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FACT SHEET #4 B.C. COALITION TO ELIMINATE ABUSE OF SENIORS FACT SHEET #4

FINANCIAL ABUSE

Financial Abuse is: damage to, or loss of, Assets or Property. The abuser is usually a spouse or partner, family member (often adult child), care-giver, friend, or a trusted person in the senior’s life. Financial abuse is very often accompanied by other forms of abuse, such as emotional abuse, physical abuse, or denial of rights. Three components are necessary for financial abuse to happen: Need or Greed - the abuser is under financial pressure. Opportunity - the abuser has access to funds or property. False Sense of Entitlement - “I deserve it; I am owed.”

SCENARIO #1
Robert obtained a Power of Attorney from his grandfather, and began to sell some of the acres of land and some of the livestock. He promised his grandfather he would give him the money once the transaction was completed. Many months passed and Robert had not paid his grandfather. His grandfather asked Robert for the money several times, but did not receive it.

SCENARIO #2
While her mother was in the hospital, Karen removed her mother’s silver tea service, some valuable books and a grand piano to her own home. When mother returned from hospital she asked the police to assist her in recovering her stolen property. Karen stated that she had taken the goods for safe-keeping and that these items are heirlooms belonging, not just to the mother, but the entire family.

SCENARIO #3
A care-giver befriends a senior and persuades him/her to open a “joint-account” so that she can assist with bill paying and getting cash from the account as required. Within a few months the senior discovers that the account has very little money in it. A considerable amount of money has been taken out. Because it is a joint account, either party can take money out of the account.

SCENARIO #4
A mother frequently gives her adult son her pension cheque to be deposited into her account and to bring back a specified amount of cash. While at the financial institution her son uses his mother’s pension cheque for payment to his overdue credit card. He did not have his mother’s permission.

CONTINUUM FOR FINANCIAL ABUSE

  • Belief that seniors do not need money or have a future
  • Theft of cash, credit cards, bank cards, mail
  • Cashing in RRSP’s without permission
  • Using the senior’s bank card to withdraw cash from the machine (often large sums) without their knowledge.
  • Unpaid loans or repeated borrowing
  • Using trickery or persuasion to get a senior’s money or possessions
  • Taking or withholding a senior’s pension or insurance cheque
  • Borrowing or taking a senior’s possessions without permission
  • Selling the senior’s property or possessions without permission
  • Forcing the senior to change his/her Will or give a Power of Attorney
  • Misuse of Power of Attorney
  • Refusing to pay senior’s bills, rent or mortgage
  • Forging a senior’s name or altering a document
  • Establishing a “joint account” and using the senior’s money without his/her knowledge or permission
  • Theft from accounts in a financial institution
  • Believing that a parent’s assets, money or property should be yours
  • Forcing senior to sign over house/car
  • Leaving person destitute

Adapted by Connie Chapman
from Shelter Children Research
and Services Project

FACT SHEET #4 B.C. COALITION TO ELIMINATE ABUSE OF SENIORS FACT SHEET #4
333 - 6TH STREET - NEW WESTMINSTER, BC V3L 3A9
Telephone: (604) 521-1235
Fax: (604) 515-0201
FUNDED BY:
THE LEON AND THEA KOERNER FOUNDATION AND THE HAMBER FOUNDATION

 

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This page last updated October 25, 2000.
Copyright (c) 1996 BC Institute Against Family Violence.