ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
When You Spot Elder Abuse, Do Something About It
Financial Elder Abuse Can Strike Any Senior
Conservators Can Commit Financial Elder Abuse
Seniors in San Francisco and throughout California are vulnerable to financial elder abuse, even at the hands of conservators appointed to manage their finances. Court-appointed conservators and other fiduciaries (such as guardians or trustees) wield enormous power over the dependent individuals and properties they are appointed to manage and protect. A recent study by the General Accountability Office (GAO) found hundreds of cases of physical and financial abuse, and negligence in conservatorships/guardianships of seniors throughout the country. Over one ten-year period alone, the GAO reported that conservators/guardians in 20 cases stole $5.4 million from the seniors they were appointed to protect.
If an acting conservator needs to be removed or replaced because of misuse of their power, the California and San Francisco probate and financial elder abuse attorneys at Evans Law Firm, Inc. can help. We represent seniors and other dependent adults needing a change in a conservatorship in order to better manage a conservatee’s personal or financial affairs. If a conservatorship is in place, our lawyers know how to monitor the situation to ensure it works in the dependent adult’s best interests. If you or a loved one need that kind of legal assistance, call us today at (415)441-8669.
You can learn more about conservatorships on our website here: https://www.evanslaw.com/faq/conservatorships-and-guardianships-what-are-they/.
Whether your senior loved one is in a conservatorship, cared for at home by a caregiver, or a resident of a nursing home or assisted care facility, always stay active in their life and look for signs of possible financial elder abuse:
- Unexpected changes in wills, trusts, or powers of attorney. Never ever give a Power of Attorney to a senior’s caregiver
- Sale to the senior of an inappropriate annuity or life insurance policy.
- Changes in spending habits and cash withdrawals or different types of spending than the senior normally incurs.
- An unexplained increase in check cashing, transfers of money, ATM withdrawals, or credit card activity.
- Opening of a new bank or brokerage account (or multiple accounts) or changing banks and brokerage firms.
- Unpaid bills.
- Unusual increase in investment activity or change in investment style toward riskier or unregistered investments.
- A senior who is overly reluctant to discuss financial matters perhaps out of fear from retaliation from a caregiver or other abuser.
- Allowing a new “friend” or caregiver to make decisions on the elderly person’s behalf.
- A caregiver or other person screening the elder’s phone calls or going through their mail.
Report suspicions to Adult Protective Services and the police but also contact elder abuse counsel to pursue all available remedies against those responsible.
Contact Us
If you or someone you love is the victim of financial elder abuse by a conservator, caregiver, trustee, stock broker, insurance agent, financial advisor or other party here in San Francisco or elsewhere in California, call Ingrid M. Evans and the other financial elder abuse attorneys at Evans Law Firm, Inc. at (415) 441-8669, or by email at info@evanslaw.com. Our attorneys have experience with securities, annuity, and other investment fraud, financial elder abuse cases and complex qui tam or whistleblower cases including offshore tax avoidance cases, complex financial contract cases and cases against large insurance companies. We can help guide your case through a jury trial or toward an equitable settlement. We also handle cases involving physical elder abuse, nursing home abuse, whole life insurance and universal life insurance, and indexed, variable, and fixed annuities.
