Florida Estate Planning and Financial Exploitation of the Elderly

Has someone mis-used a power of attorney in Florida or taken a bank account in Boynton Beach from your elderly relative or grandparent? Is your friend’s son- in-law or step child abusing the trust & confidence placed in them in Boca Raton? What do I do if I suspect that my elderly friend or parent is being financially exploited? What is financial exploitation? Ask any Florida trust lawyer and they will tell you that financial abuse of the elderly in Florida is a serious concern.

Florida Probate Litigation and Financial Exploitation

• If you are concerned that a relative or friend is being financially exploited, you should know that there are criminal laws in Florida that punish a person for financially exploiting the elderly.
• Financial exploitation is frowned upon to a great degree in Florida.
• In fact, the State Attorney’s Office and law enforcement have special economic crime units that can help discover and combat these crimes.
• A probate litigation lawyer West Palm Beach can tell you that there are also civil remedies under Florida Law that can be used to recover damages or properties that have been through financial exploitation.
• But the problem for some Florida estate lawyers is that, sometimes, a family member is the financial predator.
• Probate attorneys Palm Beach Gardens do their best to understand a client’s needs and, as they age, how their estate plan may or may not be changed or altered over time.
• Changing who inherits from your Delray Beach estate is just one way a financial abuser or predator can try to get your money.
• Sometimes, it is the financial abuser or financial predator who really caused the elderly client Florida senior citizen to go to a new Palm Beach estate lawyer and change his or her estate plan: in favor of the one who is doing the financial exploitation.

Franke v. State of Florida

• If you are involved in a case where there was misuse of an estate plan ormisuse of durable power of attorney, you may want to read the Franke case. This was an appeal from Judge Levenson in Broward County, Florida and it went up to the Fourth DCA.
• The Fourth DCA is located in West Palm Beach, FL.
• Click here to learn more about financial exploitation as it relates to wills, trusts, and estates in Florida.
  

  Want to know more about Florida probate litigation? Consider these free resources:

  • Read the Florida Courts webpage on the probate process:http://www.flcourts.org/resources-and-services/family-courts/family-law-self-help-information/probate.stml
  • Read the Florida Probate Code:http://www.floridabar.org/tfb/TFBLegalRes.nsf/
  • Read the Florida Probate Rules:https://www.floridabar.org/tfb/TFBLegalRes.nsf/
  • Here are the Rules Regulating the Florida Bar if you are interested in hiring a Florida probate litigation lawyer and want to know more about our ethical rules and our rules of conduct:http://www.floridabar.org/divexe/rrtfb.nsf/WContents?OpenView
  • Here are the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure:http://www.floridabar.org/tfb/TFBLegalRes.nsf/
  • Watch free Florida Trust, Probate & Guardianship videos, which include important topics of Florida estate, guardianship, attorneys fees, & trust law.
  • There is no cost, no sign up, no one will ask you for your email address to see these dozens of free Florida probate videos:http://www.pankauskilawfirm.com/Firm-Overview/FAQS.shtml