July 23, 2004
July 23, 2004
LANSING – Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today signed legislation that is designed to protect the property and finances of vulnerable adults from embezzlement or coercion.
“Our seniors worked a lifetime for what they have, and it can all be taken away in an instant by a con artist,” Granholm said. “This new law protects seniors and vulnerable adults from harmful scams, helps better protect their assets, and closes loopholes in the current law by better defining a relationship of trust with a relative or caregiver.”
Effective September 1, 2004, Public Act 255 of 2004 (HB 4260) amends section 174a of the Michigan Penal Code, 1931 Public Act 328, to prohibit any person from embezzling the money or property of a vulnerable adult, if the person knows or has reason to know the adult is a vulnerable adult. Under current law, the prohibition only applies to a person in a relationship of trust with the vulnerable adult.
A vulnerable adult is defined as an individual 18 or over who, because or age, developmental disability, mental illness, or physical disability requires supervision, or lacks the personal and social skills required to live independently. This also includes individuals, 18 or older, who are suspected of being, or believed to be, abused, neglected or exploited.
# # #
