Financial Exploitation: A Bittersweet Client Story

By Shannon Miller

Although I love all of my clients, the story of Michael McCadden holds a special place in my heart. He was a Korean War Veteran, business owner, dance instructor, and charming person.

His story began well before he came to The Miller Elder Law Firm.

He came to our elder law firm having lost all of his money and we weren’t sure where it all went. After investigation, we found one of his daughters manipulated him to put all of his assets in a trust which she took complete control of to steal $550,000 in assets. She created the trust taking three of his properties and evicted him from his own home. That began the downward spiral of assets lost and his health. She and her husband also used his identity to create credit card theft for which they were criminally prosecuted.

After a couple of years of criminal and civil litigation we were able to recover the money he’s lost as a result of exploitation by a family member.

However, the health toll the litigation, depositions, and lack of funds available to him during this time, was significant and he ended of passing away just a couple of months after the case was resolved.

He made me promise to share his story to protect others in the future. And of course that’s just what we did. Although the exploitation injunction statue was not in effect during Mr. McCadden’s case, we drafted and passed the legislation during his case which prompted our actions–this allows us to freeze assets of the victim before all the money is lost and to do the same for the exploiter to bring the money back to the victim.

The exploitation injunction statue was modeled after a proposed statute  in West Virginia which was never passed. We got a hold of it and the North Central Florida Senior Advocacy Group in Gainesville, FL customized it for Florida and took it to Tallahassee, FL for action. It was passed into law in July 2017. I wish it could have been called Mr. McCadden’s Law since his case was instrumental in the drafting of the legislation.

I love all of my clients and hope to bring peace and security to their lives as an elder law attorney with a team of elder law experts to advocate and protect them.

This is a bittersweet story of fraud, theft, recovery, and peace.

It uses the same framework as domestic violence and gives the circuit court a process to stop the bleed of assets where a vulnerable adult has been exploited. It puts Florida in the forefront of protecting our seniors from exploitation. There is no comparable process anywhere in the United States. Asset freeze against exploitation explained.

This law allows victims to walk into a courthouse, without an attorney or any filing or court fees, and obtain an asset or freeze injunction from the court even if their money has been moved to another person’s account. It has saved these victims their life savings and prevented predators from succeeding in exploiting vulnerable adults.

At The Miller Elder Law Firm, we have a special relationship with this law not only because we use it often, but also because Shannon Miller co-drafted this legislation for the Elder Law Section of the Florida Bar and the North Central Florida Senior Advocacy Network. Additionally Shannon and Genna have traveled around the state of Florida educating judges, clerks, and assistant state attorneys about to use it to protect vulnerable adults. We have used it in several complicated exploitation cases and have used this law to stop exploitation.

One of the less commonly known features of the law is the no contact provision. Many times the exploiter has infiltrated the victim’s life and can continue to exert influence, but this law allows the judge to stop all contact.

If you suspect a loved one may be a victim of exploitation, please contact us at 352.379.1900 and we can help you navigate through the process to stop the exploitation. We have the experience and expertise to protect the victims and preserve their finances and assets.