Elder Issues

[Bookman 4638]

Twice this year I have been contacted by elderly clients wanting a lawyer to help them close financial accounts and withdraw their (significant amounts of) money. This is not something for which legal assistance should be needed, and I am curious how big a problem this is, how long it's been an issue, and what is causing it. I'm thinking of writing a letter to my state senator. Does anyone have any experience with this? 

[UTPhil2006 3802]

Might just be for their comfort level and to make sure they don't miss anything in this digital age (DocuSign etc). My MawMaw is still sharp at 90 but she won't do anything without my mother so she doesn't miss anything. Also might have helped to put Elderly financial issue in title. 

[Nice Guy Eddie 13508]

3 hours ago, Bookman said:

Twice this year I have been contacted by elderly clients wanting a lawyer to help them close financial accounts and withdraw their (significant amounts of) money. This is not something for which legal assistance should be needed, and I am curious how big a problem this is, how long it's been an issue, and what is causing it. I'm thinking of writing a letter to my state senator. Does anyone have any experience with this? 

Is your concern that they're asking/paying for legal help when it's not necessary or of the amounts involved?

I had a family member that was being emotionally abused by another relative that led to financial abuse. When I stepped in, and spoke to the small town bank, their informal comment was that they were worried there was something going on. But not worried enough to tell anyone!

When my mom started rapidly failing mentally, I was lucky that she readily agreed to give up access to her accounts. I always told that I would help her buy whatever she needed as long as it wasn't impacting her long term financial needs. Then I stuck her in a cheap nursing home and bought a boat. (just kidding)

[Bookman 4638]

21 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Is your concern that they're asking/paying for legal help when it's not necessary or of the amounts involved?

The amounts are quite significant. It should not be a big deal to close an account and withdraw the money. Maybe there are legitimate security reasons to set up such roadblocks, maybe not.

[Dbeasy 15040]

21 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

 Then I stuck her in a cheap nursing home and bought a boat. (just kidding)

User name does not check out. 

[Bevo&Pevo 5120]

My thoughts would be they are hiding it under the mattress, giving it to family, or being scammed.  In your case, you might offer help with the understanding that they aren't getting scammed.  Olds like tangible things like paper money, digital transactions are the devil.  

[Armybrat 40821]

On 10/26/2024 at 6:31 AM, Bookman said:

The amounts are quite significant. It should not be a big deal to close an account and withdraw the money. Maybe there are legitimate security reasons to set up such roadblocks, maybe not.

Are they pen pals with a Nigerian lawyer?

[bernorange 8359]

On 10/26/2024 at 6:31 AM, Bookman said:

The amounts are quite significant. It should not be a big deal to close an account and withdraw the money. Maybe there are legitimate security reasons to set up such roadblocks, maybe not.

https://www.pmbug.com/threads/dementia-patients-lawsuit-against-jpm-tossed.7759/

^^ Quotes a paywalled article.

[Bookman 4638]

Three business days after receiving my demand letter my clients have all their money. Funny how that works. It’s almost like the bank was putting up unnecessary obstacles.

[Bevo 13560]

On 10/25/2024 at 7:19 AM, UTPhil2006 said:

Might just be for their comfort level and to make sure they don't miss anything in this digital age (DocuSign etc). My MawMaw is still sharp at 90 but she won't do anything without my mother so she doesn't miss anything. Also might have helped to put Elderly financial issue in title. 

 

I was so pissed at my title company earlier this week. We had wired them escrow and they needed to wire it back to us. They gave me the digital link. It required two level verification. Then it needed a drivers license uploaded front and back with the bar code. Then it verified the documents. Then it needed the info to log into my bank account which required a password and pin and two level verification. Then it automatically connected the two accounts and showed and verified the routing number. The following day I received a call from the escrow company asking me to verify all the info. including the routing number. I told them that we already did everything electronically and the message stated that the funds would automatically be transferred as we were notified by their software that the automatic method was preferred over the manual method. They stated that there has been a lot of fraud and that they verify all transactions by phone. I said, "Well I'm at work and I don't carry my bank routing information on me". The lady then said that she could overnight the check. Fuck, why the hell didn't you just do that to start with instead of making me waste 45 minutes online and then verifying by call the next day?

[UTPhil2006 3802]

2 minutes ago, Bevo said:

 

I was so pissed at my title company earlier this week. We had wired them escrow and they needed to wire it back to us. They gave me the digital link. It required two level verification. Then it needed a drivers license uploaded front and back with the bar code. Then it verified the documents. Then it needed the info to log into my bank account which required a password and pin and two level verification. Then it automatically connected the two accounts and showed and verified the routing number. The following day I received a call from the escrow company asking me to verify all the info. including the routing number. I told them that we already did everything electronically and the message stated that the funds would automatically be transferred as we were notified by their software that the automatic method was preferred over the manual method. They stated that there has been a lot of fraud and that they verify all transactions by phone. I said, "Well I'm at work and I don't carry my bank routing information on me". The lady then said that she could overnight the check. Fuck, why the hell didn't you just do that to start with instead of making me waste 45 minutes online and then verifying by call the next day?

Yeah it's a beating but the title spoofing and fraud has gotten pretty bad and those are large ass amounts getting wired so I'd rather they be safe than sorry but they also should have given you all options up front 

[Bevo 13560]

2 hours ago, UTPhil2006 said:

Yeah it's a beating but the title spoofing and fraud has gotten pretty bad and those are large ass amounts getting wired so I'd rather they be safe than sorry but they also should have given you all options up front 

 

It is easy to wire them money, but it was terrible for them to wire me money. And after all the verifications, I trusted the software system, but with the phone call, I would need to hang up on the caller, look up the title company's number and then call them back. The phone call seems like it adds a redundancy that could cause issues rather than solve them.

As for the software, once I linked up their system with my bank, if there was fraud, that would be the weak link. The software could have pulled every dollar from my account like the movie The Beekeeper and I couldn't have done shit about it. Once I decided to allow that, transferring money into it was a non-issue.