Nursing home residents are often among the most vulnerable people to financial abuse. Many depend entirely on others, some cannot track their own accounts, and some cannot remember or report what was taken from them. That vulnerability is exactly what an exploiter counts on. Financial exploitation can be a staff member skimming cash or belongings, unauthorized charges or transfers from a resident’s accounts, someone pressuring a resident into changing a will, deed, or power of attorney, or a facility itself billing for care it never delivered. It is quieter than a fall or a bedsore, but it is a real and recognized wrong.
A financial exploitation case is proven through records, the money trail alongside the facility’s own files, and because I have worked the defense side of these cases I know how a facility and its insurer will try to distance themselves from what happened to your loved one’s accounts. I read those documents knowing where the defense will point and where its version breaks down. I represent families, not facilities, and I came up in the courtroom as a public defender, trying numerous cases and cross-examining witnesses constantly. I am willing to put your case in front of a jury, which is often what moves a facility’s insurer to pay fair value, and I handle it personally from the first call through trial. Learn more about my background.
What Florida treats as exploitation
Florida law defines exploitation of an elderly person or disabled adult broadly. It reaches someone who stands in a position of trust with the resident, or who has a business relationship with them, and who knowingly obtains or uses the resident’s funds or property for their own benefit. It also reaches taking property from a resident who lacks the capacity to consent in the first place. In plain terms, the law recognizes that a person who is supposed to be caring for a vulnerable adult should never be turning that relationship into a way to take from them.
A crime and a civil claim
Exploitation of a vulnerable adult is a crime in Florida, and the state can prosecute it. But a criminal case is about punishing the offender, not about making the resident and their family whole. Florida also allows a civil claim, which is how a family recovers what was taken and holds the responsible parties accountable in a way a criminal case cannot. The two can move on separate tracks, and a criminal charge is not required before a civil claim can proceed.
When the facility is on the hook
Families often assume that if one bad employee did this, only that person is responsible. That is not how it works. A facility is supposed to screen the people it hires, supervise the staff it puts in contact with residents and their money, and safeguard residents who cannot protect themselves. When a facility hired someone with a history it should have caught, ignored complaints, or left a vulnerable resident’s finances exposed, those failures can make the facility responsible alongside the individual. And when the facility itself is the one overbilling or charging for phantom care, the facility is the wrongdoer directly.
How these cases are proven
Because the resident often cannot explain what happened, exploitation cases are built from the paper. Bank and account records show the pattern of withdrawals or transfers, changes to financial and estate documents show coercion or a signature the resident could not have understood, and the facility’s own records, including who had access, who was on duty, and what it billed, fill in the rest. Read together, that evidence can establish what was taken and who allowed it, even when the resident cannot say a word.
Common Questions
What counts as financial exploitation of a nursing home resident?
Taking or misusing a resident’s money or property through a position of trust, a business relationship, or by taking advantage of someone who cannot consent. It can look like stolen cash or belongings, unauthorized charges or transfers, coerced changes to financial documents, or a facility billing for care it did not provide.
Is this a crime, a lawsuit, or both?
It can be both. Florida treats exploitation of an elderly or disabled adult as a crime, and it also allows a civil claim to recover what was taken and, in some cases, more. A criminal case and a civil case can proceed on separate tracks.
Can the facility be responsible, or only the individual who did it?
The facility can be responsible. Facilities are supposed to screen and supervise the people they put in contact with residents and their finances. When a facility hired someone it should not have, ignored warning signs, or failed to safeguard residents, its own failures can support a claim.
My loved one has dementia and cannot say what happened. Can anything be done?
Yes. Exploitation often targets residents who cannot report it, which is why these cases are built from financial records, account activity, changes to documents, and the facility’s records rather than from the resident’s account alone.
What can be recovered?
Recovery can include the money or property that was taken, and Florida’s protections for vulnerable adults allow additional remedies in appropriate cases. What is available depends on the facts, so it is worth having the financial records reviewed.
Related: Signs of nursing home abuse and neglect, Florida nursing home residents’ rights, Nursing home abuse and neglect, How these cases are proven.
This page is general information about Florida law, not legal advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Exploitation of an elderly person or disabled adult is addressed in section 825.103 of the Florida Statutes, and civil protections and remedies for vulnerable adults appear in Chapter 415. Every case is different, and past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. The hiring of a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely on advertisements.
