ERE in old age

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The Old Man
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Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2012 5:55 pm

ERE in old age

Post by The Old Man »

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017 ... eir-rights
"How the Elderly Lose their Rghts: Guardians can sell the assets and control the lives of senior citizens without their consent - and reap a profit from it." by Rachel Aviv

The cited article has been making the rounds of the interwebs. It is very frightening. Most of us here will have a certain amount of assets in our old age - modest wealth, but more than most people; thus, there is greater likelihood of us becoming a target.

What defenses could be implemented to become a “hard” target?

I am thinking that basic estate planning would be in order. The bad guys are looking for an easy mark, so proper estate planning in conjunction with an aggressive legal defense should serve as a deterrent. Estate planning would consist of a will, power of attorney, trust, and heath care directive. The cited article essentially described a racket – a system corrupted by money, so I don't know if these legal defenses would be sufficient in such an environment.

Americans Against Abusive Probate Guardianship http://aaapg.net is fighting the good fight on this matter.

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Sclass
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Joined: Tue Jul 10, 2012 5:15 pm
Location: Orange County, CA

Re: ERE in old age

Post by Sclass »

Thanks for posting. I have a family friend who used a trust and executor (not one of his kids) to handle his estate. The guy died two years ago and the executor and lawyer are still jerking the kids around before distributing the inheritance. They bill hours to the estate.

The kids were distant from their dad and kind of deserve it. The old man liked the executor more and was well taken care of by this team he set up.

The New Yorker article is terrifying. somehow I didn't believe that the daughter was so innocent though. Just my opinion. Maybe the parents were being neglected and abused by the kids and became wards of the state. Or maybe Nevada is seriously messed up.

I'd say have people you can trust. But again I personally have been saddled with the responsibilities of handling my mom's care and assets and I hate it. A job after retirement that I cannot quit. So I'm not exactly in favor of selecting a trustworthy child in the family and handing the problem over to him or her.

We have had a bunch of legal problems with a neighbor who wants the house and some construction people who wanted to con mom out of money for nothing. But I've always told myself if somebody wanted to take her assets after she died I don't care because I would no longer need them. I guess this is a big problem if the assets are taken before they die like in the NYer piece.

slowtraveler
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Re: ERE in old age

Post by slowtraveler »

This was honestly terrifying. One sister and I would handle the estate and there's a will appointing us as executioner but still terrifying.

Incentive caused bias gives too much temptation to some of these parasites.

NPV
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Joined: Fri Dec 06, 2013 9:41 am

Re: ERE in old age

Post by NPV »

Terrifying indeed, especially for "the land of the free". I wonder how this differs by state: are there states where laws protect effectively against such a scenario?

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Ego
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Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2011 12:42 am

Re: ERE in old age

Post by Ego »

Any preparations will vary by locality and will probably be moot in a few years.

That said, I have direct experience with several similar cases in San Diego. The results were very different. Here county social workers handle this type of thing. They are professional and err in favor of the person being evaluated for competency. We had one guy with dementia who would go out for walks every day and get lost. Random strangers would bring him back and be angry with me that he was allowed to wander by himself. I encouraged them to call the county Adult Protective Services and report it. The county would evaluate and repeatedly determined that he was better off living alone than in an institution. This went on for years. He just recently died.

Boomers will soon overflow the system. That may put pressure on some counties to privatize the work which would completely change how to prepare for it.

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