Taking, Stealing, Concealing: The Elder Financial Abuse Pandemic

In this video, partner Keith A. Davidson discusses the elder financial abuse problem that is a growing concern throughout California and the Nation.

Hi, this is Keith Davidson from Albertson & Davidson. I want to talk to you about inheritance theft. So, people stealing an inheritance, essentially stealing money and property through an inheritance vehicle, is one of the fastest growing areas of abuse, not just in California, but throughout the nation. And it comes under the umbrella of financial elder abuse. And as people age, of course, they become vulnerable. Especially, if they’ve suffered some sort of medical condition such as dementia, Alzheimer’s, stroke. But, even without those types of conditions, just getting older makes people vulnerable. They need help. And, of course, when they need help, they reach out to people, families, or friends, or caregivers. And a vast majority of families, and friends, and caregivers are good people.

But, unfortunately, some of them are not. And when they’re not, it’s all too easy to prey on a vulnerable elder. Especially, if you control that elder’s necessities of life. Things like medical care, medicines, food, their finances. You know, they’re relying on you to help bring in their money or pay their bills or whatever it is. And once somebody is in that position where they’re helping with those things, it’s all too easy to be manipulative, because all that person has to do is say if you don’t what I want you to do, then I’m out of here and you’re going to suffer. And, of course, the elder has no choice at that point. Then they have to do what the bad person wants them to do. Which, typically, is change your trust. Change your will. Put me on your bank account. Put me on the deed to your house. All these various things that happen.

If you think that you’ve been the victim of elder inheritance theft, because somebody stepped into your parents’ life and changed everything at the last minute. Unfortunately, the burden is on you to stand up for your rights. You have to go to court. Nobody else out there is going to help you. Law enforcement is not going to help you. There’s governmental agency that’s going to step in and make this right. The person who did the inheritance theft, most likely, is not going to be charged criminally. That rarely, rarely happens, unfortunately. I wish that wasn’t the case, but it’s true. So the burden is on you. You’ve got to stand up and you’ve got to go to court and you’ve got to fight for your rights. And really, what we hear from clients is look, I’m not just fighting for my rights. This isn’t about the money. And I truly believe that. It’s also about the principal and the fact that this person took advantage of my parent when they were vulnerable. And I have to tell you, if that happened to me, I would be very angry and I would want to take action on that. So, unfortunately, there’s no magic wand. There’s no other resource out there that’s going to help you in that situation.

If you suffer from inheritance theft, because your parents were taken advantage of, then you have to take action and there’s a law firm like us comes in because we represent people all across the State of California who have been the victims of inheritance theft. It’s a horrible thing, but there is recourse, there is action you can take in order to try to make things right.