Saturday, November 14, 2009

'Covetous Adult Children'

When a New York City jury convicted Anthony Marshall, 85, the only child of millionaire-socialite-philanthropist Brooke Astor, of 14 counts of fraudulently squeezing huge sums out of his late mother’s $180 million estate, many observers thought it was an isolated case of financial patricide.

No way.

Abuse of wealthy elderly parents by their greedy adult children and other relatives is as common as sin — so common that legal eagles have coined a name for it: elder abuse. More than 500,000 reports of such abuse against elderly Americans are sent to legal authorities every year, and millions more cases are thought to go unreported.

A comprehensive survey by the MetLife Mature Market Institute concludes that financial loss by victims of elder abuse is at least $2.6 billion a year. Figuring that there are still plenty more cases to be found, district attorneys have set up their own elder abuse offices in New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, Brooklyn, Seattle and many other places.

Full Article and Source:
Halt Elder Abuse: Protect Yourself Against Covetous Adult Children

6 comments:

StandUp said...

WHAT?

The term "elder abuse" was not coined because of so called "greedy children."

Whoever wrote this is misleading the public.

Anonymous said...

Oh sure, that's what guardians and lawyers would like people to believe -- that the children steal from their parents and in the guardians and lawyers charge to save the day.

Look at NASGA victim's page and see differently.

Barbara said...

If observers thought the Brooke Astor case was an isolated case, they've been living in a hole.

The biggest group of thieves preying on the elderly are the professionals - lawyers, financial advisors, and guardians.

Read the MetLife report.

Anonymous said...

These kind of articles get my goat.

It's all propaganda to try to diffuse the spotlight on the real abusers of the elderly. Fiduciaries!

Mike said...

Covetous adult children???? Are you kidding me?

Most adult children take care of their parents and feel a great privilege to get to do so. They are not "covetous".

Shame on this author.

Anonymous said...

Ever hear of guardianship / conservatorship?

If you want to talk about elder abuse, start there!