Our elderly father lives alone. A fast-talking door-to-door salesman confused him to the point that he signed a contract without knowing what it was. Afterwards he didn’t even remember signing it. How can he be protected from this in the future? Is there any way to make it illegal to make a contract with a vulnerable person without the presence of their designated family member? We need an idea of what options might exist for protecting vulnerable people, in order to prepare our dad for talking to a lawyer.
We don’t think there’s anything we can do about the recent episode, but we’re very worried about what will happen in the future. He’s doing fine with taking care of himself in other ways, with an aide visiting him three afternoons a week, and his daughter paying his bills for him, but if he is overloaded with a lot of confusing talk, he can’t think. His judgment is not what it used to be. I am sure scammers know this and look for elderly people to prey upon.
Is the only option, for preventing future major situations, to have him legally declared incompetent? If he were to give a financial power of attorney to his two children, would he still be just as able to unintentionally sign a contract he doesn’t want, without their presence? Can a person declare himself to be incompetent?
(In the recent episode, he thought he was agreeing to have a few tree limbs trimmed; instead it was the total removal of a beautiful tree that he didn’t actually want cut down, for a hugely excessive price. I have seen the contract and that is indeed his signature, although he has no memory of signing it or even seeing it. He wouldn’t have been able to read the fine print anyway. The subcontractor who did the actual work was not the fast-talker who forced the contract signing. He told the fast-talker that he couldn’t make any decisions without his daughter or son, but the fast-talker somehow got him to sign anyway.)
You are not my lawyer, and I am not asking for legal advice, but it would be very helpful for me to know in advance what are the possibilities to ask a lawyer for, in this sort of situation. He lives in the state of Maryland. He does not want an aide coming full-time, and he very much does not want to move to assisted living.
A friend suggested posting a sign by both the front and the back door, saying, “ Any contract signed by members of this household will not be honored unless co-signed by”, with the names of his two children. Another friend said that would be like a sign saying “vulnerable person lives here!”
We don’t think there’s anything we can do about the recent episode, but we’re very worried about what will happen in the future. He’s doing fine with taking care of himself in other ways, with an aide visiting him three afternoons a week, and his daughter paying his bills for him, but if he is overloaded with a lot of confusing talk, he can’t think. His judgment is not what it used to be. I am sure scammers know this and look for elderly people to prey upon.
Is the only option, for preventing future major situations, to have him legally declared incompetent? If he were to give a financial power of attorney to his two children, would he still be just as able to unintentionally sign a contract he doesn’t want, without their presence? Can a person declare himself to be incompetent?
(In the recent episode, he thought he was agreeing to have a few tree limbs trimmed; instead it was the total removal of a beautiful tree that he didn’t actually want cut down, for a hugely excessive price. I have seen the contract and that is indeed his signature, although he has no memory of signing it or even seeing it. He wouldn’t have been able to read the fine print anyway. The subcontractor who did the actual work was not the fast-talker who forced the contract signing. He told the fast-talker that he couldn’t make any decisions without his daughter or son, but the fast-talker somehow got him to sign anyway.)
You are not my lawyer, and I am not asking for legal advice, but it would be very helpful for me to know in advance what are the possibilities to ask a lawyer for, in this sort of situation. He lives in the state of Maryland. He does not want an aide coming full-time, and he very much does not want to move to assisted living.
A friend suggested posting a sign by both the front and the back door, saying, “ Any contract signed by members of this household will not be honored unless co-signed by”, with the names of his two children. Another friend said that would be like a sign saying “vulnerable person lives here!”