Financial Exploitation among Elderly Residents
Nursing home and assisted living facility residents are vulnerable to financial exploitation by people paid to care for them. If a loved one has been exploited, read more about how to protect them with the help of an Arizona attorney.
PHOENIX, AZ, September 15, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Residents in nursing homes or living assistant living centers have financial assets just like anyone else. Sometimes the people who are suppose to care for your loved one, may financially exploit someone you love and leave them with little or no money. The person exploiting can even make an attempt to take your financial assets if they are linked. Financial exploitation is a form of abuse in a nursing home and should be viewed as a serious issue as there are 1.6 million residents in nursing homes according the Center for Disease Control. In Arizona, the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit helps aid in the education and determination of financial exploitation among elderly in the Maricopa County area. There are laws in Arizona that you should be aware of and an Arizona Attorney can help you establish the appropriate methods for retrieving lost assets due to financial exploitation.
What Exactly is Financial Exploitation?
Financial exploitation varies by definition. However, it is when someone who is unable to handle their finances is subjugated in the release of their assets by a person for personal gain. By recognizing forms of financial exploitation, you can prevent your loved one from losing the assets they have earned during their lifetime.
Top forms Financial Exploitation includes:
• Sudden interest in banking transactions
• Forged Signatures on financial or banking transaction
• Withdrawal of large amounts of money
• Expanded withdrawal of small amounts of money
• Cashing of checks without proper approval
• Possessions and assets disappearing
• ATM withdrawals that are not approved
• Change in living will that does not reflect the individual
• General changes in financial matters
Brief Overview of Arizona Law regarding Financial Exploitation
A.R.S. 46-456 covers legal definitions in Arizona that help clarify certain definitions to help the victim and victim's family. By learning certain definitions, one can better understand the severity of financial exploitation. For example Deception covers the "misrepresenting" or "false impression" of oneself in order to knowingly deceive a vulnerable person. The use of "intimidation" can be used to exploit a person by depriving them of essential needs in order to get to the elderly victim's possessions. Lastly the definition of "position of trust and confidence" covers any person who is in a higher position, such as a nursing home employee, can misrepresent themselves in order to gain financial profit.
46-456. Duty to an incapacitated or vulnerable adult; financial exploitation; civil and criminal penalties; exceptions; definitions
A. A person who is in a position of trust and confidence to an incapacitated or vulnerable adult shall act for the benefit of that person to the same extent as a trustee pursuant to title 14, chapter 7, article 3.
B. A person who is in a position of trust and confidence and who by intimidation or deception knowingly takes control, title, use or management of an incapacitated or vulnerable adult's asset or property with the intent to permanently deprive that person of the asset or property is guilty of theft as provided in section 13-1802.
C. A person who violates subsection A or B of this section is subject to damages in a civil action brought by or on behalf of an incapacitated or vulnerable adult that equal up to three times the amount of the monetary damages.
D. A person who violates subsection A or B of this section forfeits all benefits with respect to the estate of the deceased, incapacitated or vulnerable adult, including an intestate share, an elective share, an omitted spouse's share, an omitted child's share, a homestead allowance, an exempt property allowance and a family allowance. If the incapacitated or vulnerable adult died intestate, the decedent's intestate estate passes as if the person who committed the violation disclaimed that person's intestate share.
Contact an Arizona Nursing Home Advocate Lawyer
If someone in a nursing home in the Phoenix, Tempe, Scottsdale, Mesa or elsewhere in Maricopa County, has financially exploited you and your family, an Arizona Attorney will help. Visit www.nursinghomeadvocates.com for more information about liability issues involved and how to collect damages for their emotional and physical suffering caused by the loss of financial means.
Further Related Resources:
Press Release Contact Information:
Martin Solomon
Solomon & Relihan
Principal at Solomon & Relihan
1951 West Camelback Road
Phoenix, AZ
USA 85015
Voice: 602-635-1532
Fax: 602-242-6933
Website: Visit Our Website
