Protecting Your Future
Silver Divorce Wisconsin provides an array of legal services to help mature clients establish financial security, protect their assets, and live a happy and healthy life.
Attorney Andrea Gage is a proven leader in elder care law. She works tirelessly to help seniors navigate crisis Medicaid planning, silver divorce proceedings, elder abuse concerns, and family mediation to help all parties reach a mutually beneficial resolution. You can trust that she understands the financial and emotional impacts at stake.
Our dedicated legal team uses a holistic approach to provide advice because we know major legal decisions can affect more than just the issue at hand. With Silver Divorce Wisconsin, you will discover the empathy and compassion you need and deserve in an advocate.
Wisconsin’s Elder Abuse Attorney
Thousands of elder abuse cases are reported in Wisconsin every year, and the problem continues to grow. Unfortunately, the shocking mistreatment of seniors is often perpetrated by loved ones, such as spouses, adult children, and other family members.
We work with clients to help preserve important family relationships whenever possible. However, when those relationships become too harmful, we can help empower abuse victims to protect themselves with restraining orders, domestic abuse injunctions, and individual at-risk injunctions. When contact with an abuser ceases, healing can begin.
If you or a loved one is concerned about elder abuse in your family, give us a call.
Why Do I Need an Elder Abuse Attorney in Wisconsin?
Elder abuse is a serious problem in the United States. Senior citizens tend to be especially vulnerable to abuse or exploitation due to their fragile health. As you get older, you may face issues with your health, such as decreasing mobility and mental clarity. Suppose you or a loved one is suffering from elder abuse and neglect. In that case, it is highly advisable to seek help from our advocates at Silver Divorce Wisconsin to ensure that you understand the options available in your particular situation.
Our Wisconsin elder abuse law firm advocates for the elderly and their loved ones. We have in-depth knowledge of the needs of older adults, which are often different from those of younger adults. We not only handle important family law matters, but we also take care of the common issues affecting the actual care of seniors, such as assisted living and life planning. Contact us now and schedule an initial consultation.
What is Elder Abuse?
Elder abuse is an intentional act or failure to act that creates a risk of harm to an older adult. It refers to the physical, emotional, sexual, or financial mistreatment of an elderly person, including neglect and abandonment. The abuse usually occurs at the hands of a caregiver or a person the elder trusts.
Most states have both federal and state laws specifically addressing elder abuse. For example, federal law requires staff at certain nursing homes to report abuse within specified time frames. Some states require nursing homes to provide elderly residents with supervised recreation to guard against neglect. A knowledgeable elder abuse attorney can help you know your rights and navigate the laws against elder abuse.
What are the Different Types of Elder Abuse?
Elder abuse can take many different forms. Instances of elder abuse range from the infliction of physical harm to the use of fraud or coercion to extract financial gain from vulnerable seniors. A skilled elder abuse attorney can help you understand the different forms of elder abuse.
Physical Abuse
Physical abuse against an older adult entails any use of physical force likely to result in physical pain, injury, or impairment. Since senior citizens often are frail and easily injured, physical abuse may include seemingly minor acts of physical contact. Common forms of physical abuse include:
- Striking
- Hitting
- Pushing
- Beating
- Pinching
- Shaking
- Slapping
- Kicking
- Burning
- Force-feeding
- Excessive use of physical restraints or drugs
- False arrest or holding someone against their will
Financial or Material Exploitation
Financial abuse involves any act of fraud, outright theft, and other methods of extracting financial or material gain from vulnerable senior citizens. Common examples of financial elder abuse include:
- Forging signatures
- Cashing checks without authorization
- Coercing or deceiving an older adult into signing a document
- Improperly using a guardianship, conservatorship, or power of attorney
- Stealing or misusing money or possessions
Sexual Abuse
Sexual abuse refers to forced or non-consensual sexual contact with an elderly person. This may include non-contact acts such as sexual harassment. Common forms of sexual abuse include:
- Unwanted touching
- Forced nudity
- Sexually explicit photographing
- All types of sexual assault and battery (including rape and molestation)
Emotional and Psychological Abuse
Emotional and psychological abuse refers to any act that causes anguish, distress, and emotional pain. This type of abuse can be a byproduct of physical abuse, such as when an older adult fears their abuser. Typical forms of emotional or psychological abuse include:
- Humiliation
- Verbal assaults
- Threats
- Intimidation
- Treating senior citizens like children
- Harassment
- Insults
Neglect of the Elderly
Neglect refers to a caregiver’s failure to fulfill their duty to provide the care needed by an older adult. It is the failure to provide a dependent senior citizen with life necessities, such as shelter, food, clean water, personal hygiene, clean clothing, medicine, basic comfort, and safety. Typically, this involves individuals in nursing homes and other care facilities.
PROTECT YOUR LOVED ONES
Abuse and neglect are never okay. Get the protection you need to keep your loved ones comfortable and safe.
Recognizing Signs of Elder Abuse
The CDC estimates that 1 out of every ten people aged 60 and older who live at home have experienced elder abuse. That number may be much higher since elder abuse often goes unreported. Adult children are most likely the abusers, followed by other relatives. While seniors can fall victim to strangers in work-at-home scams, elders are much more likely to suffer at the hands of someone they know and love.
Signs of Physical Abuse
Signs that an older person is the victim of acts of violence may include:
- Bruises, black eyes, welts, lacerations, rope marks, cuts, punctures, or untreated injuries in various stages of healing
- Broken bones, including the skull
- Sprains, dislocations, or internal injuries
- Broken eyeglasses or dentures
- Signs of being restrained
- Laboratory reports of overdose or underuse of medicines
- Reports from the older adult of being physically mistreated
- An older person’s sudden change in behavior
- A caregiver’s refusal to allow visitors to see an older person alone
- Symptoms of possible sexual abuse include bruises around the breasts or genital area, unexplained venereal disease, or genital infections.
Signs of Emotional Abuse
Emotional or psychological abuse is possible if the older person:
- appears emotionally agitated
- acts withdrawn, noncommunicative, or nonresponsive, acts paranoid
- exhibits unusual behavior, including sucking, biting, and rocking
- reports being verbally or emotionally mistreated
Signs of Neglect
Signs of neglect may include:
- dehydration
- malnutrition
- Untreated health problems
- pressure injuries
- poor personal hygiene
- hazardous or unsanitary living conditions
- reports from the older person of being mistreated
Abandonment includes the desertion of an older person at a hospital, nursing facility, shopping center, or other public location.
Signs of Financial Exploitation
Signs of financial exploitation include:
- sudden changes in a bank account or banking practice, such as unexplained withdrawals of large amounts of money;
- additional names on an older person’s bank card;
- abrupt changes in a will or other financial document;
- the disappearance of funds or valuable possessions;
- unpaid bills or substandard care despite the availability of funds;
- evidence of the older person’s signature being forged;
- the sudden appearance of previously uninvolved relatives;
- payment for unnecessary services; and reports from the older person of financial exploitation.
Why Choose Silver Divorce Wisconsin
We use our knowledge to put the needs of seniors first. Some issues, like maintaining eligibility for Medicaid, are age-specific and require an attorney with in-depth knowledge of the process. But that’s not the only reason to seek a lawyer who has experience in working with mature people.
A complex legal issue like a divorce can affect a 70-year-old client much differently than a 30-year-old, so it’s important to select an attorney who is both knowledgeable in a given area of law and attuned to the needs of older people.
When you choose Silver Divorce Wisconsin, you choose a dedicated legal team that will empower and support you throughout the legal process.
Call Our Experienced Elder Rights Advocates Now!
Seniors have unique health care, home care, and financial needs. As our loved ones age, the task of planning for their future care can be overwhelming. As elder law advocates, our staff at Silver Divorce Wisconsin is committed to providing solutions for our clients, and their families’ needs and concerns.
Our elder abuse and family law firm represents vulnerable senior citizens who have been injured and neglected by their caretakers. We can help you understand elder rights and protections in Wisconsin. We fight for justice on behalf of elder abuse victims. Call us now to schedule an initial consultation if your family member was seriously injured from elder abuse.
