Elder Abuse

Phone Calls Blocked – Attempted Abuse

One family who would only speak anonymously reported that their elderly mother, who lived alone, woke one day from a nap to find a distant long-lost relative by her bedside. While gaining her trust and affection, he prevented her children from speaking to her on the phone. The tight-knit family became alarmed. Taking leave from work, they set up a 24-hour roster to sit by mom’s bedside, maintaining a constant vigil. At times this meant sitting across her bed from the man and duking it out in an unnerving, sleepless battle of wills. Their mother had drawn up a power…

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Elder Financial Abuse

Inheritance Entitlement Syndrome – Call it Theft – 2

Susan was faced with a horrifying situation, watching as her brother used their father’s gradual decline as an opportunity to chip away at the family’s farming assets. “Unfortunately, my father had a business partnership with my brother,” she says. “Gradually I realized that my father was becoming demented and that the money was disappearing. My brother was living the high life, with TVs in every room for the kids, an in-ground pool and flash cars.”, states Susan. “I had power of attorney over my father’s affairs, together with my uncle. We sought legal advice and tried mediation, but my brother…

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Elder Abuse

Inheritance Entitlement Syndrome – Call it Theft

When Anne discovered that her older brother had put their elderly mother in a nursing home, it was the dramatic climax of months of financial elder abuse that ended only with her mother’s death. Talking about it on the phone from her home, she describes how her brother falsely claimed a carer’s allowance and other benefits before she became aware of the extent of the problem. “I believe he had forged my mother’s signature and changed her will,” Anne says, explaining how she struggled through the courts in the hope of protecting her mother and the mother’s assets. Anne says…

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