This blog post is dedicated to the practice of guardianships to protect our older generation from evil-doers.
Several times each year, we all read an uncomfortable article where an elderly person was scammed out of his or her life’s savings by criminals who prey on the elderly and infirm.
The scam has several different looks. It could be a phone call. It could be an email. It could be someone showing up at your door.
How do your protect your loved ones from being scammed?
In Maryland, if there is a medical basis that an elderly or infirm individual has lost the capacity to make decisions–either as to financial or personal health issues–one may petition the Court for a guardian to be appointed.
Here is how it works. If a guardian is appointed, that person has complete control over the finances of the individual. There are plenty of safeguards and criminal consequences if the guardian fails to fulfill the duties of a guardian. It is a significant responsibility.
But isn’t it worth it to save your aging loved one from being scammed out of a lifetime of earnings and savings?
Our society does not value having an open, frank, blunt conversations between generations, but at this point in time, with the criminals being so prolific and advanced in how they effectively target the elderly and infirm, we need to change the way we communicate within our families to protect each other.
We already live in the largest sandwich generation in history. We are taking care of our older relatives at the highest rate ever in this country. In order to complete our ability to protect our loved ones, we have to keep our eyes open for these scams.
The minute we see our older relatives appearing to lose any ability to independently reason, we should go to them with our observations, show them the thousands of scams that have scammed hundreds of thousands of older Americans out of tens of millions of dollars.
Just don’t wait until it is too late.
At Milstein Siegel, we can help start the conversation. If you think there is any possibility that an older loved one is having problems handling their finances or other personal decisions, give us a call. We will sit down and chat with you, and we will give you options for planning for the future.
