Sunday, June 20, 2010

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.

Full Article and Source;
Bills Would Help Keep Golden Years Golden

8 comments:

  1. I don't see any protection in this for the vulnerable in Michigan.
    Until the guardianship problems are adressed... Court Appointed Guardians & Conservators have a license to steal... your loved one and their estate!!!
    This is so, no matter WHAT you REQUIRE courts to CONSIDER!
    Require and CONSIDER don't mix well!

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  2. Bad, Bad, Bad, the courts raid more estates than any other means.

    Attorneys, professional guardians, banks lobbying away to be able to steal everything.

    Who is watching the hen house.

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  3. BALONEY state of Michigan. BALONEY. Who's writing these bills? Lawyers? Is that why they're insisting estates over $10K have a conservator appointed?

    WHAT AN OUTRAGE!

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  4. Thank you for posting this, NASGA. It's a perfect example of how hard the perps work to keep the Protection Racket in place.

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  5. There must be provisions for criminalizing conversion and defalcation by court-appointed fiduciaries, INCLUDING UNNECESSARY AND INFLATED PHONY FEE BILLINGS!

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  6. Prevent possible financial exploitation with conservatorship?

    What an outrage!

    Stand Up is right. This sickens me.

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  7. Funny how these studies never mention systemic abuse.

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