CLE on Financial Exploitation of the Elderly: Estate Plan Strategies to Protect You and Your Client

The American Law Institute is holding a webcast entitled, Financial Exploitation of the Elderly: Estate Plan Strategies to Protect You and Your Client, on Wednesday, March 25, 2020 at 1:00 – 2:30 pm Eastern. Provided below is a description of the event.

Why You Should Attend

Financial exploitation of vulnerable adults is not a new phenomenon. Exploitation of and by prominent celebrities such as Brooke Astor, Anna Nicole Smith, and Stan Lee has shined a spotlight on financial exploitation, bringing it increased attention among practitioners, lawmakers, and Congress. Sadly, this kind of exploitation is not going away. In fact, its prevalence will likely increase because perpetrators are becoming more sophisticated, leveraging technological advances to exploit their victims. Prepare yourself and protect your client with an estate plan that hopes for the best in people but insulates you both from the worst in people. You will learn how to do this and more with the teachings in this webcast.

What You Will Learn

During this webcast, our expert faculty will talk about the planning instruments that will protect your client from financial exploitation, provide you with ethically permissible mechanisms to stop and reverse financial exploitation, without compromising your relationship with your client. Topics of discussion include:

• • Congressional efforts on elder abuse, including funding of state Adult Protective Services (APS), amendments to the Older Americans Act (OAA), and effects of the 2018 federal budget on available services
  • Understanding and identifying victim profiles
  • Discussion of typical scam scenarios
  • More sophisticated exploitation vehicles: power of attorney abuses, mortgage scams, and home maintenance sources
  • Spotting your clients’ indicators of financial exploitation
  • The engagement letter: Identifying the client and taking direction from the client under Model Rule 1.2
  • Prevention planning: disability planning, benchmarking capacity periodically to comply with Model Rule 1.14, and permissible disclosures under Model Rule 1.6 when incapacity is suspected
  • Handling financial exploitation in the absence of a power of attorney or health directive
  • Using guardianships and conservatorships and important considerations under the Uniform Adult Guardianship Protective Proceedings Jurisdiction Act (UAGPPJA)

Who Should Attend

Estate planners, elder lawyers, and general practitioners who handle the affairs of the elderly will benefit from this ALI CLE webcast.