Presenters:
Axton Betz-Hamilton, PhD, AFC, CPFFE
Assistant Professor of Consumer Affairs, South Dakota State University
Virginia Vincenti, PhD, CFCS
Professor Emeritus of Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Wyoming
About the Session:
This session is designed to go beyond typical estate planning seminars that provide technical information of what an estate plan should include. The session will address the risk and protective factors that can increase the likelihood of success for the whole family system before, during, and after an elderly relative’s dependency.
Attend the session to obtain sources of additional information and resources to apply and implement the strategies presented during the webinar. Extension educators, financial counselors, financial and family therapists, and related professionals, as well as individuals who may be faced with caring for a relative, would benefit from this webinar. Attendees will be encouraged to proactively develop healthy discussion and problem-solving skills and strategies.
After this session, attendees will be able to:
- Understand the consequences to elders and their families from elder financial exploitation;
- Recognize contextual and family factors that increase the likelihood of elder financial exploitation by family members;
- Understand the importance of proactive family dialogue about issues and unresolved conflict to create healthy problem-solving processes before the period of older relatives' dependency occurs;
- Identify the appropriate assistance resources if elder financial exploitation is suspected; and
- Understand the importance of careful estate planning and what it entails.
About the Presenters:
Axton Betz-Hamilton, PhD, AFC®, CPFFE, Assistant Professor of Consumer Affairs at South Dakota State University, is an active member of a multi-state research team studying elder financial exploitation perpetrated by family member Power of Attorney agents. In addition to this work, she is currently focused on the experiences of familial identity theft victims and non-perpetrator family members, along with familial identity theft perpetrator motivations and characteristics.
Virginia Vincenti, PhD, CFCS, Professor Emeritus of Human Development and Family Sciences, Department of Family and Consumer Sciences at the University of Wyoming, is an active researcher (5 years the Principal Investigator) in a multi-state research team studying elder financial exploitation that could help prevent elder financial exploitation by family members appointed Power-of-Attorney agent for older relatives. She received a 2013 professional development in aging grant from the Wyoming Geriatric Education Center, several grants for this research from Phi Upsilon Omicron, Kappa Omicron Nu, and the University of Wyoming Social Justice Research Center, and has attended numerous related webinars and conferences with sessions on aging as well as the WY Division on Aging, American Society on Aging, Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance, given two dozen presentations and authored or co-authored 9 publications on elder family financial exploitation.