- law dawg
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- Convicted pimp to be appointed fifth attorney. [8NewsNow]
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Blog Lawyers, I need help. A friend believes her elderly parents are being scammed out of their life savings. Money has not transferred hands yet, but is to be handed over in the next couple of weeks. She just found out about this.
The parents are convinced this person is their friend and are not listening to reason. Is there any legal action that can be taken to stop the money being handed over? Can she apply for guardianship on the basis of elderly confusion and propensity to fall for scams? Or does there have to be significant cognitive decline for that? She has the document outlining the “agreement” and the scam is pretty clear.
It is literally their entire life savings. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Not a lawyer, but here is the state website for Elder Abuse:
https://adsd.nv.gov/Contact/Contact_ReportAbuse/
Be careful about this. When they don’t act, wrongdoers will twist that inaction as vindication.
I would say call Metro, but we all they will wash their hands and say, “iT’s a CiViL maTTer.” There was an elder exploitation section at the DA’s office at one point. Maybe reach out to them. Maybe try some news outlets here in town.
And contact their the bank too, may be on their radar.
Just a thought. Try to background check the “friend”. Not only as to crimes, but bankruptcies, civil cases, property and assets owned. Check under married and single names, check in every state where the “friend” has lived. Someone who owns substantial assets may be less of a risk than someone who has little. That said, I am under the impression that people who prey on the elderly are serial offenders.
See NRS 159.0525 – a petition for temporary guardianship can be filed if the person lacks capacity to respond to a risk of substantial financial harm. Requires a doctor or other professional to sign off on the person’s lack of capacity though.
OP here. Thank you all for the suggestions.
I would also recommend contacting the Southern Nevada Senior Law Program. It’s a great group of attorneys and paralegals who help seniors for free. They may be able to give you some guidance.
https://snslp.org/
Have your friend hire a competent elder law attorney to obtain guardianship over her parents. I recommend Rich Chatwin, Dana Dwiggins, or Dan Goodsell. I wish I could recommend reporting this matter to Adult Protective Services, but my experience is they are absolutely worthless in addressing and/or preventing elder abuse. Report but do not rely on them to do anything.
File an emergency petition for guardianship and complaint for injunctive relief seeking a TRO/Preliminary injunction to stop the suspected scammers from receiving funds. Put the suspected fraud before the court for evaluation in the process.
The guardianship court has swung hard against intervention, thanks to scandal. Someone making a dumb financial choice isn’t enough to establish a guardianship.
I have a friend of a friend who is a victim of DV, they have filed for a protective order but want to retain someone to assist them. Any recommendations I can point them to?
Chris Tillman, Val Fujii, Bill Gonzalez, Molly Rosenblum, Frank Toti, Romeo Perez, or Audrey Beeson, to name a few. Safenest can link your friend up with someone in her price range as well and counseling. No clue if some of them still even practice, I’m old lol. LACSN also does TPO’s and UNLV has a law clinic dedicated to TPO’s if your friend is indigent.
The attorneys mentioned above are more appropriate advocates for the perpetrator of domestic violence. A survivor of DV needs a more gentle touch than the above attorneys mentioned.
Tillman, Perez, and Beeson – the rest of those @11:20 would be a no for any case, but especially DV. Neil Mullins is good too. If there’s a criminal component to the case (on either side), might want to look at attorneys who practice both crim and family like Lisa Szyc.
Thanks all for the recommendations, much appreciated!
Agree with list except for Audrey and Molly. Chris is great.
Yep I agree with the list except for Audrey and Molly as well.
No on Rosenblum imho
I read that as the convicted pimp was going to be appointed as a 5th attorney. Does pimpin’ reflect on the attorney’s fitness to practice law? Because it seems like there’s a lot of overlap between a pimp’s skills and that of a senior partner.
Get back to walking the blade, fungible billing unit!
Don’t try this yourself. I know J Burr handles these types. We’ve referred a couple like that n very pleased.
3:22 PM–Jeffrey Burr good but only for people who can afford him which means substantial assets.
Question for you all, i have a weird situation that I haven’t encountered before. The public administrator’s office has grabbed ahold of an estate for no apparent reason. There is a trust, the trustee (who is also the sole beneficiary) is ready and willing to serve, the pubilc administrator just somehow grabbed it. How would you proceed? I was thinking a letter to them on behalf of the trustee stating that he is acting as the trustee and that we anticipate that they will not interfere? Something like that?
The PA’s office is in shambles right now. You may or may not get a letter back. Assuming there is a pour over will, your client has priority of appointment. Just file a petition to revoke the PA’s letters and appoint your client. Easy peasy.
The PA’s Office has no jurisdiction over Trusts and will tell you that it has no jurisdiction over trusts 2 years after they take over a trust. I just had this issue. They are a complete and utter mess and contrary to some of the other comments I have seen on this blog the current CCPA bears a large chunk of the blame.