Vulnerable adults: Bill bars abusers from reaping inheritance

Moeller continues work against financial exploitation

February 12, 2009

OLYMPIA – A bill moving toward final passage in the House of Representatives would prohibit abusers from inheriting property or receiving any other benefits from the estates of their late victims.

Sponsored by state Rep. Jim Moeller, D-Vancouver, the measure (House Bill 1103) directs that an abuser cannot inherit anything from a deceased person who was ever the victim of financial exploitation by the abuser.

For the purposes of this proposed new state law, an abuser is defined as “a person who participates, either as a principal or an accessory before the fact, in the willful and unlawful financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult.”

Moeller has sponsored several measures in recent years to protect the life, limb and property of vulnerable adults.
“We know all too well what happens when folks’ health starts to fade and maybe they aren’t thinking as clearly as they used to think,” Moeller said.

“What happens is so predictable – and yet it happens so often. Someone else comes along who is only too ready, willing and able to take advantage of the situation. We need stronger laws to help prevent this abuse before it happens.”

The Clark County Vulnerable Adult Task Force has been a key participant in recent years in developing recommendations for the stronger laws that Moeller has championed.

“Our objective is to halt the escalating abuse and exploitation of vulnerable citizens, including elderly men and women who rely on others for their basic needs,” Moeller said.

If the person who commits financial exploitation against a vulnerable adult is named in the vulnerable adult’s will, there is nothing in current law to prevent the perpetrator from inheriting property in the will.

“The idea behind this year’s legislation,” Moeller explained, “is to establish a mechanism to make sure that an abusive person doesn’t inherit anything from the vulnerable adult who was victimized by the abusive person.”

In most cases involving the abuse of vulnerable adults, their family members are in fact the perpetrators, he added. Unfortunately, a good many of these cases aren’t even investigated or prosecuted.

Moeller’s legislation will soon come up for discussion on the House floor, perhaps in the next couple days.

For additional information on HB 1103, click here.