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    Consumer Reports Magazine: January 2013

    1 What would you do?The woman who drives you is like a daughter. Once, when you weren't well, you gave her your ATM card to do errands for you. Now, when you ask her where the card is, she changes the subject.

    Solution Close that account, check to make sure that no unauthorized withdrawals have been made, and sever the relationship. If there are such withdrawals, make an immediate police report, says Paul Greenwood, deputy district attorney in San Diego and head of the county's elder-abuse protection unit.

    1 What would you do?Your brother lives with your mother. He doesn't have a job, and he doesn't pay rent. When he drinks, he is mean to your mother. You think that she's been giving him money and that she is afraid of him.

    Solution Ask her whether you can take control over her funds so that you are the go-to person if he has questions about her money, says Debra G. Speyer, elder-law attorney in Philadelphia.

    Solution Talk to her when he isn't around. Unfortunately, if she's been enabling him his whole life, chances are you're not going to get her to stop, says Sally Smith, adult protective services case manager supervisor, Franklin County (Ohio) Office on Aging.

    Solution If there are signs of physical abuse, involve the police, says Martha Crippen, elder-abuse investigator, Rhode Island Department of Attorney General.

    1 What would you do?Your brother, who has power of attorney for your father with Alzheimer's disease, won't let you look at your father's accounts. But recently your brother bought a fancy car, and you're suspicious.

    Solution The fancy car might be a red herring, but it might indicate that your brother is taking your dad's funds. Does your father have any capacity to discuss this with him? Perhaps a meeting with the three of you discussing this might help. If all else fails, you could go to court and request an independent conservator or guardian over your dad because of his dementia and request that the power of attorney be voided because of your brother's improprieties, says Debra G. Speyer, elder-law attorney in Philadelphia.


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