ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
Caregivers Can Manipulate Vulnerable Seniors
Many Victims Never Know What’s Happening To Them
Financial elder abuse is a growing crime throughout the Bay Area. Here in Alameda County authorities report a spike in financial elder abuse crimes while other forms of elder abuse have decreased. The financial elder abuse litigators at Evans Law Firm, Inc. see the economic devastation greedy caregivers can wreak on isolated seniors. If the senior is without watchful family and friends the result can be complete financial ruin, and maybe even death; greedy caregivers stop at nothing to lay hands on bank accounts, cash, valuables, and even their victim’s home. The Alameda County and California elder abuse attorneys at Evans Law Firm represent senior victims of financial elder abuse by their care custodians who use undue influence, fraud, even marriage to swindle property and money from seniors. If you or a loved one is a California senior who has been injured by financial elder abuse, call us today at (415)441-8669.
When a caregiver gets a hold of a senior’s ATM or debit card or otherwise accesses a senior’s bank account the money can flow out quickly. In a recently reported case,[1] a caregiver ran up over $17,000 in ATM withdrawals on her patient’s card in just over a year. Unfortunately, by the time authorities were ready to prosecute the victim was no longer able to testify due to her advanced dementia. There was no testimony to counter the caregiver’s story that the withdrawals were for the victim. Authorities dropped the case.
Sadly, many cases of financial elder abuse are never reported let alone prosecuted because the victim simply does not comprehend what has happened to them. That is where the senior’s family can help. Stay involved in your loved one’s life. Never let a caregiver have access to an ATM or debit card and never ever grant a caregiver a Power of Attorney. Review a senior’s bank statements every month. Speak with them alone, away from the caregiver, so you really can find out how they’re doing; seniors may be frightened to speak freely in front of an abusive caregiver. Do a thorough background check on anyone you bring into the senior’s home. Encourage your senior loved one to stay active in community, church or synagogue groups; support is the biggest preventer of financial elder abuse.
Contact Us
If you or a loved one have been the victim of financial elder abuse in Alameda County or elsewhere in California at the hands of a care custodian or any other person contact California financial elder abuse attorney Ingrid M. Evans and the other Evans Law Firm elder abuse attorneys at (415) 441-8669, or by email at <a href=”mailto:info@evanslaw.com”>info@evanslaw.com</a>. Our attorneys have experience with all types of physical and financial elder abuse, investment and securities fraud and annuity fraud, and nursing home abuse. We can guide your case through a jury trial, or toward an equitable settlement. We also handle qui tam and whistleblower lawsuits, whole life insurance and universal life insurance cases, and cases involving indexed, variable, and fixed annuities.
[1] Evans Law Firm, Inc. was not involved in the case in any way.
