On June 15, 2006, the World Health Organization at the UN designated this day to be World Elder Abuse Awareness Day in its 66/127 resolution. This blog post answers the questions: Why was Elder Abuse Awareness Day established? Why is it important to shine a light on this particular kind of abuse? Because the global population of individuals ages 60 and older is expected to reach 1.2 billion in 2025, elder abuse is something that has a high possibility of increasing as well. 6.2 billion is a huge increase from the 542 million elders in 1995. As people get older, their mental, physical and emotional states become more fragile and vulnerable, providing vindictive, greedy individuals the opportu

Did you know that more than “40% of nursing home residents have reported abuse, and more than 90% report that they or another resident of the facility have been neglected.” These statistics are extremely disheartening and concerning because there are more than 3.2 million people in the U.S. live in nursing homes. Because of their physical and mental states, the elderly demographic are less likely to report their abuses due to communication troubles. What is considered nursing home abuse? Nursing home abuse is a specific type of elder abuse. It is defined as the “intentional infliction of injury, unreasonable confinement, intimidation, care/service deprivation or punishment that results in ph

Stan Lee, Marvel Comics legend and figurehead, currently faces a challenge that is unfortunately still common for many individuals reaching a vulnerable age. Like many individuals, Lee had a very successful career garnering lots of money and assets. Because he has now reached an age where he can be more easily manipulated physically, mentally and emotionally, Lee would now be considered a vulnerable senior adult, even with all of his resources. When Lee’s wife, Joan, passed away in 2017, Keya Morgan, memorabilia collector and supposed caretaker of Lee, took advantage of Lee’s vulnerable state and sought to isolate Lee from friends, family and associates to gain control over his assets. The e

Guardianships are no joke. More and more troubling stories regarding guardianships have become public these past few months. In fact, John Oliver chose to dedicate a segment of his show, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, to recognize and update his audience with the scary reality of guardianships. For example, during Oliver’s segment, he mentioned a couple who lost all of their money due to the actions of a court-appointed guardian. Oliver speaks in disbelief about a court-appointed guardian who used his ward’s finances to buy a sports ticket for over $1000 and chose to justify it in a ridiculous way. While elder abuse can happen at the hand of a court-appointed guardian, it is not as comm

What’s a Lady Bird deed? I thought Lady Bird was a movie… A Lady Bird deed, also known as an Enhanced Life Estate deed, offers another way to avoid the probate process. However, Lady Bird deeds are only available in five states. Luckily, Florida is one of those states that accepts these deeds even though Enhanced Life Estate deeds aren’t based on a particular Florida statute. A Lady Bird deed allows a person that possesses property to own that real estate until his/her death. With this deed, a person will be able to transfer his/her property to the beneficiary or beneficiaries he/she has named without the probate process. The beneficiary or beneficiaries named have no rights to the property