Legal Basics: Elder Financial Exploitation CHAPTER SUMMARY • January 2018 Charles P. Sabatino, ABA Commission on Law and Aging 1 American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging e mission of the American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging (ABA Commission) is to serve as the collaborative, interdisciplinary leader of the Association’s work to strengthen and secure the legal rights, dignity, autonomy, quality of life, and quality of care of aging persons, particularly low-income and vulnerable elders. Since 1979, the ABA Commission has carried out this mission through research, policy development, technical assistance, advocacy, education, and training. Key Lessons 1. ere are many different types of financial exploitation. Financial exploitation is costly, devastating, and usually unreported. 2. It is important to observe and screen for common characteristics of victims and perpetrators of exploitation. 3. Several legal action strategies are available to attorneys to prevent, intervene, and redress financial exploitation. 4. Take advantage of systems change opportunities. No one entity is fully capable of preventing the problem or meeting the needs of victims. Each has a crucial role to play, and interaction and collaboration among resources and stakeholders is necessary. Section 1: Definition & Types of Financial Exploitation Financial exploitation is one form of elder abuse. 2 Federal and state laws use a myriad of definitions, and different categories within those definitions, for elder abuse and financial exploitation. Financial exploitation is defined in the Older Americans Act as: “e fraudulent or otherwise illegal, unauthorized, or improper act or process of an individual, including a caregiver or fiduciary, that uses the resources of an older individual for monetary or personal benefit, profit, or gain, or that results in depriving an older individual of rightful access to, or use of, benefits, resources, belongings, or assets.” 3 Similarly, the National Research Council and the Government Accountability Office 4 define “unjust, improper, and/or illegal use of another’s resources, property, and/or assets” as financial exploitation. At the state level, legislative definitions vary. State law civil and criminal definitions of financial abuse or exploitation can be found through the Department of Justice Elder Rights Initiative website. 5 1 e author thanks his colleague Lori Stiegel for the use of portions of her materials. 2 For more Legal Basics information on Elder Abuse, see: https://ncler.acl.gov/pdf/Legal-Basics-Elder-Abuse.pdf. 3 42 U.S.C.A. § 3002. 4 Bonnie, Wallace R. Elder Mistreatment: Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation in an Aging America. National Research Council (U.S.). Washington: National Academies Press (2003). 5 U.S. Department of Justice, Elder Rights Initiative. See https://www.justice.gov/elderjustice/prosecutors/statutes (last visited December 22, 2017).
Legal Basics: Elder Financial Exploitation
Jul 05, 2023
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