The silent victim

It's called financial abuse and some estimate that, after physical abuse, it is the most common form of crime against senior citizens.

As the year winds down and the frantic holiday season heats up, one of the simplest and most meaningful gifts you can give is a visit to an elderly friend or relative, especially one unable to get out on his or her own. And when you do, it's not a bad idea to see how they're managing -- medically, emotionally and, more than ever some experts say, financially.

The reason? A problem called financial abuse of the elderly -- the misuse of an older person's property by a trusted friend or family member. It's a crime that, experts say, has not only been underreported, but is on the rise.

Consider what happened to an 80-year-old Wisconsin woman named Katherine Chaffee. Physically frail -- legally blind and debilitated by arthritis -- Chaffee was delighted when her niece, Debra Schinke, offered to help her handle the paperwork nightmare of paying her bills and managing her finances in the early 1990s. Chaffee was grateful for the help and expressed
her gratitude by giving her niece thousands of dollars as gifts.

In 1994, Katherine Chaffee took the legal step of appointing Schinke power of attorney, giving her even more access to her wealth. Not long after that, the money started disappearing.

Schinke became very generous with her aunt's wealth, bestowing gifts and loans totaling over $100,000 on herself and her husband. Sometime later, Chaffee told her lawyer she was becoming suspicious of Schinke. The lawyer eventually reported the case to the authorities and Schinke  was charged with embezzlement. After her trial last summer, she was found
guilty, sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay her aunt $105,000 in restitution.

While what happened to Katherine Chaffee was all too common, what happened to Debra Schinke was not. Because the crime was discovered and reported to authorities, it was successfully prosecuted.

All too often no one ever knows about deeds like this. "Financial abuse is often not widely reported because very often the victim is too disabled or debilitated," explains Ellen Henningsen, a former Elder Advocate with Wisconsin's Department of Justice. In other cases, experts say, the victim may either be ashamed at having been fooled, reluctant to press charges against a family member, or fearful of reprisals.

"And even if it is reported, it is a paper intensive case to prosecute," Henningsen adds. For that reason, some District Attorney offices may be reluctant to take it on.

"But it's a growing problem," stresses Carol Downs, Elder Rights Specialist with the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA). She should know. In 1998, her organization published the first national study of the number of elderly abuse incidents recorded in one year. According to the NCEA, in frequency, financial abuse is second only to physical abuse. The NCEA estimates that, for every case of elder abuse reported, there are at least five others the authorities never hear about. By conservative estimates the actual annual number of financial abuse victims was about a quarter of a million in 1996.

According to the NCEA study, financial abuse victims seldom report the crimes themselves. Usually that comes from family members, friends, neighbors, and hospital workers. Unlike physical abuse, the signs are more subtle. Experts offer these clues to help you determine if an elderly friend or relative is the target of financial abuse: 

Out of the ordinary banking activity such as unusually large cash or ATM withdrawals; huge fund transfers from one account or one bank to another; checks payable to cash for large amounts of money. Indications that a person with adequate financial assets is living well below their means or has inexplicable financial problems such as bounced checks, unpaid bills, or eviction or foreclosure notices. One elderly man in Washington realized he had been the victim of financial abuse after he discovered he did not have enough money in his account to make mortgage payments. His niece, to whom he had given power of attorney, had almost completely drained it.  Unusual legal activities such as an unexpected transfer of the title of a house or other property to another person; a change of beneficiary in a will; a caretaker is given access to bank accounts. 

Important legal and financial papers marked with a signature that
does not resemble the elder person's, or the appearance of the
signature on documents the elder person does not have the faculties to understand. 

Finally, one should be wary if an elderly individual has singled out a recent acquaintance -- a "new best friend" -- to be given power of attorney. One should be even more wary if that caretaker subsequently begins to speak on behalf of the person, isolating them from friends, relatives and other advisors. 

As physically weak and disabled as she was, Katherine Chaffee was clear-headed enough to realize what her niece was up to. She removed Schinke as power of attorney.

Fortunately, she also had a strong ally in Mara Johnston, District Attorney of Wisconsin's Taylor County. "This could have been my grandmother," Johnston says, the outrage still in her voice.

Johnston eventually brought the case to trial, where the physically fragile, but spunky, Chaffee agreed to testify.

Looking back, Johnston says, the terrible irony of it all lies in the fact that, had Debra Schinke been a little more patient and a lot more honest, she would have legitimately gotten some of the money she had taken illegally. She had been named beneficiary in her aunt's will.

Before her death last fall, Katherine Chaffee amended her will, leaving her entire estate to benefit vision research at the University of Wisconsin. More than a year later, Mara Johnston still has a picture of the feisty older lady in her office.

"I put it on the window behind me to remind me why I am doing this job: to keep other people like Katherine Chaffee -- so vulnerable-- from being victimized, from ever being taken advantage of."


RESOURCES

The Family Caregiver Alliance is a valuable resource for caretakers of the elderly and disabled. Their website offers an excellent inventory sheet, called Where to Find My Important Papers, that provides a good starting point for organizing anyone's financial matters. 

The National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA) offers a state-by-state listing of the phone numbers and names of agencies to whom one can report suspected cases of financial abuse of the elderly. Anyone seeking to report an incidence of elderly financial abuse can call The National Center for Victims of Crime toll free telephone number for immediate referrals to the most appropriate service in the victim's community. 800-FYI-CALL (394-2255) (M-F, 8:30 am - 8:30 pm, EST) 
The National Aging Information Center's site on elder law offers a rich lineup of online resources, hotlines and legal services. 

For resources, call the Eldercare Locator at 800-677-1116. (M-F, 9am-8 pm, EST) For information on helping to manage an elderly person's finances, read the AARP's articles on Power of Attorney and Power of Attorney Agents: Caring for a Parent's Finances.

by Doug Colligan (Reader's Digest)

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