Financial Elder Abuse

San Diego Elder Financial Abuse Lawyers committed to assisting Victims in Senior Abuse Cases

Many senior citizens rely on caregivers, friends and family to help them manage their financial affairs. Often it is the person in charge of caring for the elderly person that engages in the abusive conduct. If elder financial abuse is not detected early, it can cause extreme financial and emotional hardship for the victims and their families. If you know or suspect that a senior citizen is being taken advantage of financially, the San Diego elder abuse lawyers at Adjadj Legal Group can help. Elder abuse in California consists of physical, psychological, or sexual abuse upon a senior citizen. Senior abuse can even result in death.

Examples of Financial Abuse

When someone abuses the trust of a person who can no longer manage his or her finances and steals from that person, our elder abuse attorneys can help. It is critically important to take immediate action before the thief is alerted of an investigation. Elder financial abuse can be quite difficult to detect as, in most cases, the victim trusts the individual. It is common for this type of abuse to go on undetected for years, which makes it especially reprehensible. Since the abuser is usually the only person handling the victim’s finances, the victim has no idea he or she is being taken advantage of until it is too late. Types of elder financial abuse include the following:

• Companies and salespeople selling the elderly things they do not need or that do not work
• Financial institutions and account managers tacking on unnecessary fees
• Healthcare providers that hide theft in itemized invoices so that it’s difficult for the victim to detect it
• Portfolio managers and other financial professionals who knowingly persuade seniors to make financial decisions that won’t help them
• Home improvement hustlers who take advanced payment to perform work, but are never seen again
• Many other situations where a person or organization deliberately takes advantage of an elderly person for their own gain
• A private individual pretends to assist the elderly victim with finances and other matters, but uses their possession and relationship with the senior to deplete assets.
• People entrusted with the senior citizen’s savings that the elderly person has accumulated over the course of his or her life.
• People entrusted with the responsibility of pay bills on time and otherwise managing a senior citizens’ financial affairs.

Dedicated Legal Assistance for Seniors in San Diego

Often seniors are victims to financial exploitation. Which begs the question, what is Financial Exploitation? Financial exploitation occurs in many forms, but in all instances a person misuses or takes the assets of a vulnerable adult for their own personal benefit. A vulnerable adult is generally a senior or disabled adult. In instances of financial exploitation a vulnerable adult is wrongfully deprived of vital financial resources for their personal needs. Vulnerable adults are wrongfully deprived of their resources in the following manners:

• Fraudulent transactions / fraudulent deeds / fraud – Fraud involves acts of dishonestly by a person or persons. Fraudulently acts, generally committed by individuals entrusted to manage finances and assets of a vulnerable adult, abuse their authority and relationship. The entrusted party will often utilize assets of the senior for self-gain and improper purposes. The fraud and abuse can manifest in many ways including: forged checks, falsifying of records, forging documents, issuing fraudulent checks, approving unauthorized transactions, and participating in various financial schemes for self-benefit.
• Abusive Real Estate Transactions – Abusive Real Estate Transactions are generally committed by individuals entrusted to manage assets of a vulnerable adult. The entrusted party will often utilize their authority over the assets to make an unauthorized sale, transfer or change to a property title for their own self-gain and to the detriment of the senior.
• Senior Theft – Senior theft occurs when an individual with a close relationship to a vulnerable senior takes cash, valuables, medications personal property or other assets from the senior under false pretense, duress, threats or without the senior’s knowledge, consent or authorization.

If you have any reason to believe that someone is stealing from or otherwise financially abusing an elderly person, whether an employee of an adult day care, nursing home, or residential care facility, alert the authorities or contact our offices. Elder financial abuse is theft, and there is no other way to describe it. When you contact our law firm, we will launch an immediate investigation and proactively protect the interests of the victim by pursuing civil litigation against that person. Call us today at (619) 432-5145, so that we may help those who cannot help themselves.