Financial Exploitation Legislation Heads to the Governor's Desk

With the Senate passage of House Bill 2671, on Saturday, the West Virginia Legislature has expanded the protections against the financial exploitation of elderly persons, protected persons and incapacitated adults

The Chairwoman of the House Senior, Children, and Family Issues Committee, Ruth Rowan (R - Hampshire, 57), was the lead sponsor of HB 2671. AARP supports and is committed to protecting assets and preventing fraud and elder financial exploitation. Financial exploitation critically threatens the health, safety, dignity and independence of vulnerable West Virginians. West Virginia's systemic response to financial exploitation by people in positions of trust is inadequate. Specifically, enforcement provisions of several sections of West Virginia Code either lacked enforcement provisions, or those provisions were ambiguous as to enforcement.

AARP West Virginia worked with the West Virginia Financial Exploitation Taskforce to find ways to increase the protections against financial exploitation for West Virginians - especially protections for the elderly, protected persons and incapacitated adults by bolstering the enforcement provisions of West Virginia Code relating to financial exploitation.  HB 2671 incorporates the recommendations made by AARP WV and the Financial Exploitation Taskforce by:

• Clearly stating that the civil remedies for financial exploitation include civil action, protective order, and/or criminal prosecution and clearly states the process for obtaining a protective order.
  
• Clarifying that criminal penalties apply for the violation of a protective order and are not limited to injunctive relief.
  
• Providing notice of the consequences of violating a protective order and to providing for enforcement of the order.