Is There A Predator In Your Aging Parent’s Family?

Mother, age 85, liked freedom with her cash. She used her money without keeping track of her spending. She forgot to check her bank statements and didn’t notice that odd withdrawals had happened. Her short term memory was eroding. When she finally remembered to look, she was alarmed to see that unexplained withdrawals had happened and someone had taken $40,000 out of her account. Hackers had gotten in. She had a son and a daughter. Being old-fashioned, she thought her son should be in charge of money and she had named him as her agent on the Power of Attorney document as well as making him the successor trustee of her trust. She called him and told him the bad news about her account being hacked.

Son was unemployed and needed cash. He saw this moment an opportunity for himself with his mom’s poor memory. He had predatory intentions. He took her to her doctor, who examined her for 15 minutes and did no measurement of her memory issues. Instead, at Son’s request, he filled out a 4-sentence form letter and asked a colleague M.D. to do the same. The letters said she no longer had the ability to independently manage her finances. That gave Son freedom to access her bank accounts. He took the letters to her banks with the power of attorney document and was given immediate full access to his mom’s cash account. He withdrew all of it.