Elderly people are often targeted by scammers for two simple reasons: they have a lifetime of assets and are often isolated. When no protection is in place, convincing a lonely person to be generous is relatively easy. One family’s situation is described in a recent article from Market Watch: “’She’s still waiting by the phone’: My grandmother gave her life savings to a man she met online. What now?” It provides a cautionary tale for what can go wrong when no estate planning guardrails are in place.
Their elderly mother emptied her healthy bank and investment accounts and sent the money to someone from a foreign country. Despite the family’s efforts to help, she didn’t believe there was a problem. She told police and elder abuse officials to leave her alone, as she was getting married soon and didn’t need their help.
All she now has left is a pension from her late husband, which will cover the cost of the assisted living facility she’s moving to and $1,000 left over every month. Assets in her bank and investment accounts, which included proceeds from Coca-Cola stocks purchased decades ago, will never be recovered. The bank’s position in these situations is that the account owner authorized the transfers, and they have no responsibility whatsoever.
Having an estate plan in place could have prevented some of this. During the process of creating an estate plan, discussions about planning for the future take place to prepare for scenarios just like this one. Here’s how.
Estate plans often contain several documents in addition to a last will and testament used to distribute assets after death. A Durable Power of Attorney would have been created, naming another person, usually an adult child, to control the elderly person’s finances.
Changing some or all her accounts to joint ownership with an adult child might have added another set of eyes to monitor transactions. Alerting the financial institutions to the adult children being added to the accounts could have also been helpful.
If an elderly parent is unwilling to yield control, the family could go to court to obtain a conservatorship (or guardianship, depending upon the jurisdiction) to control the person’s finances.
A court investigator is appointed to interview the person to determine whether they are truly incapacitated and whether there needs to be a conservator appointed. The person has the right to attend the hearing, have their own attorney present and oppose the request for conservatorship. There is a court hearing where the person must appear, and the judge decides based on the investigator’s report and other evidence.
Having a Durable Power of Attorney is far simpler than going through conservatorship proceedings.
The family should also have her estate planning attorney create a Healthcare Proxy and HIPAA waiver, so they can contact her physician and make an appointment for a physical and mental assessment.
The steps taken in creating an estate plan with an experienced estate planning attorney anticipate the need to protect assets, especially for an elderly person. The estate planning attorney may also be able to refer the family to a social worker who can assist with their mother’s peace of mind. When she realizes she has been taken advantage of, she may experience an extreme emotional response, and the family should also prepare for this.
Reference: Market Watch (March 1, 2025) “’She’s still waiting by the phone’: My grandmother gave her life savings to a man she met online. What now?”