California legislatures recently passed AB 133, which is creating quite the stir in the elder law community. In particular, section 364 therein is especially surprising. It states, in its entirety:

Each year, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) puts out their “dirty dozen” list. This is a list of scams that are prevalent that the IRS wants everyone to watch out for. Let’s see what’s going on in scammer-town this year.

The scams fall into four main categories: pandemic-related scams; scams relating to personal information; schemes focusing on certain victims; and scams that persuade taxpayers into taking crooked actions.

Pandemic Scams

Due to the pandemic, the government passed legislation that provided financial help to individuals and businesses. A scam can focus on stealing these payments. The IRS alerts taxpayers to watch out for mailbox theft of stimulus checks. The IRS reiterates that an IRS employee will not initiate contact via phone, email, or text asking for your social security number or other information in order to process stimulus checks.

When an agent steps into the shoes of a principal, does that require the agent to ensure every cent belonging to the principal go towards the principal’s care? What if the agent instead gifts that money to family? Is that fraudulent? This issue was explored in a recent case out of the United States Bankruptcy Court, District of Massachusetts, Eastern Division.

Doris named her son, Jonathan, as agent under a financial power of attorney. Doris’ health was failing and she entered into a nursing home, Pleasant Bay. The private pay rate for Pleasant Bay was nearly $8,000 per month. Doris did not have enough income to pay for her stay at Pleasant Bay, so Jonathan sold her condominium.