Can a Trustee or POA Get a Restraining Order Against Caretaker Companion? (August 11, 2015 financial abuse case)

An August 11, 2015 Court of Appeals of Washington case reveals the challenges a successor trustee or POA may have in seeking a restraining orderagainst one’s personal assistant or companion.

1. In this case, a successor trustee and power of attorney (attorney in fact) filed a petition seeking a restraining order against his principal’s companion and personal assistant, after incidents of screaming, yelling and using the principal’s ATM card when the principal was hospitalized.
2. This is a revealing case of a vulnerable adult, and possiblefinancial exploitation.
3. Many people have an estate plan which incorporates a revocable living trustand a power of attorney, in addition to a Last Will or guardianship and health care documents.
4. Part of a basic estate plan is choosing your successors: who will be in charge of your money and property, and who can make decisions for you, if you can’t? It becomes a challenge as we age, and we begin to, well, slip.
5. Dementia, Parkinson’s, memory loss, Alzheimer’s, and similar afflictions may or may not be readily apparent to our friends and family.
6. As we decline, we become susceptible to others, who may seek to take advantage of ourdeclining mental health, and take our money.
7. This August 11, 2015 case highlights how a “personal assistant” of an unwed, aging person suffering from Parkinson’s, can become a companion.
8. And how that companion or caretaker can use one’s ATM Card when in the hospital, and yell and scream in an abusive manner.
9. Worse? Evidently the caretaker was not taking much care of the man’s house: unsanitary conditions, leaking and molding skylights, filthy conditions, clutter, and rodent feces and garbage.
10. If you draft estate plans, are an elder law lawyer, are a professional guardian or caretaker, or are a probate litigator who handles elder abuse and financial exploitation, you may wish to read this case, Christensen v. Roach, 2015WL 4755535.
11. Here is a link to read this opinion: http://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf/D2%2044340-6-II%20Unpublished%20Opinion.pdf

Florida Has Laws Protecting Families from Financial Exploitation

• Finally, this case is revealing to heirs at law and family members on what can go wrong with mom or dad if they decline, are alone, and vulnerable.
• In Florida, there are serious legal remedies available to successor trustees, guardiansand attorneys-in-fact to sue those who financially exploit our senior citizens, includingspecific statutes to recover money which may have been taken from a vulnerable adult.