Signs That Your Elder Loved One May Be Suffering from Undue Influence

As an elderly loved one reaches the last few months or so of their life, family members can experience profound sadness as they wait for their departure. To make matters even worse, an elderly loved one may be suffering from undue influence, in which another party has come into their life to take advantage of the situation for personal benefit. It is important for family members to be informed about the signs of undue influence, so if it happens they can intervene immediately.

Devastatingly, many families do not know undue influence occurred until after their loved one has passed away. Family members may then find out that they were recently disinherited or other drastic changes were made to the elder’s estate plan. At that point, they may wonder what they can do to set the record straight about their relative’s wishes. The very first step is meeting with an estate litigation attorney for information about filing for estate litigation due to undue influence. 
If you observe any of these signs in your loved one prior to passing away, it is crucial that you act quickly and recruit an attorney for prompt legal intervention:

• The elder has suddenly stopped calling family members or refuses to accept phone calls, when they used to speak on the phone often.
• The elder is exhibiting signs of severe mood swings or resistance to care while living in a nursing home.
• The suspicious person prohibits family members from visiting the elder, claiming the elder needs to rest, and doesn’t want to be disturbed. 
• The elder suddenly becomes less independent and relies on the suspicious person to do certain tasks for them.
• The suspicious person makes attempts to distance the elder from other helpers, such as social workers, in-home caregivers, nurses, and doctors.
• The suspicious person monitors phone calls by recording them, putting the phone on speaker, or insisting on being on the other line. 
• There are bank account transactions that could not have been run by the elder due to living in a nursing home.
• There has been a recent increase in bank transactions that do not seem to be related to the elder at all. 
• The elder has started exaggerating symptoms and ailments, expressing feeling weak when they were recently of sound health (the suspicious person may try to make the elder feel as though they are frail and cannot take care of themselves without them). 
• The elder refuses to do certain things and says it’s because the suspicious person wouldn’t like them to do it. 
• The suspicious person has been spending almost all of their time with the elder unsupervised. 

It cannot be emphasized enough how important it is for loving family members to take action if they observe any of the following signs of undue influence. Sometimes it can be hard to tell if undue influence is happening, especially if the suspicious person is being discreet and strategic. When in doubt, reach out to an attorney, like an estate litigation attorney from Klenk Law, about if what you are seeing could be undue influence, and what you can do to take action.
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