General Definitions

Financial Exploitation of an Elderly Person or Individual with a Disability: Defined. Permissive Presumption of Exploitation. Financial Exploitation of an Elderly Person or Individual with a Disability: Punished. Evidentiary Hearing Required for Custody of Property Determination. General Definitions. As used in this Chapter:

(a)Business relationship means a relationship between two

(2)or more individuals or entities where there exists an oral or written contract or agreement for goods or services.

(b)Caregiver means a person who has been entrusted with and has assumed responsibility for the care or the property of an elderly person or individual with a disability.

(c)Individual with a disability means a person eighteen

(18)years of age or older who suffers from a condition of physical or mental incapacitation due to a developmental disability, organic brain damage, or mental illness, or who has one

(1)or more physical or mental limitations that restrict the person’s ability to perform the normal activities of daily living.

(d)Elderly person means a person fifty-five

(55)years of age or older who is suffering from the infirmities of aging as manifested by advanced age or organic brain damage, or other physical, mental, or emotional dysfunction, to the extent that the ability of the person to provide adequately for the person’s own care or protection is impaired. COL1/24/2020 CH. 32 FINANCIAL EXPLOITATION OF THE ELDERLY AND INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES

(e)Endeavor means to attempt or try.

(f)Lacks capacity to consent means an impairment by reason of mental illness, developmental disability, organic brain disorder, physical illness or disability, chronic use of drugs, chronic intoxication, short-term memory loss, or other cause, that causes an elderly person or individual with a disability to lack sufficient understanding or capacity to make or communicate reasonable decisions concerning the elderly person’s or individual with a disability’s person or property.

(g)Obtains or uses means any manner of:

(1)taking or exercising control over property; or

(2)making any use, disposition, or transfer of property.

(h)Position of trust and confidence with respect to an elderly person or an individual with a disability means the position of a person who:

(1)is a parent, spouse, adult child, or other relative by blood or marriage of the elderly person or individual with a disability;

(2)is a joint tenant or tenant in common with the elderly person or individual with a disability;

(3)has a legal or fiduciary relationship with the elderly person or individual with a disability, including, but not limited to, a court-appointed or voluntary guardian, trustee, attorney, or conservator;

(4)is a caregiver of the elderly person or individual with a disability; or

(5)is any other person who has been entrusted with and has assumed responsibility for the use or management of the elderly person’s or individual with a disability’s funds, assets, or property.

(i)Property means anything of value and includes: COL1/24/2020 CH. 32 FINANCIAL EXPLOITATION OF THE ELDERLY AND INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES

(1)real property, including things growing on, affixed to, and found in land;

(2)tangible or intangible personal property, including money, rights, privileges, interests, and claims; and

(3)services.

(j)Services means anything of value resulting from a person’s physical or mental labor or skill, or from the use, possession, or presence of property, and includes:

(1)repairs or improvements to property;

(2)professional services;

(3)private, public, or governmental communication, transportation, power, water, or sanitation services;

(4)lodging accommodations; and

(5)admissions to places of exhibition or entertainment.