ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER Caregiver Allegedly Steals Victim’s Debit Card Alleged “Spree” Totaling 15 Unauthorized Charges Remedies For Seniors And Their Families Unauthorized use of seniors’ credit and debit cards is a common type of fraud perpetrated on seniors by dishonest caregivers or other strangers with access to an elderly person’s cards. […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER What is financial elder abuse? California broadly defines what constitutes financial elder 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 […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER What is nursing home abuse? Sadly, seniors in assisted care facilities and nursing homes are at risk of abuse and neglect by the very individuals paid to care for them. Stories of intentional abuse of seniors in these settings are hard to read but abuse is a real […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER What are illegal medical kickbacks? Kickbacks to physicians for patient referrals are illegal, whether the referral is to a clinic, hospital, lab, nursing home, hospice program or any other health care provider. When the patients are covered by Medicare or other government payment programs, these kickbacks also constitute […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER How are seniors financially abused by caregivers? Dishonest persons with access to an older person’s money, bank accounts or confidential information may take advantage of that access to wrongfully take a senior’s money or property,. If they do so, they are stealing and committing the additional crime of […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER What are Riders To Annuity Contracts? Riders are attachments to deferred annuities sold by life insurance agents or retirement planners or other advisors as enhanced benefits to any proposed annuity policy. Riders come with an additional fee added to your base premium.  Available riders include income riders, long-term […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER How do dishonest investment advisors target seniors? Seniors are often targets of various kinds of investment fraud or securities fraud including Ponzi schemes, where money collected from new investors is used to pay existing investors, and there really is no actual investment of funds. Like the infamous Bernie […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER What is caregiver fraud? Caregiver fraud is a recurring form of financial elder abuse perpetrated on seniors by dishonest in-home caregivers or caregivers working in assisted care and skilled nursing facilities.  The fraud tends to start out relatively small – theft of a small amount of cash or […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER How do caregivers defraud seniors? Caregivers can defraud seniors in a variety of ways but falsification of time sheets by paid caregivers is one of the ways dishonest caregivers financially exploit older persons. Altering their paychecks to make them greater is another.  Using debit and credit cards repeatedly […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER What are financial powers of attorney? Financial powers of attorney (POAs) are legal instruments that grant full authority over a person’s financial affairs, and medical powers of attorney, known in California as an Advance Health Care Directives (AHCDs), grant authority over medical decisions and health care issues. The […]