Those working in the California insurance industry probably remember a shameful case several years ago involving so-called “living-trust mills”. That was an elaborate scheme that bilked hundreds of millions of dollars from seniors by having “experts” visit their homes, presenting themselves as professionals, to prepare trusts and other estate planning documents. Then these “experts”, having gained the seniors’ trust and personal financial information, would use that information against the seniors to convince them that their current financial holdings were unwise. They would persuade their victims to close out their holdings and to buy inappropriate annuities from these “expert” agents; a money making scheme without consequence to the interests of the duped seniors who lost their entire savings.
This problem is ongoing for seniors as scam artists have continued to operate under the guise of estate planning, and as attorneys, and they are willing to do anything to make a buck. The California Attorney General’s website says some get jobs at assisted living facilities or nursing homes, and even churches, to try to hook unwitting seniors with free seminars and presentations.
This problem is not exclusive to California. In 2009, the Ohio Supreme Court fined two California companies, American Family Prepaid Legal Corp. and Heritage Marketing and Insurance Services, Inc., $6.39 million for 3,800 counts of the unauthorized practice of law for selling revocable living trusts and annuities to elderly Ohio residents. The companies were also permanently barred from providing such services in Ohio.