A friend’s 95 year old mother (we will call her Gwen) gave
$6000 to a funeral home owner for her pre-paid funeral. Unfortunately she made the check payable
directly to the owner- not the funeral home.
Then the funeral home filed for bankruptcy. So what’s a daughter to do? First she called the police. Then she reviewed the situation with her
mother who is embarrassed. The funeral
home owner was supposed to be arrested but is now working for another funeral
home in the same town.
But what happens
to Gwen who lost $6000? Will she live
long enough to get it back? Sad. I don’t have the answers; it continues to
amaze me that bright, sharp people can be swept off their feet by a fast
talking con man. Lesson- talk to
friends/family before making an investment.
And how can we prevent our elderly loved ones from becoming
victims to con artists? One way might be
to convince the individual to add another person’s name to their checking
account so that all checks require 2 signatures. I know – families are complicated. This may not work for all families.
Trust is a complicated issue. And pride can be even more complicated. As older adults, can we trust our kids? Can we trust the business establishments in
our community? How do we face our
friends and relatives when we have made a mistake? Personally, I think friends and family who would
ridicule someone who is in a bind are not really friends. They are not trustworthy.
I send good wishes to Gwen.
I hope she gets all of her money back and I hope the person who stole
from her is punished.
Comments? Leave your
comments below.
Take this as a way to open the conversation with loved ones. Decide what is important before the need arises. Perhaps a bank account could be set aside specifically for this purpose - with necessary signatures to assure security.
ReplyDeleteI recently made arrangements for a family and used direct cremation. It was much cheaper and left funds to have a memorial service including food at a nearby location where family could visit with members they had not seen in years, if ever. The memorial service was simple with a preacher presiding. It was a celebration of the life that had passed and created a good memory for attendees.
If you make plans, be sure your family knows exactly what they are. We recently wasted over half an hour discussing what urn to get for my father's ashes before learning that the columbarium space he'd already paid for next to my mother included a container. Good grief! Actually the funeral home dropped the ball on that one. The rep should have known.
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