Senior Fraud and Abuse

Note that the names have been changed in this true story.

One might think twice when it comes to ignoring the affairs of your senior relative. Whether it is your parents, aunt, uncle, ward etc... it pays to be attentive as to who their friends and neighbors are. Everything appears to be on the up and up, based on your monthly or weekly phone call to them. However, you may realize much too late, that the supposed friend or neighbor actually may be a thief in disguise. Family heirlooms and wealth have been subtly swept away without recourse.

Such was the case recently of an elderly friend and her titular acquaintance known as Judith. For the sake of others I will share exactly what took place in regards to my friend and how I was able to alert family members as too what appeared to be a sure case of fraud. Had they not acted on my advice and looked into their loved ones affairs things would be very grim for them.

For many months, I had noted that my elderly friend was in a serious decline of health and felt it was needful for her family to know about it. Unfortunately, I was not entirely aware of who her family was in this case. She had mentioned to me numerous times in the past few years that she had a niece she wanted everything to be willed to. I was also aware of an estranged son who made his presence known to me a year prior.

Then there was an aloof friend of hers, that showed up generally when I and/or Beth's son was not around. I finally approached her one day by telephone and suggested that we get in touch with the niece of our mutual elder and inform her about her Aunt's health and lack of self-care.

Her Aunt was not cleaning up her dishes and left food to sit for days in open frying pans on the stove. She also had a pet leaving its feces everywhere causing very unsanitary conditions. I knew in my mind that if a social worker walked into her home the way it was that she removed from her home and put into assisted living immediately.

Her friend explained that we did not want to call the niece, because she presumably did not care. Judith also commented why should she get everything; there were other relatives of Beth's? Judith mentioned further that perhaps between the two of us we could help our mutual friend. I was exasperated with the thought, but decided I would put up with this for a while longer. I agreed not to contact the niece for now as long as Judith would clean Beth's house and do something about the pet feces.

Eight months went by and not much changed except that Judith came around more often and would get agitated if I happened to be with Beth. I still did not catch on to what was going on except that I became aware that Judith was receiving an undisclosed amount of money from Beth. I did not say anything about it; Beth felt that Judith was her friend. Judith had helped with a few projects around the house and did her dishes for her occasionally. It was nagging though to see that very little was being done and the pet continued to be a problem.

One afternoon Beth was talking on the phone to one of her women's group friends when she became noticeably incoherent and her friend heard the phone drop. Her friend hung up and called 911. Beth had a TIA or mini stroke. The paramedics came to transport her to the hospital and she refused treatment. Six months later Beth came down with Pneumonia and again refused medical treatment. At the time, her son was visiting her daily and bringing her food worried Beth was not taking care of herself. He called me and we discussed that perhaps we should call her niece Trudy. Her son was not sure, because he too had been told by Judith not to call Trudy.

I was beginning to get concerned why Judith was so adamant about not calling Trudy, when after all neither her or myself were related to Beth and her son John, was a very timid man and helpless as to what to do with his sick mother. Judith went away for a while when Beth was ill and in reality John's daily visits and nurturing soups kept Beth alive. Eventually Beth got better except for a cough.

One morning I was to take Beth out to lunch she called saying she had eaten Chinese food given to her by her neighbor. She had been very ill with vomiting and diarrhea all evening. Beth was also showing signs of senile dementia. I took her some things to help her. John brought her broth daily until she could take in solids. This set her back for about a week. It had taken a toll on her, along with the dementia, her earlier stroke and pneumonia to make us very concerned as too her being alone any longer.

I discussed this with John and he asked that I get a hold of Trudy his cousin he had never met, as soon a possible. The next day I went to see Beth, and she was concerned about her own well-being. She took me through her house and showed me her will, valuable jewelry and her phone book with the number of her niece Trudy, her attorney, and financial advisor. She said that if anything happened to her that I was to contact each of these people.

I explained that I was concerned for her, and that I wanted to contact her niece before anything happens to her and to let her know who I was. Beth said that she was o.k. with that, and so I contacted Trudy that night.

Well, Trudy had no idea how badly her aunt had declined since the last time she saw her, about a year before. Trudy explained that when she would speak to Beth about once a month that she would tell her everything was fine. Trudy was shocked and very concerned. She had arranged to come to town and see her in two weeks.

Two days prior to Trudy's arrival Judith had found out through Beth that Trudy was coming for a visit and wanted to see her attorney with her and her financial advisor. Judith reacted and became very agitated, she show up to Beth's house and began removing things as well as convincing Beth that Trudy and John were going to have her committed. Beth became confused and upset by Judith's actions. Judith also demanded that Beth get her accounts in order and apparently she told her to give her a copy of the will. Beth took Judith literally and became very angry and hurt. She told John that he had wronged her and that he was never to come back to her home. John was devastated and contacted me about the situation. We both feared that Judith had taken the will.

When Trudy arrived, John let her know what had happened between Beth and Judith as well as the result of him once again being estranged from his Mother. Trudy confronted Judith and she denied anything of the sort had happened.

It took Trudy many days to convince Beth she was not there to have her committed to a nursing home. Rather she was there to help her organize her finances and put her home back in order. Trudy found out that Beth was two years in arrears on her property taxes, she had various bills not paid, had not paid the insurance on her vehicle and much more.

Finally, when it came time for Trudy to take Beth to her attorney to look at the will and to give Trudy power of attorney, the will was missing and Beth had no clue as to where it went.

The outcome of this sad story is that Trudy was able to have a new will made, a living will was exacted with Beth's wishes and Trudy was given durable power of attorney for Beth. The story is not over for Beth, John and Trudy, and perhaps many of you are facing a similar situation. Be mindful this is not an uncommon occurrence.

The key is communication! Speak to your family member or ward and be sure you know with whom they are involved. Whether it is a friend, neighbor or just an acquaintance be aware of who they are and how much time they are spending with your elder. Let them know who you are and a make it very clear that you are the one responsible for your elder. Most of all seek help from an attorney and assist your elder in putting things in order, so that if anything were to happen and someone else has to make the decisions that there is no guessing. All should be in order and circumstances such as Beth's are less likely to happen.

Footnote: I spoke to the Stepson of my friend and he feels that he is taking care of her enough right now. Along with her friend that comes by once or twice and my once a week visit he feels bases are covered for now. He does her dishes and vacuums and she for now takes care of her laundry as needed. He also brings her food daily so I will leave it for now.

Source: Staff Member at www.RetirementConnection.com
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