Michigan: Bills Would Help Keep Golden Years Golden

We’ve all heard the stories.

Greedy relatives or covetous “friends,” who claim to be caring for an older loved one, stripping bank accounts and using a lifetime of savings to their own personal advantage.

According to a study published in “Clinical Geriatrics,” the clinical journal of the American Geriatrics Society, persons over 50 control at least 70 percent of the nation’s household net worth and they are frequent targets for exploiters.

Victims are typically female, frail and mentally impaired; 75 percent are between the ages of 70 and 89.

Michigan Legislature currently has before it a package of bills that would protect Michigan’s 1.7 million older adults from financial abuse.

The four bills would:

• Require training for financial institution staff on financial exploitation, how to spot suspicious activity and how to report suspicious activity when detected.

• Expand the definition of abuse of vulnerable adults to include financial exploitation.

• Require financial institutions to inform account holders and provide written disclosure of the rights of joint account holders, so that those allowing access to their funds understand that joint account holders have the legal right to use the account and funds contained in it as if it is their own money.

• Require courts to consider appointment of a conservator if a person under a guardianship has assets of more than a certain limit ($10,000). This is to prevent potential financial exploitation through a guardianship.

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Bills Would Help Keep Golden Years Golden