May 7, 2015 | aging, diminished cognition, elderly, scammers, the gray zone
You hear the term now and again, “MCI”. Is it a diagnosis?
Doctors sometimes tell an older patient he has this, but no one seems to exactly pin down what it means. How mild is “mild” and what does it mean in terms of diminished capacity? Here it is in a nutshell:
Mild Cognitive Impairment refers to a degree of cognitive decline that is in between the cognitive changes associated with normal
aging and those associated with clinical features of dementia.
Many people who get a diagnosis of MCI do go on to develop dementia but some do not. Here’s an example of a person who has MCI but does not have dementia.
Gertrude is 89 years of age and has been living alone in her own home. She got confused on her way home and was found driving on the wrong side of the road. A Good Samaritan brought her home. Fortunately, she did not hit any other cars. Cognitive decline was the cause of her confusion. She has mild cognitive impairment. She must not drive anymore, and she is willing to admit that she has to give up the keys.
She can’t remember what is in her bank account. Recently there was fraudulent activity and a large amount of cash was stolen by hackers. She must also give up managing her own finances.
Gertrude is very independent. She can take care of herself physically, though she does need her cane to walk. She wears hearing aids, but is able to follow the conversation around her very well when she can hear. She is clear about her likes and dislikes and communicates them emphatically. She is oriented to the date, and place where she is. Her short term memory is poor. She should not live alone any longer as she could forget to turn off the stove or the water faucet.
Gertrude is a good example of a person in what we call “the gray zone”. She is partly independent and partly dependent now. She is able to do a lot for herself but she needs help with her finances particularly. She appointed a licensed fiduciary to handle her bills and watch her bank accounts for her. She and the fiduciary went to both her banks to make sure the fiduciary’s name is on the accounts. She will have a companion live in with her to keep an eye on her safety but still allow her to do the things around the house and in the community she likes to do. The companion will do the driving. As she gets older, her care needs will probably escalate. But for now, she has just what she needs and she accepts that her independence is getting limited by her memory loss.
If you know someone who seems to have the same issues as Gertrude, you will be interested in Chapter 10 of my book The Family Guide to Aging Parents: Answers to Your Legal, Financial and Healthcare Questions. That chapter is Protecting Our Aging Parents From Abuse. I offer you five good tips, steps you can take now to keep your loved one safe. They are Protective Measures: talk with them about financial abuse, educate yourself, start having more frequent contact, snoop a bit, and check the mail from time to time. Get your copy now and learn more, with all you need to know to keep someone like Gertrude safe! CLICK HERE.
Apr 18, 2015 | aging, aging investor, elder investor, elderly, financial elder abuse, finra, investor, scammers, senior citizen investor, senior investor
Imagine this scenario. The person making all financial decisions was the man of the house. His somewhat timid wife, married to him for many years, never wanted the responsibility to decide how to invest. They had a multimillion dollar estate. Then Harry, her husband died and she was totally unprepared.
That’s “Rosanna’s” story. Rosanna was married for decades to Harry who passed away at age 85. She was 82 at the time. They had three adult daughters and one son, Jackson. Their son was never a steady job holder and had fantasies of how he was going to be a business owner. After his father died, he saw an opportunity. He could easily manipulate his mother, who looked to him to essentially take Harry’s place with decisions about investments. Rosanna had begun to suffer serious memory problems and couldn’t remember a conversation from morning to evening. She was clearly a person with diminished capacity.
Jackson was a co-trustee on the parents’ trust with his mother and sisters, but had sole power to make investment decisions. He conspired with the long time broker-dealer who used to work with his father. The broker also saw an opportunity. The broker told Jackson that he could help him out but Jackson needed to put a lot more of Rosanna’s money into variable annuities. What this meant was that her money would be tied up for years, unless she paid a stiff surrender charge to get to it. A full 87% of Rosanna’s money was then shifted into variable annuities. When Harry died, the amount invested in annuities was about 40%, which was plenty. This shift of most assets into annuities of course generated a huge commission for the broker. About the same time, Jackson took a six-figure loan from Rosanna’s trust without consulting his sisters and without informing them.
They were angry and upset with Jackson for manipulating their mother, for taking out a “loan” from their mother’s trust, which he didn’t pay back and for sneaking around behind their backs putting so much into variable annuities. That was going to affect their inheritance. When the sisters called me, we discussed the issue of manipulation of their mother. No one had ever checked her out for her capacity for financial decisions. When her daughters wanted her to see a doctor to find out more about her memory troubles, Jackson vetoed it. Rosanna consulted Jackson on everything. This meant that legal action was necessary. I referred them to an elder abuse attorney to take up the cause. They were very distressed and not speaking to Jackson. Meanwhile, Jackson again manipulated his mother to get money from her, with which he hired an attorney to harass and threaten the sisters. It was ugly.
No one can be sure how this nasty tale will play out, but the regulators will probably not like the fact that the broker put so much of an 85 year old’s assets into variable annuities. They will probably not like that he had to override his firm’s internal controls set up to prevent that. They will probably not like the fact that the net result is that the estate lost a significant sum compared with what it would have done in conventional investments suitable for an 85 year old. I sent the sisters the forms to file complaints with both FINRA and the SEC. They will also have an attorney to represent them in that matter.
And as for Jackson, I hope that the courts will deal with him justly. He is looking out for himself, that is clear. As a trustee, he had a legal duty to the trust, not to his own self interest in grabbing a six figure “loan” from the trust that he had no means to repay.
The takeaway here is that your aging clients, particularly the very unsophisticated ones like Rosanna are sitting ducks for abuse by unscrupulous brokers. And it is up the the advisors who are ethical to blow the whistle. It is up to everyone to seek justice for the unwary who become victims of manipulation because of greed, the ease of taking advantage of an elder, and the attitude that “it’s not my problem, she’s not my client”. Please make it your business. At AgingInvestor.com, we want to put a stop to this kind of abuse. We urge you to join us!
Click HERE if you want to help us make a difference.
Until next time,
Apr 6, 2015 | aging, diminished cognition, elderly, financial elder abuse, scammers, senior investor
Philip Marshall was devoted to his grandmother, wealthy philanthropist, Brooke Astor. Her victimization by her own son, Philip’s father, Anthony Marshall, created irreparable harm to the relationships in the family. Anthony Marshall and one of his attorneys conspired to divert millions of dollars to Anthony’s benefit after Ms. Astor developed dementia. They were both convicted in criminal court of financial elder abuse. Would you have had the courage to stand up to your own father and take on the cause of justice of your grandmother if you had been in Philip’s shoes?
Philip recently contributed to the American Bar Association’s journal BiFocal, a publication of the Commission on Law and Aging. He wrote a piece in the hope that the telling of his sad family circumstances would continue to contribute to the recognition of elder abuse and exploitation as an insidious and pervasive national problem. Parts of his article are summarized here.
Philip did not start out as an expert in elder abuse. He loved his grandmother, who had always been a donor to worthy causes, being described as “a humanist aristocrat with a generous heart”. In her later years, she was increasingly isolated by the actions of Anthony Marshall. Close friends were denied visits. A long time and caring staff member was fired. Anthony Marshall, Brooke’s only child, had been appointed power of attorney. He used his power to abuse and control her. There were many red flags in Anthony Marshall’s actions. He sold Brooke’s favorite painting, which she had bequeathed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, one of the objects of her charitable giving in her earlier life. The paining brought millions, two of which Anthony kept as a commission.
Brooke loved her country house, where she hoped to spend her final days. Anthony closed the housed and fired Brooke’s most loyal staff member, her butler Chris Ely. Under pressure from two of Brooke’s closest friends, Anthony reluctantly agreed to reopen the country house, but shortly after that, moved his mother back to her apartment in New York.
Philip was suspicious of what he saw happening and began to speak with more staff and caregivers. He learned that his grandmother’s lifestyle, emotional and physical care and life were being compromised by his father’s actions. He could not bear the damage he witnessed to her psychological and physical well being. He sought advice. He met with his grandmothers’ close friends and decided that something should be done.
Philip petitioned for guardianship. This always presents an uphill battle when the only adult child is in charge and the psychological abuse and neglect are so difficult to prove. The petition was granted and Philip immediately moved his grandmother back to her country house. By the time the petition was granted, his father was forced to return over $11 million in assets and pledged over $10 million to cover any future claims. But the battle was far from over.
Ms. Astor died peacefully in 2007 with friends at her side. Following her death, Anthony Marshall filed papers on court using three codicils (additions) to her will which redistributed almost $100 million to his control. The unbridled greed of Philip’s father was shocking. He was already provided over $60 million in the original will. That wasn’t enough. He had to conspire, forge documents, manipulate and abuse his own mother to get tens of millions more.
The New York DA had evidence of the criminal abuse case and indicted both Anthony Marshall and his attorney, Francis Morrissey. The case went to trial in 2009. Philip had to testify against his father. There were many witnesses to the abuse and financial manipulation. Anthony Marshall was convicted on 15 of the 16 counts against him. All counts but one were upheld on appeal.
At AgingInvesor.com and AgingParents.com, we are vigorous advocates for stopping elder abuse. We applaud Philip Marshall not only for his courage to bring the guardianship petition in the first place, but to continue the battle to honor his grandmother’s legacy of charitable giving, as originally provided in her will. His actions came with a huge emotional and economic cost to himself. But could not live with the injustice he saw. He was willing to air the family’s dirty linen in public. He was willing to take sides and stand up for the vulnerable person with dementia his grandmother had become. Let his story be an inspiration to all of us.
Until next time,
Carolyn Rosenblatt, RN, Elder Law Attorney, Mediator
Dr. Mikol Davis, Psychologist, Gerontologist
Mar 16, 2015 | aging, aging investor, elder investor, elderly, financial elder abuse, investor, scammers, senior citizen investor, senior investor
Attention Financial Professionals: Are You A Hero? We want to highlight you!
We are very interested in financial planners, wealth managers, RIAs, CFPs, trust officers and others who have protected elderly clients from abuse or stopped it after they became aware of abuse or predatory practices. Without a fiduciary standard, inappropriate products are being sold to elders by some in the financial field. And that doesn’t even address the outside predators who seek out elderly victims. They’re everywhere.
At AgingInvestor.com we are allies of the elderly, having spent years of our lives serving them, my wife as a nurse and then a litigator and myself as a mental health provider.
We will be sponsoring a contest in early April to feature the best of the best in financial services who stopped or prevented elder abuse.
My wife and partner Carolyn Rosenblatt blogs at Forbes.com (Aging Parents) and AgingInvestor.com to keep those in this community informed. We want to tell your stories. We hope to educate others in the field and this community by highlighting the actions of courageous people who stepped up to stop scammers, thieves and greedy players inside or outside the financial services field itself. We have a few great candidates already! We know you’re out there. Submit your own name and story or that of someone you respect for their abuse prevention efforts to hero@aginginvestor.com. If you need to remain anonymous for political or personal reasons, we will honor that and not use your real name, location or work place. We want to share your exemplary actions. And if what you did was leave a large organization so you wouldn’t be part of abusive practices there, we think that’s heroic too. Please tell us. We’ll protect your identity totally.
Your stories will inspire others to follow your lead. We’ll feature you in our newsletter with your permission, and let our social media contacts know that you are a standout among the rest. If you want anonymity, we will simply point out the problems that spurred you take the steps you did and that we want to honor the decisions you made. We applaud you.
Thanks for joining us.
Sincerely,
Dr. Mikol Davis & Carolyn Rosenblatt, RN, Attorney
AgingInvestor.com
Feb 13, 2015 | aging, aging investor, elder investor, elderly, financial elder abuse, investor, scammers, senior citizen investor, senior investor
When Laura called me at the urging of her own financial advisor, she was in a crisis. Her father, Jack, age 95 lived in another state and was in a nursing home. She and her sister were worried about a problem: their brother Robbie was taking advantage of their dad and no one was stopping him.
Robbie had been sponging off of Dad for years, Laura told me. She knew Jack probably had dementia, and she had been appointed his Power of Attorney agent, but the transition had not happened yet for her to take over his finances. Robbie had flown out to see Dad from the state where Robbie lived. He took his frail father to Jack’s financial advisor and had his Dad ask the advisor to give Dad a cashier’s check for $50,000. The advisor knew that his client was being manipulated into asking for the money but he gave it to Jack anyway. It was not as if Jack was extremely wealthy. He had limited funds in the account.
Then Jack, with Robbie prodding him, asked his advisor to give him a debit card for his cash management account. The advisor knew full well that Jack’s money could go out the door and into Robbie’s pocket. He decided to deal with the potential abuse by “dragging his feet” for three months. He knew Laura and knew that she was Jack’s agent on his legal documents. He called her describing the call as “on the Q.T”and told Laura that he “had” to comply with the request for the debit card. Laura insisted as the power of attorney that the card should be mailed to her. After she got it, I advised her to destroy it.
The estate attorney who had prepared Jack’s trust knew that Laura should take over her position as Jack’s successor, but he failed to urge her to do so right away. He also failed to give her enough direction about how to accomplish this so she could stop any other actions by Robbie to get Jack’s money. This was one professional failure—the lawyer did not recognize the urgency nor try enough to stop elder abuse.
When I met with Laura, I instructed her exactly how to get the needed doctors’ reports on Dad to meet the requirements Jack’s trust had in it that would permit her to take over responsibility for him. She did so at my urging, right away. I encouraged her to immediately give Dad’s advisor a letter instructing him to cease any transactions initiated by Jack as Jack did indeed have dementia and the doctors had verified that he was no longer capable of managing his affairs. She did that, too. It had also come to light that Robbie had gotten Dad to transfer funds into an account to which Robbie had access and that Robbie had already nearly drained that account of another $30,000.
I sat with Laura and helped her draft a firm letter to Robbie letting him know that the end had come for manipulating Dad and that she was now in charge. He was furious! Ugly emails from Robbie and threats followed. The saga did not end there, but with help, Laura was able to stop any further financial abuse of her father.
The second and most distressing failure of a professional in this true story was the action by Jack’s financial advisor. He did not seem to have any idea of what to do to stop elder abuse that he admitted was going on in dealing with his client
The takeaway here is that every advisor who sees potential elder abuse can and should do much more to protect an elderly client from this kind of manipulation. Every professional has to give up being a slave to the outdated notion that you always have to do what a client says even if the client is seriously impaired. That impaired person is not the client you signed up and you must address this problem.
Learn 5 things every professional should do when you suspect financial abuse by clicking HERE for your free tip sheet.
Until next time,
Carolyn Rosenblatt, RN, Elder Law Attorney
Dr. Mikol Davis, Psychologist, Gerontologist
