Financial Elder Abuse

Elsie Dawe

Financial abuse is often accompanied by other forms of abuse, such as emotional abuse, physical abuse, or denial of rights. Three components are necessary for financial abuse to happen:

• Need or greed. The abuser is under financial pressure.
• Opportunity. The abuser has access to funds or property.
• False sense of entitlement—“I deserve it. I am owed.”

If you fall victim to this type of abuse, your comfortable future can vanish in the twinkling of an eye.

Be very careful to whom you give power of attorney and what conditions you attach thereto, because given to the wrong person(s) with no checks in place, it is a recipe for disaster.

Some seniors will sell virtually everything they have and give the proceeds along with most of their savings to their children so that they can finally get their share from the government in the form of the supplement and also watch their children (and grandchildren) enjoy the money, believing that their children will take good care of them.

Yes, often with broken hearts, they watch their next of kin enjoy their hard-earned money while they live in the cheapest nursing home with nary a penny to spend.

It’s not for nought that the Bible says that money is the root of all evil.