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What Is the Financial Abuse of a Senior?

worried elderly woman

Seniors are a common target for financial abuse. The American Bankers Association discovered that financial abuse is estimated to have cost victims at least $2.9 billion in the last year. Since seniors over 50 years old control over 70 percent of the country’s wealth, they are often a target for financial abuse. Our Louisville nursing home abuse lawyers explain what financial abuse is and how you can protect your loved ones in nursing homes.

Elderly Financial Abuse in Nursing Homes

Seniors, primarily those who depend on others for care, are often vulnerable to financial abuse. Financial abuse occurs when a person controls a victim's ability to acquire, use, and maintain financial resources. This often occurs in nursing homes when elderly need assistance to access their finances.

Common forms of elderly financial abuse include:

  • Stealing cash or other items from an elderly’s room

  • Stealing a resident’s checkbook or credit card and retrieving funds

  • Identity theft (stealing social security and other personal information)

  • Tricking a senior to give them money or assets

  • Scaring or threatening a person into transferring assets

Warning Signs of Senior Financial Abuse

If your loved one has a significant change in their financial status, they could be facing financial abuse. To protect your loved ones, be on the look out for warning signs, such as:

  • Unusual activity in your loved one’s bank accounts, including large, frequent, or unexplained withdrawals.

  • Suspicious signatures on checks

  • Suspicious activity in bank accounts, such as insufficient funds or unpaid bills that are out of the norm.

  • Withdrawals from bank accounts or transfers between accounts that your loved one cannot explain.

  • Altered wills and trusts.


If you believe your loved one is facing financial abuse in their nursing home, there are laws that protect them. Contact our Kentucky nursing home abuse attorneys today at (502) 890-9954 to schedule a consultation!

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