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One of the hardest things that you may ever have to do is to move your elderly loved one out of the comfort of their own home. While the move to a nursing home may put your mind at ease that their medical needs are being taken care of, it also puts your senior at a higher risk of being abused by a caretaker. One of these types of abuse that often go unnoticed for an extended period of time is financial abuse. Luckily, there are some steps that you can take to reduce the chances of this happening.
What Is Financial Abuse?
Did you know that persons over the age of 55 control more than 75% of the country's wealth? When you combine this, along with their good credit ratings, it can make them a target of those who are trying to increase their own means by taking from others.
Simply put, financial abuse among the elderys occur when someone uses a senior's means to benefit themselves. While it often involves close family members who suppose to be helping to take care of the person, it can be perpetrated by anyone who has access to the senior's financial information, or gains their trust or confidence. It can involve very small amounts of money, or may involve the seniors' entire life savings. This type of fraud is often hard to uncover during the early stages, due to the senior not realizing what is going on.
What Does Financial Abuse Look Like?
Financial abuse among seniors can take on several different forms. It involve:
When these actions take place outside of the home, they are often perpetrated by caregivers who get the senior's confidence or trust by simply taking care of them. They often create a physical, as well as a psychological dependence. Once this relationship is established, they often begin to look for opportunities in which to exploit the older person.
Many times the abuse will begin with the perpetrator presenting the senior with a hard luck story that they need help with. They may begin by "borrowing" money from the senior that they have no plans of returning. They often ask the senior to keep the arrangement a secret. This is due to the practice of exchanging money between a patient and caregiver being against the policies and rules of most nursing homes or other types of residential centers.
What Can You Do To Protect Your Loved One?
There can never be too much oversight of your senior's financial affairs. If you are not comfortable performing this duty, ask their bank or financial institution to make an audit of their account every couple of months. Speak to your senior about adding the requirement of a second signature to any major financial decisions that they choose to make. Ask to be notified if there are any requests for changes of address on financial statements, or any new power of attorney forms being filed with the bank. You will also want to:
Additionally, you may wish to limit the amount of cash that your senior keeps on them. Sit down with them and discuss how much they need to meet their weekly needs, and then ensure that they have access to that amount from week to week. If the senior does not have an abundance of cash on hand, they are less likely to loan money to others.
If you suspect that your senior is being financially abused, report it immediately. You can find your state-specific information as far as who to report it to at the resources provided by the National Center on Elder Abuse. If you would like to read more about this topic or if you have proof that your senior has been a victim of financial abuse at a nursing home, hire an attorney who specializes in cases of nursing home abuse. They will review your case and advise you of what steps you need to take from there.
Share19 December 2014
