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You Never Suspect Your Siblings of Financial Elder Abuse

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Oceanside, CAPaula believes her parents were the victims of financial elder abuse at the hands of her 2 sisters. Although she suspected financial abuse a couple of years ago, it wasn't until her parents moved in with her that Paula learned how deep the financial abuse ran. As a result of her parents' situation, Paula now knows more about financial elder abuse law than she ever thought possible—all thanks to the actions of her sisters.

Elder Abuse VictimPaula's father turned 96 on December 31, 2008 and her mother turned 85. The situation actually began about 5 years ago, when Paula's younger sister became pregnant with her second child. The sister and her parents came to an agreement that they would lend her $64,000 as a down payment on a house but the father would be listed on the deed and share equity in the house. Furthermore, both parents would live with Paula's sister in Virginia.

That happened for while, but in 2005, Paula's father became ill and Paula, who lives in California, started flying out regularly to see her parents. At one point, Paula, her parents and her sister had a meeting with an attorney to discuss legal and financial matters. Paula says she had an uneasy feeling from that meeting and alerted the attorney to her concerns, however there was little he could do about it.

Paula says she was worried because it seemed that her sisters (there are 2 sisters, one older than Paula and the other younger) were too eager to get their hands on their parents' money. Paula's father asked Paula about having Power of Attorney, but Paula said at the time that she was uncomfortable doing so because she lived so far away and did not want to be doling out money when she didn't know what the money was for. So, Paula's father went to Paula's sisters for Power of Attorney.

Paula became more concerned about things when she noticed that her younger sister, with whom her parents were living, was not taking care of their parents. Their bathroom was never cleaned, they were not receiving important medical attention (including a cancerous growth on Paula's father's head) and the parents were frequently left home alone, sometimes to care for their young grandchildren.

"On one of my visits, my older sister [who lived in Connecticut but made sure she was in Virginia whenever Paula was] was heading out," Paula says. "I asked her to pick up a newspaper for my father and she said he could read an old one. I told her that he shouldn't have to read an old paper and I would pay the quarter for today's paper but she wouldn't get him one. I thought she was cheap, but later, when I told a social worker about it, the social worker told me it was because my sister didn't want him to know what day it was. She even made it so that it was never convenient for him to watch television—any time he wanted to, she came up with something else for him to do."

Paula's story continues in part 2, tomorrow.

READ ABOUT FINANCIAL ELDER ABUSE LAWSUITS

READER COMMENTS

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I know what your going through. My brother rushed in got power of attorney, I tried to fight him, as he hasn't been around the last twenty years only to mooch money off my parents. I proved in court he was taking money, he's on disability, my step mom has dementia, he had alienated, her from us and told her we were trying to take her money while he was stealing it. I don't have the money like my parents do to fight. Since then my dad has died. My brother dropped him off at the hospital never to go visit again. I stayed with him until he passed, and making sure my step mom got to be at his side until he passed. I made the arrangements for funeral, which he didn't attend. I'm trying to find some sort of justice, my parents were taken from my family.

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My daughters are going through this also ,, their dad passed away when they were very young , their grandparents were worth millions , their father had 1 sibling that 1 brother had 14 kids who lived off of the system for 30 years welfare,medicaid so the parents set up trust funds leaving all property, money to their son & just 1 of his children , so out of 16 grandchildren only 1 is getting all the inheritance . I know that the elderly parents were manipulated , abused & threaten by this son & granddaughter. the son & granddaughter wouldn't allow anybody in the house to see them , we know what the truth is but when you go to a lawyers & the courts they say these cases are hard to prove , I believe people that are worth 15 million dollars didn't make their first will at 83 years old , I always know that the elderly grandmother was mistreated by the 1 granddaughter that was taking care of her when my kids called the house the grandmother was always crying & screaming in the background, When she was still alive with dementia the son & granddaughter was transferring property to each other with no money exchanged ,so with that being say i know with trusts that when the person is still alive the money & property is still theirs to take care of them if the need any kind of care anything that they need , they never allowed health care providers in the house ,we tried to protect the grandparents but nobody would listen , it's sad be it happens way to often that the elderly are mistreated physically & mentally ,

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This issue is more common then people think. After the passing of our father on 12/24/2010 1 sibling hired a corrupt high powered political attorney to sign over power of Attorney & change our Mom's original Health Care Proxy to her in May 2011. Meanwhile, Our Mom has been diagnosed with Dementia/Alzheimer's since 2008. Then Mom had a cerebral Vascular Accident in 8/2009. We hired an attorney after getting nowhere with NYC Adult Protective Services for 10 months. My 4 other siblings & myself were lied to by this agency. They made statements to us of the protocol APS has to follow to secure the safety of Our Mom. In addition, to securing her finances until they could visit Mom in her home. There is more to this unbelievable story that continues on to us having to hire an attorney just to get in our MOTHER'S HOME TO VISIT WITH HER. This sibling had our home & cell phone #'s blocked from our mother's home telephone #. Along with all grandchildren's cell #'s. She then had false temporary orders of protection filed against the 4 of us. Which we had to appear in Brooklyn's Family Court. Needless to say they were dismissed in less the a minute by family court Judge. This was all part of her plan to keeps at bay until she could get Our Mom to her corrupt attorney to obtain the bogus POA & Health Care Proxy. Which removed another sibling as my mother's alternate Health Care Proxy. Our Oldest Brother is the executor of my Mom's will, which was drawn up prior to our Mom's diagnosis of dementia in 2008 & Cerebral Vascular Accident in 2009. So how is it that this May 2011 Power of Attorney & Health Care Proxy can be valid or hold up in a court of law. We have been through the ringer & have so much proof of the actual CORRUPTION THAT IS GOING ON IN THE BROOKLYN SUPREME KINGS COUNTY COURT SYSTEM IT WILL MAKE YOUR HEAD SPIN. is it

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