My mother was 83 years old and was diagnosed with moderate to severe Alzheimer and dementia. My brother Greg and his wife Debbie kept this diagnosis from the rest of the family. Then Greg and Debbie started taking mom to her attorney (changed POA to himself) had her resign a new will, changed beneficiaries on bank accounts, revoked the trust, terminated my oral farm contract. They isolated mom from family. They would write checks for cash that Debbie wrote out and mom signed. As her acting POA Greg did not have moms house rebuilt (totalled from straight line winds) and settled with insurance for 40,0000 . less than what was due to mom. That house was to be inherited b another brother who has since passed away. The bank notified me that things did not seem right. I took mom to her attorney and mom wanted everything put back in original form according to her estate plan. When Greg and Debbie found out about the accounts being reinstated they took mom to her a At one point Debbbie handed a not to mom at the bank telling the teller to take myself and a brother off of accounts. At one point Greg as moms acting POA closed out some bank accounts and moved them out of state so we have no access to records. These points are the main problems.

Elder abuse, undue influence and financial exploitation is rampant and usually committed by family members. The articles that you can read about it states it is hard to prove in court giving the perpetrators confidence that they can get away with the abuse.

Do not trust that your family members will do the right thing. Be prepared. Document everything. Diligently watch what is going on. Try to keep communication open. We never thought we would be in this court nightmare.

Laws need to be passed. An elderly person (anyone over the age of 60) that suddenly wants to change most of their estate plan needs to go through the court system to assess the physical and mental condition of the elder. It seems to be so easy for an unscrupulous family member to convince an elder with a diagnosed condition to sign documents that they have no idea what they have signed and the consequences of those changes. It seems extremely difficult to get through the court system in a timely manner to get any results to reversing all the changes made to the estate plan. We have been in court for 6 years. It takes a toll on our health and we see the anxiety that it has caused in our grown children.

There seems to be no respect for an elderly person's estate plan. The attorneys are part of the problem with stalling for court dates. There needs to be higher held consequences for the abusers and the attorneys that are letting this abuse happen.