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New Laws to Safeguard the Elderly

  • By: Alan Sohn
  • Published:

Governor Pat Quinn recently signed a number of bills that are intended to protect senior citizens from financial or physical harm. The new laws are designed to protect seniors in a variety of ways, from financial exploitation to ensuring that certain financial agreements are consistent with the person’s power of attorney.

NEW LAWS TO SAFEGUARD THE ELDERLY

Governor Pat Quinn recently signed a number of bills that are intended to protect senior citizens from financial or physical harm. The new laws are designed to protect seniors in a variety of ways, from financial exploitation to ensuring that certain financial agreements are consistent with the person’s power of attorney.

One of the new laws permits prosecutors to obtain an order freezing the assets of a defendant charged with financially exploiting an elderly person. The legislation is intended to stop defendants from spending stolen money or using it to pay legal expenses. While the money is often spent before the theft is discovered, the law will help victims preserve at least some of the money for restitution after trial.

Another of the measures allows for “power of attorney-like” agreements or contracts for business purposes which do not actually assume or subsume a power of attorney. Still another law makes it easier for family members to obtain the medical records of a deceased family member and prevents healthcare facilities from charging a fee for releasing records. It requires such facilities to give records to the executor of the person’s estate or to certain family members.

Not every piece of such legislation has been mentioned here. For additional detail, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Alan E. Sohn

Alan E. Sohn received his Juris Doctorate from the College of Law of the
University of Illinois. Mr. Sohn has been a partner in both large and
smaller law firms and for the past 21 years has been in private practice.