In The News Old – do not use

The Huffington Post

4 Tips to Protect Seniors Against Fraud and Identity Theft

By Jocelyn Baird, NextAdvisor.com

Posted: Updated:

“Unfortunately, no matter whether it’s a specific reason or many, seniors are at risk for fraud and identity theft. It’s important for the people in their lives to understand these risks and do their part to protect seniors they care about from the many scammers that lurk. As aging expert Carolyn Rosenblatt said in a recent Forbes article, it’s not just a matter of law enforcement or the government taking action — seniors and their caregivers also need to be vigilant.” READ MORE


 

Aging Clients Create Major Crisis For Financial Service Professionals

Bob O’Toole

Friday, July 10, 2015

I have cited the work of Dr. Mikol Davis, Psychologist, Gerontologist several times in this blog in the past.
(See posts from THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 2011, and most recently from MONDAY, JUNE 29, 2015). He has teamed up with elder law attorney Carolyn Rosenblatt, (who is also an RN),to create a much needed resource AgingInvestor.com.They recently announced a very attractive opportunity for legal and financial professionals that I hope many will take advantage of.  As frequently mentioned in this blog, elder financial abuse has become a very serious problem, one that the Wall Street Journal has called “the crime of the 21st century”. If you are a professional who works in any field that requires that an older client needs to make financial decisions, you  need to get as much information about the nuances of aging decision making as you can. READ MORE

 

bloomberg

 

 

 

Most law firms have elderly clients, but few lawyers are skilled at recognizing when someone’s mental capacity is declining.

Carolyn Rosenblatt, a mediator, tackles this subject in her new book, Working with Aging Clients: A Guide for Legal, Business and Financial Professionals,” published in June by the American Bar Association.

Rosenblatt’s background includes working as a nurse to the elderly, followed by 27 years as a practicing attorney. She now works as a mediator, author and blogger focused on elder law and elder abuse, running the mediation practice and providing advice at AgingInvestor.com in partnership with her husband – licensed psychologist Mikol Davis.

“I wanted to dispel some myths about aging and encourage professionals to face the reality that aging often brings with it impairment,” she told Big Law Business. READ MORE

 


nextadvisor_logo

 

NextAdvisor Blog


 

PBS-Next-Avenue-together

 

 

How to Manage Your Parents’ Finances When They Can’t

5 suggestions from money pros for when you need to step in

Carolyn Rosenblatt, an elder law attorney who wrote The Family Guide to Aging Parents, suggests getting a power of attorney with your parent’s bank as well, giving you permission to make banking decisions for your mother or father. “Most banks have their own forms for power of attorney,” Rosenblatt advises.  READ MORE

ows-header-logo

Elder Fraud: 9

Tips to Protect Clients

JUN 25, 2015
3:45pm ET

The costs of elder financial fraud and abuse are more than financial.

In fact, for elderly citizens who are financially exploited, the impact is more emotional than financial, a survey from the AICPA shows. This is because elder fraud frequently involves family members. What’s more, fraud cases involving elderly clients are on the rise, with nearly half of the CPA financial planners who participated in the survey, around 47%, saying they have seen an increase in financial fraud in the last five years. READ MORE


On the Radio

June 9, 2015

Frank Sampson interviews Carolyn Rosenblatt on protecting elders from financial abuse and her latest book, “The Family Guide To Aging Parents.”
SCA_LOGO-200


 

 

CL_Logo514The Challenge of Elder Abuse
Representing aging clients who may be financially exploited poses increasing issues for attorneys.

by Janice Fuhrman | June 2015

‘Lawyers Don’t Understand’

“The problem,” says Carolyn L. Rosenblatt, a litigator and former nurse, “is that lawyers don’t understand cognitive impairment. … Our profession has not demanded that lawyers get more education in the subtle erosion of financial decision-making capacity that comes with Alzheimer’s and other dementias.” Rosenblatt, 67, lives in San Rafael with her psychologist husband, Mikol Davis, where the two consult on aging issues and mediate family conflicts involving elders. Rosenblatt volunteered in nursing homes from the age of 14, emptying bedpans and bathing patients. After earning a nursing license, she worked at hospitals and nursing homes and then as a visiting home-care nurse while in law school at the University of San Francisco. Before becoming a mediator, she had a personal injury practice, which included some elder abuse matters. “People with diminished capacity are like putty in the hands of a predator,” says Rosenblatt.

READ MORE

 


 

alz speaks

Live with Carolyn Rosenblatt, Author of “The Family Guide to Aging Parents

Listen now by clicking HERE

June 3, 2015

Alzheimer’s Speaks Radio loves raising everyone’s voice regarding Dementia and Caregiving, so feel free to join us live by calling in to talk with us or using the chat box to communicate with us. What questions do you have for our guest?

Today we are so lucky to have Carolyn Rosenblatt, author of  “The Family Guide to Aging Parents: Answers to Your Legal, Financial and Healthcare Questions.”  She has over 45 years of experience in her combined professions of nursing and legal practice. Dr. Mikol Davis will also join us.  He is a clinical psychologist with over 40 years of experience.  Dr. Davis evaluates elders for capacity for decision-making and is skilled in assessing and diagnosing financial capacity in those with cognitive impairment.


Bankrate.com

How to help elderly parents with investments

May 29, 2015

By Heather Larson

Adult son showing paperwork to elderly parents

Daughters and daughters-in-law are usually the prime movers in starting these conversations, says Carolyn Rosenblatt, an elder care attorney in San Rafael, California.

“Because women are the caregivers and nurturers, they almost always initiate talks about financial matters,” says Rosenblatt, who also wrote “The Family Guide to Aging Parents: Answers to Your Legal, Financial, and Healthcare Questions.”

Consider where the discussion will take place. It should be a place where the senior parents feel comfortable, Rosenblatt says. Find a location that signifies comfort and peace and will put them in the right mood — their home, a park, a special restaurant.


fs

Subscribe

The Lifetime Income Series: Making a Move Make Money

Special Guest: Carolyn Rosenblatt on Loss of Financial Capacity

May 29, 2015

RADIO INTERVIEW — LISTEN by clicking HERE

In a special reprise edition of The Lifetime Income Series, Jim and Cathlyn discuss how where you live can have a great impact on your retirement. Jim looks at selecting an appropriate state in which to retire, taking into account the cost of housing, the cost of living, access to healthcare, weather, and of course taxes, be they income, sales, property or estate. There is also the consideration of living close to the kids and grandkids, although they may not stay put either. Jim stresses the importance of making plans on where to live before retirement, instead of figuring it out once in retirement, and he illustrates these issues through the case study of Michael and Brooke Bullock. The guest this week is Carolyn Rosenblatt, who discusses the loss of financial capacity and how judgment about finances erodes very early in the process of developing dementia. As a registered nurse and attorney, Carolyn has worked extensively in geriatric caregiving as well as legal problems of aging. Together with her husband, geriatric psychologist Dr. Mikol Davis, she founded AgingParents.com, a resource for families.


Carolyn Rosenblatt – Financial Elder Abuse Today

Click on the picture below to Listen

blogradio

May 28, 2015

Blog Talk Radio interview

Elder financial abuse is being called the fastest growing area of crime in America. And it may be happening in your family, if you aren’t paying attention to a caregiver — or a relative — who, under the guise of being helpful, is syphoning off an elderly person’s life savings.

This issue no doubt affects seniors across all socio-economic groups, cultures and races. It is a major problem that is expected to grow dramatically with the aging of our population. We are delighted and honored to be joined by Carolyn Rosenblatt, an expert on the topic, to help us protect our parents or loved ones as well as equip us with tools to spot the red flags that exploitation is happening.

Stay tuned for fresh and insightful ideas on what it means to age with dignity and live your best life as an elder or caregiver today. Life is a Sacred Journey airs Thursdays at 5pm PDT.


Financial Planning and OnWallStreet

With Elderly Clients, Advisors Must Involve Heirs

May 28, 2015

fp-header-logo3

ows-header-logo

 

 

Advisors might not delight in the prospect of talking with aging clients about end-of-life issues, but having those conversations, hard as they are, is in the best interest of the clients, their family and even the advisory practice.

So argues Carolyn Rosenblatt, co-founder of AgingInvestor.com, an education and training firm formed to help the financial community better understand and meet the needs of an aging population.”People in financial services just don’t seem to know very much about aging,” says Rosenblatt, a registered nurse and lawyer.

FORGE FAMILY TIES

Rosenblatt and her fellow co-founder, husband Mikol Davis, a psychologist, argue that advisors need to forge ties with elderly clients’ relatives, but too often fail to do so. By shying away from discussions about estate planning and who will become involved if clients begin to lose their faculties, advisors create the prospect that their clients’ wealth will pass out of the family.

“What they’re also avoiding is dealing with having relationships with their clients’ heirs,” Davis says. “They’re missing a very vital opportunity to deal with this potential intergenerational transfer of wealth.”

Read More


Elder Financial Abuse: Regulators’ Red Flags

MAY 26, 2015

Make no mistake about it. Regulators will pay more attention in the near future to advisors’ relationships with the growing population of elderly clients.

With more states enacting legislation targeted at protecting seniors, and lawsuits slamming wealth planners for failing to safeguard avidly enough their elderly clients’ interests, advisors surely recognize the trend.

When Rick Fleming, who is the first to be appointed to lead the SEC’s one-year-old Office of the Investor Advocate, spoke to an advisory conference earlier this year, he highlighted his focus by citing statistics:

COMPLEX PRODUCTS

Advisors should also keep in mind a short-list of verboten investment products, including non-traded REITS and variable annuities, which they should not offer seniors, says elder law attorney Carolyn L. Rosenblatt of AgingInvestors.com. Rosenblatt is author and a consultant to families struggling with elderly parent issues, and financial planners, who work with seniors.  Read more


 The Pillars of a Healthy Retirement

1600x400nonetworkTEXTREDO

 

May 25, 2015

By Carolyn Rosenblatt

Carolyn Rosenblatt of AgingParents.com discusses 2 of the 3 Pillars of a Healthy Retirement

To Listen Click This LINKhttp://exitcoach.podbean.com/e/the-pillars-of-a-healthy-retirement-carolyn-rosenblatt1/

 


USA TODAY

6 ways to avoid dying broke … or worse

May 24, 2015

By Robert Powell

Dying broke may be your idea of the perfect retirement plan. But there are plenty who might take issue with that point of view in the wake of just-released research.Consider: Slightly more than 1 in 5 (21%) Americans who died at 85 or older had no financial assets left, and 1 in 10 (12%) had no assets at all, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), a Washington, D.C.-based research firm. When it comes to living the life you desire in retirement, having a plan is far better than no plan. Unfortunately, far too many people don’t plan soon enough for retirement, if at all. “In our planning we always carry out the plan to age 95,” Sarenski says. “I believe many of the people cited in the (EBRI study) never thought they would live as long as they did.”Also, don’t rely only on online life-expectancy calculators. “No matter what calculators one uses, they generally do not figure out how to make your money last to age 100 or beyond,” says Carolyn Rosenblatt, an elder law attorney and co-founder of AgingParents.com in San Rafael, Calif.

Read more


Financial Planning

Tech for Seniors: Devices to Make Elderly Clients’ Lives Easier

Most advisors, including Dusty Wallace, have considered mentioning to elderly clients, whose physical fragility appears to be increasing, such devices as medical alert bracelets. If the older folks wear them—and plenty of options are found on the market—and they fall, they simply press the bracelet’s button and set in motion a customized emergency response plan, perhaps contacting a family member first, and then local medical officials if necessary. “We’ve talked about that,” says Wallace, who is the director of financial planning and the compliance officer at Lee Financial in Dallas, Texas, which has nearly $1.1 billion in assets.

But many other new technologies exist that advisors may potentially share with older clients and help them stay safely in their homes longer—often the most inexpensive and attractive residential option as people age, according to Carolyn L. Rosenblatt. She is the founder of AgingInvestors.com and a consultant to families struggling with elderly parent issues, and financial planners, who work with seniors. Read more…..


5 Things You Need to Know About Caring for Aging Parents from a Distance


 

newyorktimes

The New York Times

As Cognition Slips, Financial Skills Are Often the First to Go

April 24, 2015
By Tara Siegel Bernard
WHEN Helen Clark brought her father-in-law, then 83, to the doctor last year, she knew his mind was slowing, but a mental status exam confirmed it. He knew the year, where he lived and the name of the president. But when the doctor asked him to count backward from 100, subtracting seven from each number — 100, 93, 86, 79 — a look of confusion washed over his face.
If adult children suspect a parent needs watching over, they can also ask financial institutions to send duplicate statements or notices if a parent misses a long-term care insurance payment, for example. Monitoring can also easily be done from afar with online access to accounts, but that sort of access can be disastrous in the wrong hands. If the person does not have trusted family members or friends, a licensed fiduciary can be a good alternative to monitor accounts, said Carolyn Rosenblatt, an elder lawyer and author who counsels families on aging-related issues.

ThinkAdvisor.com

5 Protection Questions for Older Clients

April 2, 2015

Olivia MellanTo protect elderly clients–and your firm–prepare for potential diminished capabilities by asking these questions:

1- If you became impaired for any reason and could no longer make financial decisions for yourself, whom would you want to take over for you?

2- Would you sign a durable power of attorney appointing that person to specifically act on your behalf with us if you became incapacitated?couplebusinessmanadvisormi600-resize-600x338

3- Would you be willing to sign a waiver of your privacy rights that allowed us to contact someone you’ve appointed if we became concerned about your mental capacity to make safe financial decisions?

4- (If appropriate) Have you had any conversations to help your heirs prepare for handling the inheritance you plan to leave them?

5- In the event of an emergency, may we have your permission to contact someone who is authorized to act on your behalf during your emergency? Can you provide contact information for that person or persons? Have you given that person authority to act on your behalf?

Read More — http://www.thinkadvisor.com/2015/04/02/5-protection-questions-for-older-clients


Goldstein on Gelt

Carolyn Rosenblatt – The Boomer’s Guide to Aging Parents – Interview

January, 2015


ThinkAdvisor.com

Clients Showing Signs of Dementia: The Advisor’s Role

November 25, 2014

Photo Jan 18, 12 33 03 PMAre you feeling caught between a rock and a hard place with your aging clients who may have dementia? They may ask you to do dangerous things or take ridiculous risks. They may no longer follow your advice as they once did. They can readily be victimized by telemarketing scams, Internet thieves and other clever con artists. At the early stage of Alzheimer’s disease, there is already moderate cognitive impairment, according to research by Dr. Daniel Marson at the University of Alabama, Birmingham.

You may realistically fear being on the receiving end of accusations that you should not have complied with a client’s outrageous demands for releasing funds to obvious crooks. The family of your client would likely be outraged if all the money is gone and you knew your client was being scammed. But is firing the client the only solution?

Read more — http://www.thinkadvisor.com/2014/11/25/clients-showing-signs-of-dementia-the-advisors-rol


Guidevine Advisor Roundtable

Aging Clients: How Financial Advisors Can Succeed in Difficult Conversations

December 10, 2014

Hmarieswiftave aging clients? Dreading the tough conversation on transferring power?

It’s a fact of life. None of us are getting any younger. Life marches on and cognitive disabilities can set in. Financial advisors can spot dementia if properly trained. In addition, they can stop their older clients from harming themselves financially – and from claiming the advisor (or others close to them in their personal life) had something to do with their undoing.

The legal and compliance risks to an advisor’s practice are very real. Forward-thinking advisors will ramp up their skills now.

Here are some tips from Carolyn L. Rosenblatt and Dr. Mikol Davis who together develop educational materials for financial advisors and speak at financial services industry conferences in a attempt to reduce elder abuse, and to also reduce legal and compliance risks for financial advisory firms and allied institutions. Rosenblatt is an RN, an attorney and a consultant on aging issues. Dr. Davis is a licensed, clinical psychologist with thirty-seven years of experience in the mental health field. More information about their work can be found atAgingInvestor.comandAgingParents.com.

Read more — http://www.guidevine.com/roundtable/author/marieswift


Financial-Planning.com

Client With Dementia? 5 Steps to Take

 October 30, 2014
clrLet’s say your client is an older gentleman — and his adult daughter tells you that he has recently been diagnosed with dementia, and asks you to help in some undefined way. You may immediately think, “This is their problem; I just manage the money.” But is that a safe way to treat a multimillion-dollar client –particularly one you’ve known for decades?

As an attorney, health care professional and now consultant to the financial services industry, I think financial professionals can no longer just hope the issue will go away. How many frustrated family members are going to take aging clients’ assets away from your management because you don’t know what to do and aren’t willing to get out of your comfort zone to protect a vulnerable client?

Advisors need new knowledge and communication skills to best manage the aging investor population.

Read more — http://www.financial-planning.com/30-days-30-ways/client-with-dementia-5-steps-to-take-2690933-1.html


Financial-Planning.com

Dementia: How to Protect Elderly Clients

 October 25, 2014

clrWe often think that getting older and getting forgetful go together. Sometimes they do, but memory loss should raise a red flag when it comes to your aging clients and their investments.

Losing capacity for financial decisions is something advisors need to be ready for, as it is likely to affect a huge part of our population.

By 2030, there will be 72.1 million people in the U.S. over age 65. and 7.7 million of them will have Alzheimer’s Disease, according to recent data from the Census Bureau and the Alzheimer’s Association. This directly translates to a large number of impaired clients making or attempting to make financial transactions and decisions. Some of those transactions could be with you. Are you prepared?

PROACTIVE MANDATE

Financial institutions, organizations and banks need to take preventive steps to avoid financial losses and the exploitation of their elderly clients. Institutions need to explicitly plan for the possibility of the diminished financial capacity of their clients.

Read more — http://www.financial-planning.com/30-days-30-ways/dementia-how-to-protect-elderly-clients-2690874-1.html


Financial-Planning.com

My Word — Protection in Dementia

December, 2014

By Carolyn Rosenblatt

Is one of your clients showing signs of cognitive impairment, respond by taking these 5 steps. Click the article below…

prottectionindementia

Read more — http://digital.financial-planning.com/financialplanning/december_2014#pg98


Goldstein on Gelt

January 5, 2015

Goldstein-on-Gelt-Carolyn Rosenblatt, RN and elder law attorney, and author of “The Boomer’s Guide to Aging Parents,” talks about finances during your senior years.
– How to prevent elder abuse.
– What are the causes of financial abuse?
– Which are the types of people that most commonly abuse senior citizens?
– What are the signs of approaching dementia and memory loss?

Follow Carolyn’s work here:
Aginginvestor.com &
AgingParents.com
The Boomer’s Guide To Aging Parents” is for sale by clicking HERE


Richdad.com

The New Caretakers

For some of us, the idea of taking care of the people who raised us is too scary to face, the financial, legal and emotional stress can be overwhelming. This week we talk with Carolyn L. Rosenblatt (The Boomer’s Guide to Aging Parents) on dealing with the challenges of caring for elder parents and planning for the future.

 


HealthCentral.com

Granny Flats: Is the Investment a Good Idea?

Whether known as Granny flats, in-law flats or intergenerational apartments, there is a small trend in real estate toward families living together. They may be adding onto homes or even installing or building separate dwellings on their property so that their elders can live with them yet both generations have significant independence. I reviewed the book ‘In-laws, Outlaws and Granny Flats’ Beautiful, Practical Guide to Intergenerational Living in the past and have been revisiting the topic lately to see how the trend is holding.
For expert input, I contacted Carolyn Rosenblatt, RN, Elder Law Attorney, Mediator, and author of “The Family Guide to Aging Parents” to see what she thinks about the idea of in-law apartments.

Thomson Reuters Accelus

Emerging Best Practice as Baby Boomers Become Vulnerable

March 5, 2015
Financial regulators are cracking down hard on firms that take advantage of elderly investors. The emphasis makes it imperative that financial service professionals design effective tools and policies to ensure their vulnerable clients are protected early enough and sufficiently.Doing otherwise subjects the firm to regulatory penalties and a poor reputation among the sizable and aging Baby Boomer investor group, about whom such vulnerability determinations are now being made.

“There is a huge inter-generational transfer of wealth going on right now as the Baby Boomers retire, and long before their wealth changes hands, these elderly investors need to be protected,” said Carolyn Rosenblatt, a nurse, lawyer and mediator who writes and speaks about the topic of vulnerable investors and a founding partner of the sites aginginvestor.com and agingparents.com.


NEXTAVENUE