Marriage Scams: It’s About Money, Not Love

Healthline News ran a story that made me sad, even though I know these scams happen. Growing Kind of Elder Abuse: Marrying Seniors for Their Money ran on September 15, 2015.  The article quotes a California attorney whose  firm handles financial exploitation cases who “[said] marrying for money is a form of elder abuse that is spreading throughout the United States.” The attorney noted that this type of financial exploitation case is often unreported and hard to uncover. These “sweethart scams” happen to both sexes about equally. The article quotes the deputy director of the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA) that

[W]hile these scams can take many forms… a common scenario is that the elders have experienced a recent loss, such as the death of a spouse, and they find themselves befriended by someone younger.

“If children aren’t nearby or the person is isolated and depressed, they’re more vulnerable to this attention…. The difficult thing is that if the older adult has capacity to make decisions then they are entitled to do what they want with their money.”

The article provides some examples of actual cases and the variation among the states on capacity to marry as well as what actions to take if the elder is a victim of this scam.