POA Misuse and Financial Exploitation of an Elderly Person

Frequently, financial exploitation of the elderly cases involve someone abusing or misusing a power of attorney (POA).  For example, we often see caretakers or greedy family members taking advantage of an elderly person by unduly influencing the elderly person to make them his or her POA. Once the POA is obtained, the caretaker or family member uses the POA to withdraw funds from the elderly person’s account ,or uses the POA to change the beneficiaries on the elderly person’s bank accounts. If you are looking to learn more about POA misuse and financial exploitation in Florida, you should read a recent Fourth DCA opinion, Johnson v. State of Florida. 

As mentioned above, Florida guardianship lawyers know that many financial exploitation cases involve someone misusing a POA. Here, that is exactly what happened. The neighbor of the victim had the victim sign a POA while the victim was hospitalized. Then, the neighbor used that POA to withdraw funds from the victim’s account and change the beneficiary designation on the victim’s bank accounts. To read the entire opinion, click here. To interview an experienced West Palm Beach guardianship attorney, free of charge, call (561)514-0900 ext.101.