In your early sixties you never thought you’d find yourself in this situation. Even though you live in a residential community for retired adults, a so called friend has taken over your life. He offers kindnesses like taking you to get groceries or to medical appointments but then expects financial payment from you. Groceries disappear from your apartment and you suspect that even sometimes your medications run out early, you even have concerns that you may not have enough money to pay next month’s rent because of Ted’s demands. But the problem is you’ve come to rely on Ted and consider him a friend. How do you solve this problem that has escalated? Sometimes having an outside uninvolved professional can help. In this case, my client did not have a bank account so when Ted took her to cash retirement checks she had large sums of cash to hold, making it easy for Ted to ask for money. A bank account was opened and checks were automatically deposited so there was no need for Ted to take her to the bank. We spoke to the office manager at her complex and while Ted was allowed to provide transportation he was forbidden to go to her apartment minimizing the disappearance of items from her home. There are solutions to situations such as these. Sometimes it just takes an impartial party and support to make them happen.
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