Elder Abuse Financial Exploitation

Financial Abuse and Exploitation

As the child of an aging parent, it is difficult to watch them begin to become physically fragile. It is even harder to realize that they may not be able to handle the management of all of their affairs. Bills may not be paid and food may be scarce. At some point, it became clear that the additional care and attention that is available in a nursing home would be beneficial for one or both of your parents. Selecting the right facility required a lot of consideration and review of the accommodations and the staff. Being able to trust that the employees would act in the best interest of your parents was one of the key factors that made you and your parents choose the nursing home into which they moved. However, you were horrified to learn that someone victimized your mother of father by exploiting her or him financially.

The people who care for our parents often become part of an extended family. They are with your parents every day and it is understandable to expect that these nursing home staff members genuinely care for your parents. As part of their responsibilities at the facility, these employees may manage funds on behalf of the residents, in some cases arranging for payment of rent, medical expenses, and other bills. In addition, these trusted staffers may have to purchase basic supplies for your parents. All of this gives them access to trust accounts and other financial resources, which may lead to misuse of the funds and outright theft. This type of betrayal is an all-too-common form of nursing home abuse.

Different Types of Financial Exploitation

In the United States alone, there are nearly 16,000 nursing homes and this number is only going to increase as the population of baby boomers continues to age. In many of these facilities, residents are victims of theft and other types of financial abuse. Financial exploitation, also known as financial abuse, occurs when a person takes or spends the money of a nursing home resident, or other vulnerable individual, with the intent to defraud that individual. This also can happen when a person uses the property of the resident to his own advantage, which is a very broad category of misappropriation. A resident may be deceived, manipulated, intimidated, or coerced into agreeing to the turnover of the property, may be unaware that the property has been taken, or may be incapacitated to the degree where they are unable to consent to the taking of the funds or other property. A resident in a nursing home may be the victim of a staff member who takes the property directly or an administrator who has access to trust accounts that are frequently set up when a person enters a nursing home.

There are many different ways in which your elderly parent may be exploited by those in a position of trust. This may come from a staff member simply coming into your parent’s room and taking cash out of a wallet or purse. However, the exploitation may be much more nefarious, including convincing your parent to turnover money for investment or manipulating your mother or father into the belief that the misuse of funds in justified because the staff member needed the funds urgently. The most common forms of financial exploitation include:

• Stealing cash, checks, or personal items from the person or space of a nursing home resident;
• Misappropriating or misusing a person’s trust accounts, banking accounts, personal checks, or credit cards;
• Forging the nursing home resident’s signature on income checks, personal checks, or other financial instruments;
• Seeking and receiving payment for services allegedly performed that were neither necessary nor requested by the resident;
• Altering legal documents such as contracts, mortgages, deeds, or wills without the resident’s permission or knowledge to benefit the exploiter;
• Coercing or threatening the nursing home resident into turning funds over to the staff member, either at the time or coercion or at some point in the future; and
• Participating in identity theft.

State and federal laws grant nursing home residents the right to control their funds directly or to designate someone they trust to manage the income and payment of bills. Many times, the financial exploitation happens because you want your parent to have the autonomy to control their own money and make their own purchases so you do not assume authority over the funds, with the permission of your parent. Therefore, it is very easy for this type of abuse to occur when you are not around to watch out for your parent. Of course, you thought you were entrusting their care to people who would not take advantage of them in this terrible manner.

Discovering Financial Exploitation

Many times, a victim of financial abuse is embarrassed that they have fallen victim to someone or they may be afraid of retaliation if they say anything. It might even be the case that the person who has been defrauding your parent has convinced them that they are acting in their best interest. Your mother or father may even deny any financial improprieties if asked about expenditures or unusual payments. There are some signs that you can look for to determine if your parent has been the victim of financial exploitation, including:

• Any hesitation in discussing finances or refusal to explain inconsistencies in accounts;
• Checks that have unexpectedly been returned for insufficient funds;
• Nervousness or unexpected anxiety about finances or the ability to pay bills going forward;
• Credit card bills that have unexpected purchases or are much higher than previous bills;
• The inclusion of nursing home staff or unknown parties in financial instruments or an unexplained transfer of assets to non-family or friends;
• Unexpected reductions in trust or bank accounts; and
• Missing checks.

It is important for you to be vigilant in order to discover the abuse of your loved one. Do not hesitate to request copies of bills that were paid from a trust account, credit card receipts, invoices for services rendered, and all other financially-related documents. Review canceled checks and legal documents that may be accessible to staff and administrators. If there are invoices, make sure you get specific details for the work done, including who performed the service on what date. This also is a way to prevent further abuse because those willing to exploit vulnerable residents are looking for a target who will not fight back or confront them. It also is important to maintain an inventory of the property that your parent has. The nursing home is responsible if they have hired staff members who steal from residents if that hiring was the result of an inadequate background check or the theft happened because the staff was not properly supervised.

Stern Law, PLLC: Our Lawyers Make a Difference

When your parents reached the age where considering a nursing home became necessary, you faced many challenges and questions in order to find the right home for your parents. In considering everything that could go wrong, the idea of financial exploitation probably was not on your list of possible abuses your parents could endure. However, this is one of the most common threats a loved one may face. This is a crime that is perpetrated by an individual, but a nursing home could have created and fostered an environment in which your parent was victimized. Stern Law, PLLC has represented the rights of many people who have suffered financial abuse at the hands of someone who was supposed to care for them. We know how to discover evidence of everyone involved in the abuse in order to hold them accountable.

I, Ken Stern, founded Stern Law, PLLC on the principle that people who have been victimized as the result of the negligence or recklessness of others deserve justice. I have created a team of attorneys, investigators, and financial professionals who are committed to discovering the truth and punishing the wrongdoers. My priority is getting you answers, which is why I am available to talk to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Please call our team at 1-877-469-7273 (1-877-4MYPARENT) in order to discuss your case, without charge.