitoring of Adult Guardianships

The Los Angeles Times reported this week that the Members of the Senate Special Committee on Aging are pushing for action to improve how adult guardianships are monitored.

Along with mandatory quality standards for guardians, the Senate Special Committee wants an infusion of federal funds to better support local court supervision programs and to establish nationwide data collection procedures on guardianship cases.

Also this week, the AARP and American Bar Association also released a blueprint for creating monitoring programs that work. This blueprint model studied six programs from Tarrant County, Texas to Broward County, Florida that have developed exceptionally effective monitoring programs on adult guardianships.

California has a long way to go in implementing programs that effectively monitor adult guardianships. Thanks to high profile cases such as the arrest of the son of the late New York socialite Brooke Astor, the media as well as the public is calling for the court system to enforce that conservators and guardians act in the wards' best interest.

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Long Term Care, Medicare and Medicaid

"Long-term care" is the care for a person with a chronic illness or disability. Generally, long-term care includes medical and non-medical services provided in the person's home, assisted living facility, or nursing home.

Most people who require long-term care rely on a combination of financial sources to meet their long-term care needs, including: family, friends, private sources and government assistance such as Medicare and Medi-Cal.

Medicare will only cover medically necessary health care. This means that Medicare will not pay for assistance with "custodial care" services such as dressing, bathing and going to the bathroom.

Also, don't confuse Medicare with Medi-Cal. Medi-Cal is a state and federal program for people with limited assets and low income. Unlike Medicare, Medi-Cal has the right to seek reimbursement from your estate. The California Department of Health Services website has answers to frequently asked questions about Medi-Cal.

The best time to consider long-term care is before you need assistance. For a list of services to think about, visit the Medicare website.

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Finding out About Nursing Home Performance

There are approximately 1.5 million elderly people living in nursing homes in the U.S., and we spend about $72.5 billion annually in tax dollars to subsidize the cost of nursing home care.

Any nursing home receiving federal funding must go through periodic inspections to assess whether the facility meets certain safety and quality of care standards. Unfortunately, too many facilities that get cited for serious deficiencies fail to make adequate improvements.

If you are in a nursing home, or you have a loved one in a nursing home, you have the right to know how well that nursing home is performing. Some of the resources you can look to for this information are:

• Medicare Website called "Nursing Home Compare"
• U.S. Department of Health, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services
• California Nursing Home Ombudsman Information
• California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform
• AARP Website

I hope this information is helpful. Thanks for reading!

What is Elder Abuse?

California law says that an "elder" is a person who is 65 or older. Elder abuse can be in the form of physical abuse, neglect, financial abuse, abandonment, isolation, abduction, or other treatment with resulting physical harm or pain or mental suffering. To deprive an elder person of goods and services that result in physical harm or pain or mental suffering is also elder abuse.

Unfortunately, the elderly are often vulnerable to mistreatment. The National Center on Elder Abuse estimates that between 1 million and 2 million elderly Americans have been victims of elder abuse. We can imagine that the numbers are probably much higher due to incidents that go unreported.

The purpose of my blog is to disseminate information about elder abuse in the United States. I hope that by doing so, we can better identify situations where our beloved elderly need our assistance in preventing an abusive situation that can hamper their lives.

I will post again soon. Feel free to contact me if you have specific questions, or respond to this blog for general comments.

Thanks for reading.