Are you a baby boomer, a sibling and worried about retirement, a parent’s death or a blood thirsty fight with siblings over inheritance. Or do you just need some financial guidance among you and your baby boomer siblings over financial matters in your aging family? There is an excellent radio show covering this-

The Boomer Financial Radio Network airs Saturday mornings 9:30 – 10 a.m. EST on WMTR-AM (1250) Cedar Knolls, NJ.  .

I was interviewed this week for the show on many of these baby boomer-sibling issues. The show will be aired on and if you are in the east coast tune in. As I frequently do ,I refer to geriatric care managers, financial planners to help aging families with inheritance issues?

Financial abuse does happen in families among siblings and adult children

 

The terrible truth is the worst perpetrators are not professional con artists. The most dangerous elder financial abusers aren’t folks running a scam like Bernie Madoff or crooks offering free lunches to retirees then swindling their money .The most vicious financial abusers are most frequently the older person’s own family adult children and midlife siblings/ .

 

All we have to do is look at the infamous Brooke Astor case, where a geriatric care manager was actually involved to help the court with this infamous case.

 

Mrs. Astor’s son Anthony was convicted of siphoning millions and sentenced to one to three years in prison.
After the trial one prosecutor called it “grand theft Astor,” with Mrs. Astor’s son on a “a six-year crime spree involving a series of larcenies.”

 

I also highly recommend the book Mrs. Astor Regrets by Meryl Gordon Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt, 2008.

 

Mrs. Astor lived to be 105 and was a storied philanthropist. She gave her entire Foundation away to great causes, many in New York. Her 83 year old, only child ( no siblings ) -was indicted on charges of robbing her estate of millions. The story catalogs three generations of a quintessential dysfunctional family, who use the treacherous tools wielded by these kin to eat away at each other, in a bloody multigenerational family war.

 

They even produce art that tells the ultimate dysfunctional family story, when Philip Astor, the accused son, teams with his devious wife, to produce a revival Long Days Journey Into Night, on Broadway. I personally consider this play the ultimate dysfunctional family story.
The allegations of undue influence, where new wills are signed by elderly Mrs. Astor when she may not have the capacity to legally sign, are pure elder fiscal abuse material.
This novel makes make the stiff dry legal morass of undue influence, a compelling read and the swirl of probate attorneys, elder law attorneys, conservatorships and even a geriatric social worker who acts like a geriatric care manager, in the end, create pure theater for our aging profession.

A survey of State Adult Protective Abuse of Adults Over Sixty showed that the most common fiscal abuser was a son or daughter. Adult children perpetrated 33 % of the fiscal exploitation substantiated by APS. Other family members were the next biggest group of fiscal abusers investigated by APS. These other kin represented almost 22% of the financial abuser reported nationwide to adult protective services.

 

So Tune into, The Boomer Financial Radio Network airs Saturday mornings 9:30 – 10 a.m. EST on WMTR-AM (1250) Cedar Knolls, NJ.  To hear me this Saturday talk about siblings and their sometimes-seamy side.

Hear my interview this Saturday, The Boomer Financial Radio Network airs Saturday July 28 9:30 – 10 a.m. EST on WMTR-AM (1250).