The MetLife Study of Elder Financial Abuse: Crimes of Occasion, Desperation, and Predation Against America's Elder

In 2009, the MetLife Mature Market Institute, in collaboration with the National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (NCPEA), and the Center for Gerontology at Virginia Tech, released a groundbreaking study to on the extent and implications of elder financial abuse.

The study, Broken Trust: Elders, Family, and Finances, was designed to provide accessible and well-researched information  on the problem of elder financial abuse, and consisted of a review of the scholarly and professional literature and an in-depth analysis of news article.

In 2010, to further examine the impact of elder financial abuse on the lives of seniors, the MetLife Mature Market Institute partnered with leading researchers, in consultation with NCPEA. The research team expanded its analysis of research published in the scholarly literature and gathered additional articles from the U.S. Administration on Aging’s National Center on Elder Abuse newsfeed. In addition, several individuals whose stories appeared in the 2008 newsfeeds were contacted and asked to share subsequent information about their situations. The MetLife Study of Elder Financial Abuse: Crimes of Occasion, Desperation, and Predation Against America’s Elders adds to the knowledge of the widening problem of elder financial abuse.

Broken Trust: Elders, Family and Finances

Published in March, 2009 by the MetLife Mature Market Institute (MMI), the National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse, and the Center for Gerontology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University provides a comprehensive understanding about the extent and implications of elder financial abuse in all its various manifestations—personal, institutional, and societal.

Through an extensive review of available information on elder abuse, this research
enhances the understanding of the complexities surrounding elder financial abuse, the current
magnitude of the issue, reasons why this issue is likely to grow, and some recommendations of
ways to potentially mitigate this complex and devastating crime.

http://www.metlife.com/assets/cao/mmi/publications/studies/mmi-studybroken-
trust-elders-family-finances.pdf