Your elderly loved ones worked hard to secure their futures. It is not fair when someone else comes in and tries to take advantage of those finances later in your loved one’s life. Fortunately, if you think a loved one is suffering from financial elder abuse, you can take action. Our team can help you identify and prove financial elder abuse before taking your case to civil court.
Identifying Elder Financial Abuse
The elderly do not always have the means to adequately use their own finances. Whether this inability stems from a physical ailment or a mental condition, unscrupulous parties may choose to take advantage of the situation and engage in elder financial abuse.
Elder financial abuse describes the misuse of an elderly person’s funds without the person’s knowledge or understanding. Behaviors that fall into this category include stealing from an elderly person, misrepresenting essential purchases, or attempting to trick an elderly person into paying unjust care fees.
Establishing Liability in Elder Abuse Cases
Before you can bring a financial elder abuse case to court, you need to use evidence found within your loved one’s finances to indicate that another person engaged in unreasonable behavior. While you may have some idea as to which parties decided to violate your loved ones’ trusts, you should not name them in a legal complaint until you have evidence to back your claim.
Viable evidence that you can use to prove liability in a financial elder abuse case includes:
- Inconsistent bills
- Unaccounted for receipts
- Unusual banking activity
- Eyewitness testimony regarding misuse of funds
- Video or photo footage of inappropriate fund usage
With that aforementioned information on hand, it may be easier for our team to claim that a nursing home’s staff, your loved one’s family, or an assisted care team contributed to your loved one’s mistreatment.
Proving Loss of Funds and Mistreatment
Once you have established liability, it is your responsibility to elaborate on the extent of your loved one’s financial losses. This is easiest to do when you have bank statements and/or receipts for extraneous purchases on hand. If you’re not able to secure this information, you can alternatively secure a statement from the allegedly-liable party describing their misuse of a loved one’s funds.
Do note that financial abuse can also include the redistribution or sale of a loved one’s property without that loved one’s knowledge. If you believe that another party has been selling your loved one’s prescriptions or personal belongings, you can contact the recipients of these items and bring them to civil court as witnesses.
Asserting Your Right to Reclaim Stolen or Misused Funds
Proving the financial abuse of an elderly loved one is one thing. Taking your case to civil court is another. You can work with a personal injury attorney in New York or New Jersey to determine if you have an applicable case on your hands. If you do, our team can determine whether you can bring your loved one’s case forward or if you need to contact a personal representative.
Provided that you are able to represent your loved one’s best interests, you can use what is known as a civil complaint to request both the return of your loved one’s finances and compensation for non-economic losses. These can include pain and suffering and emotional distress. Our team can calculate your allegedly-lost funds to determine what your case’s compensation may be.
Discuss Your Financial Elder Abuse Case With Dalli & Marino, LLP Today
It seems all too easy for certain parties to take advantage of a loved one’s inability to control their financial situation. If you think that an elderly loved one has suffered from financial abuse, though, you may have the right to bring your concerns to civil court.
For more information about your right to pursue compensation for your loved one’s financial abuse, contact the team with Dalli & Marino, LLP. To schedule a case consultation, you can call our office at (888) 465-8790 or contact us online. We also speak Spanish.