The role of financial planners in preventing, recognising and responding to elder financial abuse

Australian society is ageing, with older Australians holding significant wealth. This creates societal challenges, including increasing risk of elder financial abuse. Elder financial abuse is ‘the illegal or improper exploitation or use of funds or resources of the older person’ (WHO, 2002). It can include any aspect of a person’s financial affairs, for example: mishandling money and/or assets; executing loan documents with the older person as guarantor; stealing; and coercing/forcing an older person to revoke and/or amend enduring and/or testamentary documents (ALRC, 2017). It is commonly perpetrated by family members and carers (ALRC, 2017), and remains relatively hidden (Lacey, 2014).

As trusted advisors, financial planners are uniquely placed to prevent, recognise and respond to elder financial abuse (Corbin, 2017; Hayne 2019). To support financial planners to discharge legal and professional obligations and rebuild trust, effective education and training programs are needed (Tachino, 2017). The researchers have been undertaking a study which aims to improve financial advisors’ awareness and understanding of: elder financial abuse, including identification of risk factors for elder financial abuse; ethical and professional obligations of financial advisors to safeguard against elder financial abuse and potential consequences for financial advisors of failure to meet these standards; elder financial abuse interventions and prevention strategies; and responses to elder abuse.

This paper will report on the preliminary findings of the study.