Older adults frequently outsource many important tasks. They rely on others to clean their houses and maintain their yards. They may work with professionals to manage their finances as well.
Older adults investing their retirement savings often choose to partner with professional financial advisors. Those advisors should provide accurate information about different options and make choices that uphold their clients’ best interests in most cases.
Unfortunately, not all financial advisors have a legal duty to their clients, and some may abuse their position of trust. When that happens, legal action might be necessary.
Advisors may not have a fiduciary duty
Some financial professionals are fiduciaries. Their relationship with their clients creates a legal obligation to act in their best interests. Fiduciaries must prioritize their clients’ needs ahead of their own wishes or enrichment. The failure to do so can put their professional licensing and reputation at risk.
Many financial advisors are not fiduciaries. They may not have any licensing or verifiable credentials whatsoever. In some cases, they may embezzle from their clients or provide them with truly questionable guidance.
They may even engage in fraud as a means of enriching themselves at the expense of the clients who trust them. When families learn that an older adult has suffered major financial setbacks due to the unprofessional conduct of a financial advisor, they may have grounds to take legal action.
Holding financial professionals accountable for fraud may require thorough documentation and possibly a lawsuit. Concerned family members may need to review financial records and any contracts with a legal professional familiar with fraud cases involving older adults. They can then explore what forms of legal recourse may be available.
When abuse goes unreported
In some cases, nursing home abuse is discovered simply because the resident reports it to family members. One of their children may be visiting when they mention that they have been physically or financially abused by caregivers. This sparks an investigation to determine exactly what took place.
But one of the main challenges with keeping the elderly safe is that many incidents of abuse actually go unreported. Family members cannot necessarily count on the elderly individual to make the report themselves, so they need to be looking for signs and symptoms of abuse.
Why does this happen?
Exactly why these reports do not come to light sooner depends on the individual case. But in some instances, it could be due to the medical conditions the elderly person is facing. The main symptom of Alzheimer’s is memory loss, for example, so an elderly nursing home resident who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s may not remember the abuse occurring and may not be able to make the report themselves.
In other cases, studies have found that abuse can be masked by medical conditions, making it difficult even for a third party to report the abuse. A person may already be dealing with chronic pain or frequent bruising, for example. Both of these conditions could then mask signs of physical abuse that would otherwise be readily apparent.
Your legal options
This helps to illustrate some of the difficulties with accurately identifying and reporting elder abuse. For family members who believe that a loved one has suffered in a nursing home or similar elder care facility, it is imperative that they know exactly what legal steps to take.
