It’s been a while since we kept up with the goings-on of the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment), but perhaps that should change. Apparently some of its current stars are more well known among our primary client base than we realized—notably Alexa Bliss. Or maybe we need to spend more time on TikTok? Our clients are presumably big users of the platform given their affection for Addison Rae. If these references to pop celebrities are making you feel out of touch, don’t despair. All the cool kids still like Scarlett Johannsen too.
For purposes of today’s newsletter, the thread that connects these starlets is financial exploitation. They represent some of the most popular avatars for scammers to use when taking money from strangers online or over the phone, including seniors. (This recent New Yok Times article is a helpful look into the way these types of scams are perpetrated.) In addition to celebrity scams, you may also wish to warn your loved ones about the “Grandchild in Crisis” scam and the Publisher’s Clearing House scam, both perennially popular. While the one-and-done heists are awful, these scams can raise serious elder law issues when a friend or family member wants to help a victim avoid ongoing financial abuse. But is there any legal remedy to prevent someone from being continually financially exploited?
The answer, of course, is: “it depends.”
As recently as this summer, we successfully helped a client go to court to get control over his father’s finances and prevent fraudsters from taking his life savings. But that isn’t always possible. The law generally allows adults to make their own decisions, even bad ones. Only once someone no longer possesses the ability to receive and evaluate information to such an extent that he cannot manage his financial affairs does the law allow another person (even a friend or family member) to step in and take legal authority over that person’s finances.
In our case, the father’s financial behavior had drastically changed—he went from being frugal to being a major donor to several fictitious charities over the span of a few months. He also had been confronted and cautioned about his financial decision making on multiples occasions by his family members (and by an FBI agent) yet couldn’t stop getting scammed. And finally, he had a doctor who knew him well who evaluated him and concluded that his problem ultimately wasn’t one that he could control. In other words, it wasn’t that dad was making bad decisions; it was that dad couldn’t understand his decisions. We have seen plenty of situations in which one of these facts is missing result in a different outcome. So yes, it depends.
We hope that none of you or your clients ever deal with one of these scenarios, but we’re always happy to hear the story and offer counsel when we can. If nothing else, we can usually offer some practical tips and point you to other resources that may be effective. And in some cases, it is possible to take legal action. But usually only when it’s undeniable that the person being exploited can’t help himself.
