MANY CASES AROUND THE COUNTRY DEMONSTRATE THE NEED FOR legal reforms to prevent individuals suffering SEVERE cognitive impairment from being financially exploited at the time they execute wills, deeds, trusts, POAs and other important legal/financial documents -- and also prevent the ruinous litigation which often results under such circumstances.
In order for legislation like this to be effective, it needs to put in place specific safeguards like the interview protocol recommended here, which addresses what most medical and legal authorities recognize but fail to adequately address, namely (1) cognitive impairment is a disability, and (2) the more severe the impairment, the greater the disability and susceptibility associated with it.
This interview protocol is based upon the following five steps
• STEP 1: Use a CHECKLIST to identify situations which involve individuals with SEVERE cognitive impairment and so require the rest of the protocol to be followed
• STEP 2: Have an INDEPENDENT examiner ask the transferor OPEN-ENDED questions to learn what business, if any, he wants or expects to conduct at this time
• STEP 3: Have an INDEPENDENT examiner ask the transferor to provide details about what he expects the document to include
• STEP 4: Have an INDEPENDENT examiner ask the transferor questions which others might reasonably want to ask if they were present, including questions about the transferor's understanding of the suspicions that his signing the document might raise and the transferor's ability to address those suspicions
• STEP 5: Have an INDEPENDENT examiner explore potential conflicts between the transferor's expectations and the content of the document
Full Article and Source:
Elder Protection and Abuse Prevention Act
Note: For more information, email Tom Fields at TVFields@oh.rr.com
6 comments:
Funding a piece of legislation which is part of a governmental agency, Social Services (Dept of Health and Human Services) does not prevent or protect the elders in this country, any more than has been in the past. Mandatory Law enforcement is lacking.....
Besides, Social Services has been the root of most evils, regarding elder abuse and financial exploitation. It will give them more opportunity to exploit other possibilities to justify their existence to work in concert with the out-of-control judiciary regarding the Rights of elderly.
Exactly right! Thank you.
Why is it that while much of this legislation concerns the activities and funding of Adult Protective Services, practically nothing in it addresses the activities of law enforcement? After verifying this, see if the same can be said of the Elder Justice Act and other related pieces of federal legislation.
This sounds like a reasonable idea.
Adult protective services is already a problem ... enforcement of the laws against professionals in almost impossible.
This is just pushing funding to states again ...... a train wreck in the making
The good side and bad side of Adult Protective services. Once an allegation is made against a person, whether true or not based on speculation or with intent to separate family members, the allegation remains in the record for eternity with no hope to challenge the record if the target of the allegations is able to review the allegations.
I speak from experience so beware and always proceed with caution.
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