Financial Abuse of the Elderly Can Often Go Unnoticed

Typically, when people think of elderly abuse, what comes to mind is negligence or rough treatment. Possibly even the more direct physical abuse that we hate to imagine but is nonetheless a part of our society. One of the most common yet least expected forms of abuse, however, is not physical but financial.

Older people find themselves in a very vulnerable position where they are unable to completely care for themselves and must depend on others for things like their finances. In some cases, putting trust in even family members or qualified caregivers is not enough to ward off the worst intentions and the financial situation is take advantage of.

Financial abuse comes in many forms. In some cases, the victim has given someone full or partial access to financial accounts, and the person steals money from them or uses the accounts for their own purposes, convinced no one will ever find out. It is a good idea to give more than one party at least the power to look into the accounts and decipher what is happening in order to limit the possibility of abuse.

In other cases, the financial abuse might be from family members who hope to gain when the elderly person dies. They may talk the victim into doing things, such as transferring property ownership and paying large amounts for something the abuser wants, or turn them against other family members in an effort to influence the will. It may even involve direct stealing of cash or valuables from the victim's home when they are sleeping or distracted.

Or, elderly abuse of a financial nature may not be so personal and up-close. Sometimes it may be con-artists or thieves seeing an easy target and striking. The sad thing is that preventing problems like these are one of the reasons caregivers are assigned in the first place, and then we have the protectors taking advantage of those they are meant to protect.

To prevent against the latter, sometimes it is simply necessary to have more than one person involved in your elderly loved ones life, and this should be the case anyways. Getting old is not easy, and we need our loved ones. It doesn't mean you have to be there all the time, but you should be there enough to notice when something is amiss.

In most cases of financial abuse, it will take someone who cares for the victim, or simply cares for just behavior, to notice something is going on and put a stop to it. Elderly people may be too disoriented and confused, too forgiving, too proud, or too frightened to take matters into their own hands. They may even simply be emotionally or physically incapable of getting in touch with an attorney. Therefore, when you notice an elderly person being taken advantage of, it is time to do the right thing and get the help of a lawyer.

A lawsuit can sometimes be filed to recover damages for those involved in the financial abuse of the elderly. Those victims may be able to regain access to the financial loss or property, and this is also the type of lawsuit where the money paid for a lawyer would also be regained. In some cases, punitive damages might be included, but unfortunately, this has become rare in cases of abuse against the elderly.