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A “friend” of my aunts has decided that she needs help and attempted to move in with her last year. We were able to get the friend to leave the first time after my aunt said the boyfriend (that was moving in as well) of the friend made her feel uncomfortable. We believe they prevented my aunt from contacting us ( house phone disconnected and cell phone doesn’t ring anymore). They have seemed to exert undue influence and have moved in again. They have also taken her to a lawyer to make a trust, and also file a beneficiary deed on her house to put it in the trust. I contacted dhss so they could investigate them on possible financial exploitation. The last time we saw her, she couldn’t pay her bills on time, remember what city she lived in and we would have to repeat things over and over because she couldn’t remember. I’m just not sure what to do. I am still waiting to hear from the investigator. We plan on going to see her tomorrow while the “friends” are at work. I just really hope the investigator can see that she is incapacitated/incompetent and we can get them out of her house so family can help her get what she needs. Has anyone had experience similar to this? How did it work out?

The father of my sister -in-law had a “friend” move in to help take care of him. She moved her family in as well. It was a terrible, exploitative experience. They took his money, didn’t give him his meds, trashed the house. My SIL had great trouble evicting these scumbags. She never had a good relationship with her family and I think the abuser was initially a friend of her sister who lived across the street from her dad. It went on for over a year. Eventually, when it became clear what was happening, my SIL was able to get her siblings on board and convince her dad to take legal action against the family and have them evicted, but her father had a wrecked house and no savings left.
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Cook82 Jul 9, 2024
That is so hard. A year is such a long time for that exploitation to go on. I am hoping that with dhss involved (which is like adult protective services) that it goes by quicker. Right now they seem to be caring for the house as their own, since I assume they had her put themselves as beneficiaries on the trust. We have not been inside though, but hopefully we will in a couple hours/ today. Were legal charges brought against them at all? It makes me so angry that this happens to the elderly.
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Who has described these people as a "family friend"? Your Aunt? Do you know them at all?

The problem is that her home is now the grifters' legal residence. But if they haven't changed over the deed to the house to themselves, if your Aunt is still the homeowner, then this will be helpful. It sounds like these grifters know what they're doing. I'd talk to a lawyer if I were you. You will need to somehow prove she was cognitively incapacitated when she was signing all the paperwork for the Trust, etc. I'm sure they probably made themselves PoA for her. When you visit you will need to search for documents and proofs. Take pictures of the home if it is unkept. Check her medicine cabinet (or theirs) to see if she's taking or being given meds for anything. Take pics of their license plates or any other info they have laying around for possible background checks. Maybe talk to about emergency guardianship through the courts. Consider staying there as a house guest to make the grifters uncomfortable. If your Aunt owns the home and the PoA is not active (assuming they have it) then they cannot force you to leave because you're her guest.

You will need to work smart, legally and fast.
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Cook82 Jul 9, 2024
We have known the woman since she was young, her family was my aunts neighbors before my aunt moved to her current home 15 years ago. They stayed in touch bc the her parents were paid to continue doing her yard work. We are going over there today to try to see her when they are at work. That was my thoughts at first, staying over there or visiting often to make things awkward for them. I was waiting for the investigator from dhss to contact me with what they found out before we do anything else. But I just can’t wait anymore to find something out. And yes, she still owns the house, the deed is basically a transfer on death one. So it won’t go to the trust until she dies.
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This happened to my grandmother in North Carolina (rest her soul). A woman claimed she was there to help her. Of course, this was part of their con game. Later on, some other people moved in that were drunks. They had grandma go to Raleigh, NC and created a phony deed deeding them the house after she died. My father tried to stop it, and he filed charges. I think they settled out of court, and she was paying my dad a small sum. I don't think dad checked the market to see what she should have been paying.

Fast forward, I pulled the house up online, and it was in a shambles for years until a man bought it in 2010 and started fixing on it again. I don't know what happened to the con artists that took the house. More than likely, they got old themselves and died out of the picture, or couldn't afford the upkeep and moved out. Who knows.
According to the realtor, the man who purchased the house in 2010, got old and couldn't continue the work on the house. I spoke with the original realtor who told me the history of this house after it left my grandma's possession after her passing.

Back to the old man who bought the house; he sold it, and a realtor took over the house, fixed it, and flipped it. A family bought it in 2023, and now it is in liveable shape again.

It just shows how needy elderly get taken advantage of. Grandma should have gone to a home where she would have been safe from harm. Dad never pursued this and was too busy with his new wife and her family to worry about his mother. Oh, dad did the same to his family after his passing.
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Cook82 Jul 9, 2024
I am so sorry that happened to your family. It seems like it happens more that you think. I updated under another reply and this "friend" and her boyfriend are in it for the long haul to get the house after her death, while they live in the home with permission that may have been fraudulently obtained.
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An update from the OP:

"My aunt was paying them. But she would often complain that they would come over more than what she agreed too and she felt obligated to pay them. This was before she started to decline. I do have bad news though. We had to have the police do a well check and they have put her in a nursing home and got her to sign a dpoa so they could live there. We found out from my other aunt (her sister) who is also in the same nursing home that the family friend told her that they had to get dpoa to live in the house since the city doesn't allow houses to stay vacant (which I do not think that is true, as long as the yard is mowed and house not falling apart I don't think the city cares). They are also refusing to let us see her saying she doesn't want to see us. The timeline we have is that some of these legal signings have happened after she was put in a locked down memory unit. I have relayed this to the investigator and they said they are going to the nursing home tomorrow. The investigator also said her team is good at what they do and not to give up hope yet. It's also been unsettling because they are claiming they have proof of us doing "something" negative in regards to her. There are also some other things such as 3 of her pets dying and her car being stolen that make this all seem even more suspect. It's just so hard to sit and wait knowing she is in nursing home she never wanted to be in and that she had told me over and over years ago that she had money/annuities to pay for a private room if she needed a nursing home. I want to thank you for listening. This has been a horrible ordeal that is just beginning.

Please, when you have time... let us know how this transpires. We all learn so much from the actual experiences of others. This type of abuse/opportunism is extremely common and families need to know what they can do about it.

Wishing you success in protecting your Aunt and punishing the grifters so that they cannot go on to victimize others.
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DPOA does not give you a right to move into the principles home. I so hope that its found that Aunt was incompetent to do a trust and POA. And I would wonder what lawyer did this. I so hope they find Elder financial abuse and these people go to jail.
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Cook82 Jul 10, 2024
The police told me they saw the dpoa and it gives them the right to live there as “caretakers of the home”. I wish I was able to read it, but oh well. I am also hoping that there is enough evidence to prove financial abuse/exploitation. I am very upset that a lawyer didn’t bat an eye about a non family member bringing in an elderly, extremely frail looking woman to sign those kinds of papers. I’m just hoping that the people in charge and investigating can get enough evidence to prosecute and get a conviction.
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You need an estate litigation attorney who is familiar with elder laws & abuse & exploitation. You’d be wasting your money hiring anyone else.

From my experience Elderly Affairs is useless and does nothing to help
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