Texas Breach of Fiduciary Duty Lawyer and Texas Financial Fraud Inheritance Lawyer Represents Families, Seniors, and Retirees Who Have Lost Significant Assets to Financial Advisors, Caregivers, and Other Opportunists by Texas Breach of Fiduciary Duty Lawyer and Texas Financial Fraud Inheritance Lawyer Jason S. Coomer
Seniors, retirees, and the elderly have become the target of criminals and other opportunists, who take advantage of and sometimes steal significant assets. These opportunists illegally take approximately $37 Billion from seniors each year. In some situations where significant assets have been taken or are in the process of being taken, a Texas Breach of Fiduciary Duty Lawyer and Texas Financial Fraud Inheritance Lawyer can take action to protect assets or seek return of assets. For more information on this issue please go to the following web pages:
Texas Elder Financial Abuse Fraud Lawyer,
Texas Guardian Fraud Lawyer,
Texas Fiduciary Duty Fraud Lawyer, and
Texas Financial Advisor Fraud Lawyer.
Financial Exploitation of Senior Citizens and Retirees is a Rapidly Increasing Crime
More
and more elderly persons are becoming victims of financial fraud and
financial elder abuse. Many of these acts of financial fraud, financial
elder abuse, and exploitation of the elderly are committed by family
members and caretakers that have access to an elderly person's
finances. While some of these financial transfers are authorized by the
elderly person, many are not. These opportunists illegally take approximately
$37 Billion from seniors each year.
Texas Financial Elder Abuse Lawyer Jason
Coomer handles Texas financial elder abuse cases, financial fraud
cases, and alleged financial fraud cases by helping seniors and families protect wealth and reclaim wealth.
Texas Undue Influence Contests and Fraud Lawsuits Are on The Rise
Under
Texas law a growing number of "gifts" and testamentary bequests are
being questioned and contested including many gifts and bequests to
employees, caretakers, strangers, and some relatives. In determining if
the gift or bequest can be successfully contested, the court is going
to look to see if the person had capacity to give the gift or
testamentary intent to make a bequest, and if the person was under undue
influence when making the gift or bequest. These determinations are
fact issues that will be case specific and be dependent on numerous
factors including the nature of the gifts; the giver's understanding of
the gift/bequest and their relationship to the recipient; whether there
has been any fraud or duress in the inducement in obtaining the
gift/bequest; and if the gift was the result of drugs, alcohol,
dementia, or a psychotic break.
Also, it should be kept in mind
that in many situations where the giver is elderly and may be developing
memory problems, it is common for the person to later forget about the
gift or bequest. As such, in some situations it may be a good idea to
properly document the gift or bequest to ensure that it can be proven
that the gift or bequest was not the result of incapacity or undue
influence. This can often be tricky as there may be disgruntled heirs
that will later contest the gift or bequest regardless of the situation
and the person receiving the gift may not be in the position to insist
on proper documentation. However, consulting a lawyer regarding a large
gift or bequest is typically a good idea. In these situations, the
lawyer will typically want to meet alone with the person giving the gift
or bequest to ensure that the person has capacity and is not under
undue influence.
Scrooge The Day After, A Year After, and 5 Years After
In
the story of Scrooge, we stop when he is still rich and in the process
of giving. However, what happens the day after, year after, or five
years after the spirit of generosity has taken over? For a lucky few
they have so much money and wealth that it doesn't matter. They can
give away hundreds of thousands of dollars or millions of dollars and
still not see a change in their lives. However, for the majority people
a year or two of giving can deplete their life savings.
What
happens to these people? What if they have giver's remorse? What if
they need their wealth back for medical or nursing home care?
For
some under, it might seem like a good idea to give away large gifts,
especially, to avoid potential estate taxes or to be able to qualify for
future Medicaid benefits and avoid having a nursing home drain all of a
family's assets. However, these issues must be considered carefully
before anyone gives away their wealth and assets. Being without
sufficient assets in case of a serious medical problem can create
serious problems for someone that has made large gifts in the last 5
years. Under the Medicaid look back period, there is a 5 year look back
period to qualify. If a person like Scrooge decides to give away their
assets and then in a year or two requires nursing home or other health
care benefits, they may regret the gifts. In most of these situations
where the person made large gifts and now cannot afford medical care and
nursing home care, the person cannot qualify for Medicaid benefits
until these "gifts" are paid back. This creates a problem for the
person that gave the gift and sometimes for the person that received the
gift. Trust, loyalty, and communication are keys in these situations.
Likewise,
what happens when the person is attempting to take advantage of gifts
to avoid estate taxes. In these situations, the person gifting their
assets will need to give up control of their assets to take advantage of
the gift tax. Whether through out and out gifts or irrevocable trusts,
it is important for the person intending to give large gifts to
understand once they give the gift it is gone. They cannot take back
the gift if circumstances change.
In most situations,
it is important for the giver to understand the consequences of the
gifts that they are giving especially if these assets may be needed in
the future.
