There are a few cases whereby your loved one is can use a financial power of attorney to give their agents with the ability to take action where financial matters are concerned. One of the passable ways to commit elder financial abuse has been noted to be through the financial power of attorney.
The best way to go about this is to make a request that the authority and power of the agent be acceded to only in the event that two accredited medical doctors can step forward and declare – in written format of course – that the elderly person is mentally incapable of continuing to handle to=he financial establishment. The doctors will have to give the statement under l=penalty of perjury of course. There should be real proof to show that the elderly principal is no longer in a position to make sound financial decisions.
This plan of course is not totally secure, but at least its measure of security is appreciable. Anyone hoping to take advantage of the situation now has to go through the extra labor of getting two medical doctors to come and testify on the elder’s behalf.
In some cases, the bad guy might just try to make plans so that the elder can revoke all the previous powers of attorney and divert all authority to him alone so he can totally take over everything from the elder. It might seem like an easy plan, but since most of the family and friends are in the big picture, the criminal will have a harder margin of success should he try to pull it off.
However, if there is a situation where the older person has neither family nor friend, his or her chances of becoming financially exploited are greatly increased. There should not be despair, however, as there are still some corrective measures that can be taken to prevent this.
All you need to do is go directly to the financial institutions in charge of the elderly person’s finances. Make sure you show them the power of attorney and explain what it is for. Show them that it is for securing the finances of the elder and ask the to take extra tight measures that the funds do not get mismanaged. Put them into confidence by telling them that two medical personnel are required to verify that the elder is incapable of operating the financial establishment before the power of attorney takes full effect.
You can ask that they put a red flag on the account that would monitor any unusual account activity or large withdrawal of sums of money.
Some families find it difficult to thee the elder of the need for a power of attorney. They may have honest fears that the elder may be provoked and think that everyone’s waiting for his or her death. He or she might even begin to think of them as scavengers.
However the power of attorney will have to be put in place fast to avoid any ugly future scenarios.