Financial Exploitation of Vulnerable Adults

• Jurisdiction: Wyoming,United States
• Pages: 16
• Citation: Vol. 46 No. 4 Pg. 16
• Publication year: 2023

Financial Exploitation of Vulnerable AdultsNo. Vol. 46 No. 4 Pg. 16Wyoming Bar JournalAugust, 2023

by Scott W. Meier

To be clear, Wyoming has had for a number of years statutes that criminalize the exploitation of vulnerable adults. Over the past two years, however, the Wyoming Bankers Association, along with Director Korin Schmidt of the Wyoming Department of Family Services, Bobbie Frank and Shane Schultz of the GoWest Credit Union Association, Tom Lacock of AARP Wyoming and Senator Cale Case - SD25, began working on a bill to help deal with the identification of those situations where someone is or has been exploiting vulnerable adults. As of July 1, 2023, Wyoming has new statutes aimed at protecting these vulnerable adults; Title 13, Chapter 1, Article 7, Protection of Vulnerable Adults.

While our financial institutions may be a great front line of defense against these crimes, accountants and attorneys who represent vulnerable adults should also be mindful of sudden changes described above, especially in sudden changes to estate plans or transfers of property.

Often our financial institutions are the first to notice such abuse. This may come in the form of unusual transactions such as expensive purchases or suspicious transfers of funds (romance swindles or reports that a grandchild is stuck in a foreign prison). Such abuse may also manifest itself in sudden switches to cash transactions, a customer's recent anxiety about personal finances, and unexplained or sudden financial problems (e.g....