Many organizations have produced pamphlets
providing our aging population
with warning signs of financial exploitation.
These pamphlets often outline steps to take if victimization occurs.
Unfortunately, what is forgotten is that the nature of the crime itself makes
this information useless. What is
forgotten is that a majority of potential victims no longer retain the vision or mental
capacity to read, understand and react to the information.
Exploitation,
by most definitions, involves declining mental capacity. Exploitation, by
definition, prevents any proactive use of good intentioned warnings or
advice. It’s a sad irony of misplaced
precautions. If an elderly victim lacks the ability to reason and understand
the swindle, how can the same victim
understand how to implement needed precautions, or how to adequately respond to
a victimization once it occurs? It’s not
possible.
In
the course of my mother’s victimization, I was told by a city Clerk of Court
that it was not his job, or the government’s job, to protect the elderly and
vulnerable. His office accepted an out of state Power of Attorney to transfer
title to the family home. This was in the form of a quit claim deed with right
of survivorship. The poa’s affidavit of my father’s death, not his death certificate, accompanied the
deed change. The fraudulent quit claim deed
was done so hastily that it listed my father as still alive, thus it
should not have been accepted at all.
This should have sent off alarm
bells prompting a call to
authorities. That didn’t happen, and the
same office holder maintains it’s not his job or the job of government to
protect the most vulnerable population. This is not an acceptable response.
If
an infant was told not to touch the stove, but could not yet understand language, how would that infant be able to
understand the warning itself? This is parallel to much of society’s response
to the epidemic of elder financial exploitation. Good information, but wrong
audience: it’s not our job, it’s theirs.
But,
it is we who need to understand the dynamics of this crime, not those who are
unable to due to declining mental capacity. It is we who need to take
preventative measures, not those who are unable to. It is we who need to protect those who are
unable to protect themselves. And yes, that includes our government, our
financial institutions, our estate planning attorneys and our physicians and
care providers.
Kathleen
Ryan
Executive
Director, EFA
