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When families place a loved one in a nursing home, they trust the facility to protect far more than physical health. Financial abuse in nursing homes strips residents of savings and independence, and often property they cannot get back. Cognitive decline frequently prevents victims from reporting what happened, allowing the abuse to continue for months or years.
Murray Stone Wilson | Nursing Home Abuse Attorneys helps Philadelphia families recognize the warning signs and pursue accountability when a facility or caregiver exploits a resident’s finances. A Philadelphia nursing home abuse lawyer can help protect a resident’s remaining assets.
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Elder financial abuse is the unauthorized or improper use of a nursing home resident’s funds, assets, or property. It includes outright theft, forged checks, misuse of a power of attorney (legal authority to manage someone else’s money or property), and coercion to change a will. Financial abuse in nursing homes is common and often goes unreported.
Because so much of this abuse goes unreported, Pennsylvania law spells out exactly what counts as exploitation. Under the Older Adults Protective Services Act, it applies whenever a caretaker or anyone else takes advantage of an older adult’s money or property, whether the resident never agreed to it or was tricked, pressured, or threatened into agreeing. This counts as exploitation whenever the other person benefits and the resident suffers a financial or personal loss as a result.
Financial abuse in nursing homes takes many forms, and the details often reveal who is responsible. Common warning signs include:
Together, these signs point toward exploitation.
Residents with cognitive impairment and limited family involvement face the greatest risk, especially when they depend on a single caregiver for everything. Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease make it harder for a resident to track accounts or recognize when someone manipulates them into signing unfamiliar documents. Isolation compounds the danger, since residents without frequent visitors have no one around to notice missing funds or altered paperwork. When one caregiver or family member controls every financial decision, no second person is left to catch a forged signature or a withdrawal that does not add up.
Don’t wait if something feels wrong. Our legal team can review your situation, explain your options, and help you take immediate action to protect your family.
Family members and paid caregivers, including nursing home staff, commit most financial abuse cases, often because residents already trust them and give them access to accounts. The National Council on Aging reports that family members and other relatives are generally among the most common perpetrators of elder abuse, alongside staff at nursing homes and other care facilities. A relative holding power of attorney may divert funds meant for care, while facility staff may take cash or valuables directly from a resident’s room.
Pennsylvania residents can report suspected financial abuse to the state’s Elder Abuse Helpline, staffed 24 hours a day, reachable at 1-800-490-8505, and open to anonymous reports. In Philadelphia, calling the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging’s Older Adult Protective Services unit at 215-765-9040 connects families directly with investigators who handle exploitation cases involving city residents.
Local law enforcement and the local long-term care ombudsman, an independent advocate for nursing home residents, should be notified as well, since financial exploitation is a crime under Pennsylvania law and often requires a coordinated response between agencies.
This is not our first nursing home case; we’ve handled thousands of them, and we know the industry.
Delaying a report does more than put one resident at risk. A perpetrator left unchecked can keep draining accounts, forging documents, and moving on to other vulnerable residents in the same facility. This is preventable: according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, federal and state law gives nursing home residents the right to access their financial records and manage their own financial affairs.
When a facility fails to safeguard those rights, it could be held responsible for the losses that follow, and acting quickly is what preserves the documentation and witness accounts a claim later depends on.
Murray Stone Wilson | Nursing Home Abuse Attorneys has represented Philadelphia families whose loved ones suffered financial abuse in nursing homes. Our team traces stolen funds back to the people responsible by reviewing account records and facility documentation, including powers of attorney. Call (215) 947-5300 today for a free consultation and take the first step toward protecting your loved one’s financial security and dignity.
William P. Murray, III is a Tampa-based Shareholder with over 15 years of experience representing victims of nursing home abuse, corporate fraud, trucking accidents, and catastrophic injuries. He earned his Juris Doctor from American University’s Washington College of Law, where he received the Mooers’ Trophy for excellence in trial practice, and has served as both a trial lawyer and managing attorney at a national firm before co-founding Murray, Stone & Wilson, PLLC. Recognized as a Super Lawyers Rising Star in Pennsylvania and Florida.
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This page has been written, edited, and reviewed by a team of legal writers following our comprehensive editorial guidelines. This page was approved by our team of attorneys, who have more than 50 years of combined legal experience in helping victims of nursing home abuse.
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