The American population is aging rapidly. Roughly thirty-five million Americans are now age sixty-five or older, and that number is projected to rise to forty million in 2010. With this changing demographic comes an increasing awareness of the potential problems that face aging Americans.

It is estimated that the number of elderly adults abused each year is nearly one and a half million. Most of the abusers are family members. It is also estimated that five percent of elderly persons will suffer some form of abuse in the coming year, and that one out of every four elderly persons will experience abuse or neglect at some time. Sadly, a recent federal study shows a marked increase in incidences of abuse.

This disturbing trend has led to a number of calls for action to prevent elder abuse of all kinds. In October 1998, Health and Human Services Secretary Donna E. Shalala announced the creation of the National Center on Elder Abuse. At the same time, President Clinton called for legislation reauthorizing the Older Americans Act.

Awareness of elder abuse has arisen fairly recently. Many cite the rising awareness of child abuse in the 1960s and spousal abuse in the 1970s as the genesis to the relatively recent recognition of elder abuse. A number of studies suggest that the problem had previously gone unnoticed.

One of the most frightening problems facing the elderly is the possibility of financial abuse. For at least several decades, we have discussed and attempted to deal with the problem of physical abuse or neglect of the elderly. Only recently, however, have we begun to consider the issue of financial abuse. This is likely the case because the earlier dialogue on child abuse centered on physical and psychological abuse and because financial abuse is almost never an issue when a child is the victim and infrequently an issue when a spouse is the victim.

Although a recent national study of elder abuse indicates that financial abuse is somewhat less prevalent than physical abuse, there is still much cause for concern. Financial abuse can be as devastating to the quality of life of an individual as physical abuse. The likelihood that an elder person's income is relatively fixed may make it extremely difficult to recover from a financial loss. Additionally, the difficulty of detecting financial abuse suggests that it may actually be more widespread than physical abuse.

The fact that approximately seventy percent of all funds deposited in financial institutions are controlled by persons age sixty-five and older makes senior citizens prime targets for those desiring to take financial advantage of someone. Additionally, seniors may be isolated due to their lack of mobility. As one conservator put it, “[i]t just seems like when times get tough, old people are easy money.”

Virtually everyone who has considered the issue of financial abuse of the elderly sees reason for concern. Tom Zlaket, Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court, stated that there have been enough instances of financial abuse to merit concern, even though the practice is not widespread. The practice, however, does appear to be spreading as indicated in Massachusetts, where almost one-half of the cases of elder abuse serious enough to require reporting to district attorneys involved financial exploitation. The purpose of this article is to discuss the types of financial abuse and to examine various possible means of alleviating such abuse.