Many people are familiar with the term senior abuse, but many don’t consider financial abuse to be a crime. Sadly, this crime is on the rise.
The lousy economy these days has led to a new form of senior abuse – financial abuse, as younger members of a family start to take advantage of older relatives who may have a nest egg stashed away. We may not be aware of this happening because in most instances it starts slowly and without any fanfare. It may start with a request for a few dollars here and there and over time escalate into cash being taken out of a senior’s wallet or purse or from their bank account.
Maybe taking a few bucks from a senior doesn’t seem like a big deal, but if it continues, there is the potential to totally wipe out that person’s life savings. This is abuse, financial abuse. It’s a temptation to those who have very little money to spare in this economy. However, this is a form of stealing, even if the person the funds are being taken from is a family member.
Why is this particular form of elder abuse so easy to perpetrate? It largely has to do with the fact that since housing is in such a mess, many people who should be out on their own with the own homes are having to abandon that home and move back in with parents or other relatives. This isn’t the most ideal situation in many cases and causes a lot of stress and pressure for seniors who happen to be a part of those “new” living arrangements. In addition, a lot of younger individuals may not deal well with the loss of a job, family or home and turn to drugs and alcohol to handle matters. The potential for violence increases in circumstances like this. If that violence spills over to a senior, elder abuse takes on a whole other ugly façade.
Sadly, statistics show that about one in close to 25 cases of elderly people being financially exploited happened to be reported. The National Center on Elder Abuse extrapolates those figures to mean that there may be close to 5 million elderly financial abuse victims in the U.S. every year. That is a shocking statistic. It’s not just financial abuse that is going on either; at least five out of six cases that involve elder abuse deal with neglect and exploitation, and these go unreported as well. Many people who deal with elder abuse in the system are reporting a significant increase in elder abuse since the recession crept in.
In any situation where a senior is being abused, whether it is physically, emotionally, mentally, psychologically or financially, it’s best to speak to an attorney with experience in this area. Justice needs to be done for our seniors and the only way this will happen is by speaking to an attorney who understands the ramifications of elder abuse, and who is able to put a stop to it.
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