The Government Accountability Office study cited eight cases in six states involving elder abuse by a guardian. Each of them involved financial ripoffs. Penalties and restitution ordered by courts ranged from $20,000 to $160,000.
“Officials from selected courts and representatives from organizations GAO spoke to described their observations about elder abuse by a guardian, including that one of the most common types appeared to be financial exploitation,” the GAO report states. “A prosecutor in one of the states we spoke to shared her observation that the majority of financial exploitation by professional guardians is done through overcharging for services that were either not necessary or were never performed.”
“Guardians should be protecting seniors, not stealing from them,” said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine and chairman of the Senate Aging Committee. The GAO study was released at a panel hearing on Wednesday.
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Abuse of the Elderly by Guardians Often Takes the Form of Financial Exploitation
I agree and I'm glad to see someone putting it in print. Guardians and lawyers target wealthy elderly just as if they were a greedy member of the family.
ReplyDeleteYour comment made me laugh, Stephanie, because you're right. Bad guardians do exactly what they allege the so called dysfunctional family is doing. And that seems to be ok in most courts. Awareness is growing though so the tide is turning.
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