Financial Elder Abuse: Dad Did Not Sign Away Rights

Westminster, CAFinancial elder abuse is often associated with a greedy relative who steals money or property from an elderly family member. However, there are situations in which people outside the family commit such elder abuse. Arthur M. says that his father's lawyer took advantage of his father's poor health to gain access to money—in the process starting a long, complex ordeal that has yet to be resolved.

Arthur says that his father's home was refinanced 3 times, in December 2003, July 2004 and September 2005. However, for all those remortgages, Arthur's father, George, was in the hospital [he suffered a major stroke from which he had fallen into a coma]—it would be impossible for George to have signed any papers remortgaging his home. Furthermore, Arthur's mother speaks only Japanese—she can neither read nor speak English—and all documents were written in English only.

Essentially, Arthur says that his father's lawyer remortgaged his father's home all three times without permission and then took the money provided by the remortgage for himself. Arthur says that his father's home was worth $325,000, but appraised at $750,000, based on false photographs of the home.

"He used pictures of another home and claimed it was my father's home," Arthur says. "My dad's home is 42 years old and it has never been upgraded. It has the original carpets, the original fixtures—nothing has been changed in the home in 42 years. It is not worth $750,000."

In order to refinance the home, Arthur says the attorney lied about George's income. He reported that George had an income of over $4,800 a month, when in fact George only took in $800 through social security. To provide proof of income, Arthur says the attorney faked documents that showed George made an income from rent on a building on a second property; however, Arthur says the property is completely empty—there is no building that could provide an income.

Of course, the mortgage payments on George's home stopped and the bank foreclosed on the home. It was sold at an auction and the person who purchased the house tried to evict George's mother. Arthur hired an attorney to prove that the loan on the house was not legitimate.

"We could prove it because my dad was in the hospital in a coma and could not even hold a pen to sign the papers," Arthur says. "Reports show my dad did not have the capacity to understand what was happening. The loan documents were null and void. The minute my father went into the hospital, the attorney started the refinancing."

Arthur says that the entire ordeal was very stressful for his father, who suffered additional heart attacks and strokes and passed away at the age of 81 before the situation could be resolved. His mother still lives in the house, having stopped the eviction by showing that the loan documents were false, but the ordeal is not over yet. Arthur is now being sued by the man who bought the property to get the property released.

"The lawyer got money by cashing out the refinancing loan and he did this without telling anybody," Arthur says. "There was no conservatorship in this case—my dad didn't sign away his rights for anything. We've filed a complaint in our county and they are investigating the lawyer for financial elder abuse fraud."

Financial elder abuse can be a complex claim to make, requiring thorough knowledge of financial elder abuse laws and the legal system. Luckily, there are honest, hard-working lawyers who are able to help in these situations.