King & Wood, P.A.

What is Seattle Doing to Combat Elder Abuse?

“As Seattle’s senior population rises, elder abuse is increasingly becoming an issue on city officials and caretakers’ radars. Advocates throughout the nation are calling on states to increase public awareness of elder abuse and for courts to respond to the epidemic.”

Research from the New England Center for Investigative Reporting shows that adult protective services throughout the country conducted more than 713,000 elder-abuse investigations in fiscal year 2017. Almost a third of the cases identified the victims of abuse or self-neglect. In Washington State, reported elder-abuse cases increased from 19,000 in 2012 to 49,000 in 2017, according to Seattle Weekly’s recent article, “Seattle Takes on Elder Abuse as Reported Cases Rise.”

Mary Lynn Pannen, the founder and CEO of Washington-based geriatric care management firm Sound Options, remarks that the increased reporting is a result of better data collection. She has seen progress in the state’s response to elder abuse, since she worked as the head of a Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department counsel that focused on the issue 35 years ago. Over the past 30 years, she and her staffers have consulted with families throughout the region on caring for older adults. Employees help caretakers create and execute care plans, work with elder law attorneys and advocate on behalf of people in care facilities. Staffers are trained to be keenly aware of elder-abuse cases, which typically show up as financial exploitation. They’ll look for signals like bruises on the senior’s body or a refusal by family members or caretakers to allow the senior to respond to the staffers’ inquiries. Once they’ve gathered enough information to suspect abuse, staffers then report it to Adult Protective Services.

“One of the things to prevent abuse, is to make sure that we can help de-stress the whole family unit, because caregiving is really hard,” Pannen said. “This is a serious issue and we need to have the public understand that.”

Abuse often goes unreported because older adults feel shame or are unaware about the neglect or abuse they’ve received from their own family members or caregivers. Local agencies have strengthened protections for seniors in recent years.

The Seattle Human Services Department’s Aging and Disability Services Division (HSD/ADS) seeks to address the widespread issue, by working with the Office of the King County Prosecuting Attorney and Adult Protective Services to provide older adults with financial, health, legal services and safe housing in the face of abuse.

According to Adult Protective Services’ (APS) data, King County’s work is helping to increase elder-abuse reporting. They reported a nearly 50% increase over the previous five years in reported allegations of elder abuse in 2014. In 2017, more than 11,000 allegations were reported to APS in the region that includes King County, with nearly 30% of the cases concerning financial exploitation.

Reference: Seattle Weekly (December 12, 2018) “Seattle Takes on Elder Abuse as Reported Cases Rise”

“As Seattle’s senior population rises, elder abuse is increasingly becoming an issue on city officials and caretakers’ radars. Advocates throughout the nation are calling on states to increase public awareness of elder abuse and for courts to respond to the epidemic.”

Research from the New England Center for Investigative Reporting shows that adult protective services throughout the country conducted more than 713,000 elder-abuse investigations in fiscal year 2017. Almost a third of the cases identified the victims of abuse or self-neglect. In Washington State, reported elder-abuse cases increased from 19,000 in 2012 to 49,000 in 2017, according to Seattle Weekly’s recent article, “Seattle Takes on Elder Abuse as Reported Cases Rise.”

Mary Lynn Pannen, the founder and CEO of Washington-based geriatric care management firm Sound Options, remarks that the increased reporting is a result of better data collection. She has seen progress in the state’s response to elder abuse, since she worked as the head of a Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department counsel that focused on the issue 35 years ago. Over the past 30 years, she and her staffers have consulted with families throughout the region on caring for older adults. Employees help caretakers create and execute care plans, work with elder law attorneys and advocate on behalf of people in care facilities. Staffers are trained to be keenly aware of elder-abuse cases, which typically show up as financial exploitation. They’ll look for signals like bruises on the senior’s body or a refusal by family members or caretakers to allow the senior to respond to the staffers’ inquiries. Once they’ve gathered enough information to suspect abuse, staffers then report it to Adult Protective Services.

“One of the things to prevent abuse, is to make sure that we can help de-stress the whole family unit, because caregiving is really hard,” Pannen said. “This is a serious issue and we need to have the public understand that.”

Abuse often goes unreported because older adults feel shame or are unaware about the neglect or abuse they’ve received from their own family members or caregivers. Local agencies have strengthened protections for seniors in recent years.

The Seattle Human Services Department’s Aging and Disability Services Division (HSD/ADS) seeks to address the widespread issue, by working with the Office of the King County Prosecuting Attorney and Adult Protective Services to provide older adults with financial, health, legal services and safe housing in the face of abuse.

According to Adult Protective Services’ (APS) data, King County’s work is helping to increase elder-abuse reporting. They reported a nearly 50% increase over the previous five years in reported allegations of elder abuse in 2014. In 2017, more than 11,000 allegations were reported to APS in the region that includes King County, with nearly 30% of the cases concerning financial exploitation.

Reference: Seattle Weekly (December 12, 2018) “Seattle Takes on Elder Abuse as Reported Cases Rise”

TV Titan’s Grandson Says Guardian Needed

TV Titan’s Grandson Says Guardian Needed

“Sumner Redstone's grandson has asked the court to appoint a guardian ad litem in the legal battle over his estate planning documents, claiming the 95-year-old mogul struggles to communicate and the move will ensure the "integrity" of the proceedings is protected.”

Tyler Korff, grandson of the 95-year-old media titan Sumner Redstone, says that his grandfather has a "severe speech impairment." He claims that a court-appointed independent attorney would protect the integrity of the legal proceedings, according to a recent report in The Hollywood Reporter, “Grandson Requests Sumner Redstone Guardian.”

Redstone has been the subject of numerous legal skirmishes with former companions that have questioned the former Viacom chairman's ability to make decisions about his life and his business. A third party could make certain that those disputes are settled in his best interest.

After arguing in court for years that Redstone doesn’t possess the mental capacity needed to remove Manuela Herzer from his estate planning documents after he kicked her out of his mansion in 2015, Herzer changed her approach. Her attorneys are now claiming that because Redstone's legal team insists that he does, in fact, have capacity and is the impetus behind the elder abuse lawsuit against Herzer and his former fiancée Sydney Holland, it suggests he can't ask the court to confirm the validity of his trust before his death.

In a recent hearing, L.A. County probate judge David Cowan said it was time to appoint an independent attorney to watch after Redstone's interests. Redstone's grandson Tyler Korff made the formal request. In a separate filing, Redstone stated he consents to "the Court's appointment of an independent guardian ad litem to represent my interests in this proceeding."

"Mr. Redstone suffers from a number of health conditions, including most notably a severe speech impairment that limits his ability to communicate verbally," states Korff's petition. "The Court has raised appropriate concerns about ensuring that the interests of Mr. Redstone are protected and that the resolution of his petition is not reasonably susceptible to challenge, based on questions about his ability to have directed the litigation."

Korff also claims that a guardian will safeguard the integrity of the proceedings "in the face of Ms. Herzer's repeated and well-publicized assertions that this litigation is being controlled by and for the benefit of persons other than Mr. Redstone."

Korff's filing recommended that the guardian be chosen from two probate attorneys, Jackson Chen and Samuel Ingham, III. Ingham oversees the pop singer Britney Spears' conservatorship.

Reference: The Hollywood Reporter (December 6, 2018) “Grandson Requests Sumner Redstone Guardian”

What State Ranks Last in Elder Care?

What State Ranks Last in Elder Care?

“In yet another depressing ranking for South Carolina, a new report ranks the state 51st in protecting against elder abuse across 14 measurements.”

A study that compares all 50 states and Washington, D.C. in three categories related to the protection of Americans aged 65 or older—prevalence, resources and protection—finds South Carolina dead last in the rankings.

The Charleston City Paper reports in its recent article, “South Carolina ranks dead last in protections against elder abuse, study finds,” that the study was released by finance website WalletHub.

Massachusetts was in the top spot in the analysis.

In the prevalence category, which gauges the share of "elder-abuse, gross-neglect, and exploitation complaints," South Carolina tied California at 50. The Palmetto State also tied five other states—Georgia, Kansas, Maine, Montana, and North Dakota—for the lowest total expenditure on elder abuse prevention.

The most common types of elder abuse are neglect and financial, according to Florida International University social work Professor Rich Beaulaurier, who spoke to WalletHub for the report.

"Both have been increasing in recent years," he said. "There has been a huge increase in mechanisms to scam or exploit older people out of their money and savings. Medicare and bank fraud, mortgage fraud, and other scams target older people differentially."

The report noted that South Carolinians received 3.3 million robocalls per day in November 2018, according to robocall-blocking software YouMail.

In May 2018, Governor Henry McMaster signed legislation designed to thwart a popular subset of fraudulent calls in South Carolina. The law targets a practice known as "spoofing," defined in the bill as a scam call that shows "misleading, false, or inaccurate caller identification information on the receiving party's telephone."

Kathleen Wilber, a professor of health services administration at the University of Southern California, who also was interviewed by WalletHub for the report, remarked that aggressive policies that go after scammers can help. However, protecting against elder abuse is a multi-faceted task that should include better monitoring of abuse in facilities and more accessible mental health care for both the elderly and their caregivers.

"It is not uncommon for caregivers to lack the capacity and ability to support frail older people—sometimes we assume the kids are the caregivers when they have historically been receiving care from mom or dad because of their own disabilities," she said.

The five states that ranked best for protections against elderly abuse are Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Nevada, Michigan and Arizona.

Reference: Charleston City Paper (December 4, 2018) “South Carolina ranks dead last in protections against elder abuse, study finds”

What Type of Things Can’t a Nursing Home Do?

What Type of Things Can’t a Nursing Home Do?

“People who reside in nursing homes are in a vulnerable position, since they are in need of near-constant assistance–not just with medical and health problems, but also, often, for daily living activities. Federal and state laws exist to safeguard nursing home residents’ care. However, your ability to protect yourself or your loved one during a short- or long-term nursing home stay, depends in part on knowing what these facilities are not allowed to do and what action to take if a violation occurs.”

 

Investopedia’s recent article, “Things Nursing Homes Are Not Allowed to Do” cautions that the discussion points in its article apply specifically to skilled nursing facilities, that are defined by Medicare as a special facility or part of a hospital that provides medically necessary professional services from nurses, physical and occupational therapists, speech pathologists and audiologists. They don’t apply to assisted living facilities or retirement homes.

Discrimination. Federal law prohibits skilled nursing facilities from making a decision about whether someone can live there based on race, color, religion, age, sex or any other protected characteristic.

Services Provided. A skilled nursing facility must state in writing the types of services it will provide and fees before a patient moves in. Some types of retirement facilities, like continuing care communities, also require a large buy-in fee up front that guarantees residents access to various levels of care as their needs change, but skilled nursing facilities can’t charge those fees.

Health Assessment. When a patient first enters a nursing home, he is given a health assessment. These assessments continue daily for the length of his stay. The medical staff will evaluate the patient’s physical and mental health, medications, ability to take basic care of himself and ability to speak and make decisions. The assessments are used to plan treatment, evaluate progress and determine ongoing eligibility for Medicare coverage. Residents can participate in their care plan, and if they’re not able to do so, an adult child can participate on their behalf.

Money Management. A nursing home may offer to manage a resident’s personal funds as part of its services, but it can’t require a resident to let it manage their money, and it cannot do so without the resident’s written consent. When approved, the nursing home must provide quarterly financial statements and cannot prevent residents from accessing their bank accounts, cash or financial documents. If a resident deposits more than $50 into a managed account, that account must pay interest.

Dignity and Respect. Federal law states that nursing home residents have the right to be treated with dignity and respect. This includes making decisions on the time they want to go to bed and when they get up; what time to eat; and what to do during the day, provided their decisions don’t conflict with the care plan. Residents cannot be verbally or physically abused, medicated with drugs that aren’t in their treatment plan, restrained physically (unless they pose a danger to themselves or others), involuntarily isolated or to have their property used or taken by anyone else at the facility. Patients have the right to privacy and to personal property—this means being allowed to open their own mail and to have private phone conversations.

Visitation. Patients can have visitors during reasonable times of day. They’re also allowed to refuse visitors they don’t want to see. Family members must be allowed to have access to the patient at any time (unless the patient says otherwise).

Physical Condition. Even though a patient is in poor physical or mental health, she has the right to be told her physical condition; her diagnoses; and the types of medications she’s been prescribed. She also has a right to see her medical records. Patients can continue to see their own doctors, meaning they don’t have to accept the services of practitioners provided by the nursing home. Patients also have the same right to refuse treatments and medications that outpatients do. If a patient needs mental, legal, or financial counseling concerning her treatment, the nursing home must provide these services.

Medicare Benefits. Nursing homes don’t have to keep track of the Medicare benefits being used to pay for a patient's care. When it comes to facilities, Medicare coverage can be complicated because it covers a stay completely for a certain number of days but then pays a set amount for an additional period and all this only under certain conditions. After that, patients are responsible for the whole bill, unless they have long-term care insurance or some other form of coverage.

The nursing home doesn’t have to notify a resident that the benefit days are ending, and it can continue to charge them for their care. The one exception is if Original Medicare benefits stop earlier than expected, because the care is deemed no longer “medically reasonable and necessary.” In that case, the nursing home must notify the patient that coverage is ending, when it’s ending and why. The nursing home must also tell such patients that they’ll be responsible for further costs and how much it estimates those costs will be. But a facility usually can’t require another family member to pay for a resident’s care.

Discharge Planning. Nursing homes must help with discharge planning, and they generally can’t discharge a patient or transfer him to another facility without his consent, unless:

• the patient’s health has declined to the stage, where the facility can no longer meet his needs;
• the patient has improved to the point, where he no longer requires the facility’s services; or
• the patient poses a threat to his own welfare or that of other residents.

In addition, a resident can be discharged for not paying the facility’s bills (but not when the delinquency is caused by waiting for Medicaid payments from the government).

Complaints. Residents and their advocates have a right to complain about any issue they have in a nursing home, and nursing homes can’t punish someone for doing so.

Ability to Sue. A 2016 regulation gave nursing home residents and their families the ability to sue any nursing home that receives federal funding. Before this, nursing homes could try to force people into arbitration, and any quality of care and safety issues could be kept private. However, a preliminary injunction granted in Mississippi in late in 2016 put this regulation on hold for now.

New Rules. There are new rules that give nursing home residents more rights. Residents will be allowed to receive any visitor, not just relatives, at any hour of the day, provided visitors don’t disturb fellow residents. Residents who want to live together will be permitted to do so, and nursing homes will have greater responsibility for ensuring that residents’ personal belongings aren’t lost or taken. In addition, nursing homes will be required to provide meals and snacks when residents want them, rather than only at set times. Staff will get more training in caring for dementia patients and preventing elder abuse, and nursing homes won’t be able to easily discharge residents with dementia, by sending them to a hospital and then refusing to readmit them.

In effect, a person’s rights as a nursing home resident should be the same as the rights she had outside the facility.

Reference: Investopedia (September 30, 2018) “Things Nursing Homes Are Not Allowed to Do”

How Do I Help My Elderly Parent Manage His Money?

How Do I Help My Elderly Parent Manage His Money?

“It’s a common issue as investors live longer and hold portfolios amassed over a lifetime.”

Experts say that children need to approach financial discussions with their parents with a soft touch. Everyone slows down as they age, and it can be catastrophic for seniors who choose overly risky holdings, forget to monitor their portfolio or fall victim to schemers.

U.S. News & World Report’s recent article, “How to Help Aging Parents Manage Portfolios,” says that, at some point, adult children may believe it's time to help with responses from the subtle (just a few suggestions) to the intermediate (monitoring accounts) to the extreme (gaining control from their parents).  However, how do you know when it's the right time?

These are delicate subjects, and it can be a hard to speak with aging parents about their money and their potential to be the targets of scams. Loneliness and depression raise the odds of financial exploitation. Changes in social circumstances, like the loss of a spouse, can greatly increase risk and vulnerability.

Right after losing the ability to drive, the biggest loss of independence a senior citizen experiences is the ability to handle their own finances. Just a few mistakes, can wreck a portfolio's ability to cover the parents' remaining expenses or provide the bequests they'd hoped to leave to family.

While control issues make many uncomfortable, hurt feelings and hassles are in many cases much worse, if problems are left to fester. The first step is to be aware of signs of mental decline—don’t jump to conclusions each time a senior struggles for a word. It’s not good to have your parent feel like she’s under a microscope and being constantly monitored.

If there are past-due notices all about, or if there’s a lot of charity mail, it might be a sign of a problem handling finances or dealing with day-to-day financial matters.

Start that discussion gently, by talking about your own finances to help put the parent at ease. Make it casual, not a confrontation with a formal sit-down. Do it one-on-one.

If the first steps raise concerns, the child can simply offer some suggestions to make things run more smoothly, like setting up automatic cash transfers from the parent's investment accounts to a bank account, and automatic bill payments from the bank. Assisting with the parent's tax return, can also ease the parent's burdens and allow the child to keep on top of things. In addition, the child can register with the bank to get copies of bank and investment statements, so that he can monitor if there are any suspicious withdrawals or failures to pay monthly expenses.

If the parent is showing distinct signs of weakened abilities, it might be time to go further and ask for access to the parent's accounts. Make this an offer to help, not a takeover. That way the child can monitor financial accounts.

You can also have your parent designate you as their agent in a durable power of attorney, which allows you to transact business on their behalf.

At some point, an elderly person may not be competent to handle financial affairs at all. Poorly-advised investments or susceptibility to scams are a definite sign of vulnerability. The adult child can petition a judge to make the child the parent's conservator or guardian to take charge of finances and other matters involving the parent's welfare. It is an adversarial and complex proceeding with attorneys and medical experts.

Don't wait until something has happened. Being proactive is a better approach for all concerned.

Reference: U.S. News & World Report (October 22, 2018) “How to Help Aging Parents Manage Portfolios”

Can You Believe Elder Abuse Will Get Worse?

“Elder abuse will get worse, as 10,000 people turn 65 every day for the next ten years.”

With a growing number of retirees, older workers, and survivors, fragile older people are more susceptible to financial exploitation.

Wealth Advisor’s recent article, “Elder Financial Abuse Will Get Worse As Americans Age,” reports that, while there are thieves and legal exploiters, the root of elder financial abuse is in our retirement system.

For 40 years, the system has required people to save and handle very large sums of money to last their lifetime. In 2017, $14.5 trillion (85% of GDP) is in self-directed retirement accounts, which are prime targets for financial predation. In sum, our 401(k) and IRA system invites financial abuse.

We can caution people but, giving financial protection advice to older Americans with lump sums is not an easy thing to do. Many of the elderly are physically and mental impaired, socially isolated and have plenty of money.

Requiring professionals who handle IRAs to be fiduciaries, would have helped to prevent legal financial abuse. However, that regulation was recently overturned. As a result, professionals handling IRAs—the quickest-growing type of retirement account—are held to a lower professional standard. They cannot lie.  However, they also can manage your account without putting your interests first, because they’re not required to be fiduciaries.

A study by the Justice Department found that one in 20 older adults said they were financially mistreated in the recent past. In one year, the prevalence for emotional abuse among elders was 4.6%; 1.6% for physical abuse, 0.6% for sexual abuse, 5.1% for potential neglect and a 5.2% for current financial abuse. Experts say that this is an undercount, because it only considers abuse by family members.

The GAO also found elder abuse to be a widespread and growing problem. With a rule of thumb that we should accumulate 8-10 times our final salary in retirement individual-directed accounts (and no realistic option to acquire a fair and efficient lifetime annuity), elder financial abuse is far more prevalent in America than elsewhere.

Financial advisers will certainly become a source of financial abuse, a thought that concerns the industry. However, many legal practices, like selling inappropriate products, can occur when the adviser is not a fiduciary. Exploitation by financial institution employees may increase, as more and more elderly have cash nest eggs.

Reference: Wealth Advisor (September 11, 2018) “Elder Financial Abuse Will Get Worse As Americans Age”

Montana's Elder Exploitation Law is Too Vague, Judge Says

“A state judge has ruled that Montana's elder exploitation law is too vague and doesn't require evidence of criminal intent to prosecute.”

US News & World Report explains in its article “Judge Rule's State's Elder Exploitation Law Is Vague” that the judge’s ruling came last week in the case of an 80-year-old woman, Rose-Marie Bowman of Missoula.

She’s charged with taking money from an account for which she was a co-signor, after the other co-signor gave her control of his finances in 2012. The victim, Lanny Franzen, has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Missoula County Prosecutors say she manipulated Franzen into putting money into the account.

Attorneys for Bowman asked for the elder exploitation charge to be dismissed, arguing the law could be used to prosecute innocent actions. District Judge Robert “Dusty” Deschamps agreed, holding that the statute "is so broad and devoid of any requirements for proof of a criminal state of mind by the accused, a person is left to guess what specific acts might be allowed or prohibited by statute."

The prosecutors have several days to decide if they want to appeal the judge’s ruling to the Montana Supreme Court, file charges under another law, or drop the case. Missoula County Attorney Kirsten Pabst says she's consulting with the state attorney general's office.

Pabst commented that judges have previously struck down statutes, because of vagueness but this situation is still "unusual."

This type of exploitation, according to the statute, happens when someone knowingly “obtains or uses” an older, incapacitated, or developmentally disabled person’s “funds, assets, or property with the intent to temporarily or permanently deprive” the respective victim. In a motion to dismiss the case, Bowman’s attorneys argued that the vagueness of the statute lets prosecutors to pursue a son who accepts a gift from his elderly mother.

The issue hinges on the words “obtain” and “use.” These terms are not clearly defined by the state legislature concerning criminal exploitation.

Reference: US News & World Report (August 24, 2018) “Judge Rule's State's Elder Exploitation Law Is Vague”

Washington State AG Stops Trusts Mills

“CLA Estate Services, Inc. and CLA USA, Inc. made millions deceptively selling estate-planning services and annuities, in a scheme targeting Washington seniors.”

After a lawsuit filed by Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson, a King County Superior Court judge granted a preliminary injunction ordering an estate planning company to immediately halt its deceptive conduct. The suit asserts that the Texas-based company operated a “trust mill” scheme that preyed upon Washington seniors.

The Washington State Office of the Attorney General recently announced in a press release entitled “Court orders estate-planning company to immediately halt deceptive “trust mill” practices” that Ferguson filed an action against CLA Estate Services, Inc., CLA USA, Inc. and Mitchell Johnson, a former CLA agent. The lawsuit claims that CLA held misleading estate planning seminars and sold financial products in the state to seniors, without sufficiently disclosing that their products could lock up their assets for years and carried large penalties for early withdrawal. The products made CLA millions in commissions, at substantial cost to Washington’s elderly.

“CLA targeted seniors with their deceptive scheme, the opposite of giving them ‘peace of mind,’” Ferguson said. “They made millions through their trust mill scheme. This court ruling puts an immediate halt to CLA’s misleading and unlawful conduct.”

Judge Michael Scott granted a preliminary injunction that prevents CLA from conducting estate planning seminars and prevents both CLA and Johnson from marketing annuities to seniors who have bought the company’s “Lifetime Estate Plan” during the lawsuit.

CLA invited seniors to attend free meetings about estate planning, where their salespeople encouraged participants to set up living trusts and buy CLA’s “Lifetime Estate Plan” packages.  However, the ultimate goal was to obtain detailed financial information to sell complex financial products that most seniors didn’t understand. These “Lifetime Estate Plan” packages included a referral to an attorney and annual review meetings, where insurance agents, under the auspices of reviewing the estate plans, tried to sell life insurance and annuities. These annuities lock up seniors’ retirement savings, where they can only make nominal withdrawals during a deferral period, typically 10 years, without incurring high surrender penalties. Many seniors in the State of Washington incurred substantial penalties for early withdrawal of funds they needed for living expenses.

CLA failed to adequately disclose the terms of the annuities to clients. Johnson and other agents also provided investment advice to seniors, without proper registration.

CLA operates in at least 35 states. The company can still sell annuities to individuals who are not “Lifetime Estate Plan” clients but is prohibited from continuing their deceptive practices. They can also continue their annual review meetings with clients in Washington state, but can’t use these meetings to sell annuities or any other insurance product.

Reference: Washington State Office of the Attorney General (August 27, 2018) “Court orders estate-planning company to immediately halt deceptive “trust mill” practices”

Watch Out for These New Estate Planning Scams

“Bad advice. High fees. Trust mills. There's a lot to watch out for when you're planning for the future, including several new estate planning scams.”

Death brings out the worst in people, and unscrupulous advisors prey on the elderly and their heirs with questionable legal advice, unnecessary bills and the ever-present living trust come-ons.

Wealth Advisor reports in the article “Beware Of These New Estate Planning Scams” that new estate planning scams focus on taking advantage of an elderly person who may have reduced capacity. Scammers want to get seniors to sign over their property or sign a power of attorney to control the elderly person's estate. The most vulnerable senior citizens are those who have no close relatives.

Talk to an experienced estate planning attorney who can raise issues with you, make suggestions and pinpoint potential issues.

Work with a trusted estate planning attorney and tell your family what to expect when you pass away. If you don’t, you could lose a lot of money to a predatory third-party.

Another one of the new estate planning scams is the trust mills. The National Consumer Law Center says that these scammers are dishonest salespeople who prey on seniors’ fears that after their deaths, their life savings and assets will be stolen. In addition, both the Federal Trade Commission and AARP have issued warnings about these hard-sell living trust promoters.

The con artists who promote living trusts to seniors don’t want to help anyone plan for the future. Instead, they're trying to get their “clients” to hand over lots of money for their extra-special living trust kit. That’s one signal that a so-called estate planner is up to no good—they're offering a one-size-fits-all estate plan solution.

Experts also say you should beware of terms such as "Pure," "Pure Equity" or "Constitutional" Trust. These can be even worse than the living trust scams.

Stay away from these new estate planning scams. Don't take shortcuts and don't wait. Seek the counsel of a state bar-admitted estate planning attorney. He or she will work with you to find the best solutions for your specific needs.

Reference: Wealth Advisor (August 6, 2018) “Beware Of These New Estate Planning Scams”

New Bill Would Establish Team to Protect the Elderly at the SEC

“Legislation would establish a task force to examine challenges facing senior investors and recommend regulatory, statutory changes.”

The House Financial Services Committee has voted to approve the creation of an interdivisional task force at the Securities and Exchange Commission to protect senior investors.

Investment News recently published “House introduces bill targeting elder financial abuse.” The article reports that Representative Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., introduced the National Senior Investor Initiative Act of 2018 to create a team of staff members from the SEC's Division of Enforcement; Office of Compliance, Inspections and Examinations; and Office of Investor Education and Advocacy. They would be responsible for examining the challenges facing elderly investors, focusing especially on the issues seniors have with financial services providers and investment products.

The task force would coordinate with law enforcement authorities, federal agencies, other SEC offices and state regulators, and report its findings every two years to the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, as well as the House Financial Services Committee.

The group’s objective would be to recommend specific regulatory or statutory changes that would help senior investors.

The bill also calls for the Government Accountability Office (the “GAO”) to study and report on the economic costs of the financial exploitation of senior citizens, within a year of the bill's enactment.

The law has a sunset clause that will end the task force after 10 years.

The full House subsequently passed by a 406-4 vote, the JOBS and Investor Confidence Act of 2018, also known as House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling’s “JOBS Act 3.0,” which includes a package of 32 bills.

Representative Maxine Waters said the package included H.R. 6323, the National Senior Investor Initiative Act of 2018, which requires the SEC to set up the senior task force.

Reference: Investment News (July 10, 2018) “House introduces bill targeting elder financial abuse”