Staying vigilant for financial elder abuse

Financial advisers may be in a good position to spot signs of elder abuse (or suspected abuse) and could help clients avoid it.

FAAA Roadshow 2025 will be running a session on Protecting the Vulnerable: Tackling Financial Abuse with Ethics and Action, with Danae Lacey, senior director of client services, ACT Public Trustee and Guardian.

Danae was a financial planner for around 15 years, working as a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER^® professional across several advisory firms before moving to the ACT Government Trustee and Guardian. She also holds a Master of Financial Services.

Every state and territory have a public trustee, and all do very similar things with minor nuances with legislation.

Danae has been with the Trustee for more than two years and says that in that time she has started to see a lot of enduring powers of attorney revoked by the tribunal and a manager appointed instead, particularly where there had been evidence of financial abuse or neglect of a person. She is seeing that not only for elderly people, but also for people with disabilities.

For a power of attorney to be revoked, it’s usually because someone has reported suspicious behaviour.

“Tribunals do not revoke these lightly because it’s an instrument that’s put in place by someone who’s made that choice. And the tribunals don’t want to meddle with those arrangements unnecessarily,” Danae says.

“Where we’ve seen it happen is where an attorney has abused their power and taken assets or taken coercive control over the person.”

At the 2025 FAAA Roadshow Danae will be focusing on Power of Attorney revocation – how it works; the impact of financial scams; issues with blended families and abuse of the Power of Attorney.

She will also be covering red flags and where to get help. Her advice to planners is if you see something, say something.

Where attorneys go wrong

Abuse also often occurs with blended families where there’s conflict and all parties can’t get to an agreement, Danae said. “Unfortunately, it usually involves an older person or a person with a level of vulnerability.

“They’re stuck in the middle, and they’re the ones that are really affected by all of this.”
Sometimes the Tribunal will try and find another person in in that vulnerable person’s life to be appointed as a manager or guardian.

“Or they can appoint the trustee as last resort, but we are very much last resort. I spend most of my life trying not to get appointed because it’s an impost. We often don’t know anything about the person,” Danae said.

“But we do absolutely want to be the support framework, or part of the support framework for people who are appointed or who do find themselves in these roles or positions.”

Financial planners’ role

Financial advisers are often in a position where they may witness the early signs of financial abuse – for example, when older clients suddenly want to access large amounts of money.

Danae suggests asking questions to confirm whether this is really for their benefit.

For example, if they say they need $50k to give to their child because of a failing business perhaps ask questions like – do you really want to do this, or do you know the impact this might have on you?

If you find the client is perhaps doing it against their will or feels uncomfortable denying their child, maybe suggest the client blames you for not allowing them to access the funds, Danae said.