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This is a very well established area of law. Unfortunately, as with all law, “the law does not enforce itself”.
You can be on the lookout for an elderly neighbor who, let’s say, no longer comes out for his/her morning walk. So you get suspicious; or at least concerned that their overall condition has worsened. You note the elder neighbor appears to have a caregiver come every day at 10 am or whenever. Maybe you know a relative of the elder and place a concerned phone call.
That’s fine as far as it goes. Too often, however, these things (eg; general deterioration of the elder person) happen over long periods of time and the changes may be very, very subtle. While this is going on, you, the concerned neighbor, have called the children who live 5 states away. Meanwhile, the caregiver/predator is in the elder’s house, shuffling through papers and personal items during nap times and over a remarkably short period of time becomes the person most INTIMATELY familiar with the elders’ financial affairs.
Many times, most times, the caregiver is a foreigner, not that this matters in particular, but typically comes from a family or cluster of other caregivers who also perform these type services. He/she may be from an agency, and converses with other caregivers from the same agy. THE POINT IS: If there is nefarious intent, the caregiver acquires skills, pointers, suggestions as to how to plunder. And thus acquires skills gleaned from multiple examples whereas the kids and you the concerned neighbor have an example of one. (This is utterly universal in the field of eldercare, I would point out. EVERY entity you, if you are the concerned relative, come into contact with, has done this 500 times. You are working on your first time.) Experience-wise, you are so, so, so out of your league, it’s pathetic.
The goal of the predator caregiver is to continue care of the elder into a state of non-compus mentis, incompetence. If no estate planning or only “dime store” estate planning has occurred by that point, then whatever can be ripped off will be ripped off and there is nothing the heirs nor the family can do about it that does not cost astronomical money.
I dealt with this in the case of my uncle. Despite being in CA which has among the toughest and most presumptive elder abuse laws, (eg; the presumption being that when a relative with the same last name as the elder who finds him/herself written out of a prior valid will in favor of an unrelated caregiver is, elder abuse is automatically presumed. And that is black and white single-paragraph law) my uncle’s caregiver successfully ripped off my portion of his estate, $460K.
The caregiver becomes the single person most intimate with the elders’ affairs. The caregiver often achieves absolute familiarity with the elders’ finances and, with the assistance of his/her highly experienced associates, very often obtains the opportunity to manipulate same. As this occurs, the family relaxes their supervision or monitoring, thinking the elder is in good hands. This worsens the issue.
I do not have a specific answer for this, I am just trying to lay out the playing field. There is substantial anti-elder abuse law in every state, it is widely recognized as a serious problem. But no part of it has any effect unless there is comparatively extreme intervention by honest participants and, after either (a) funds are stolen or (b) the elder becomes legally incompetent, the remedies are either nonexistent or phenomenally expensive.
Children and grandchildren need to stay INVOLVED in the care of their parents. Even if they have hired help, which is fine. Supervise. Visit. Check up. For the duration.
We will stop picking on McCain, Pelosi and Waters when they step down from office.
My perception of the applicable number keeps slipping higher.
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This thread has received only SEVEN responses———the one about the actor Adam West dying recieved SEVENTY-THREE in approximately the same time.
Even FReepers don’t care about the elderly.
I have NO use for those who exploit the aged.
Being a primary caregiver for my 96-year old Grandfather has given me perspective on this.