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On 18 June 2007 I commenced working with the Seniors Legal and Support Service a pilot project funded by the Department of Communities initially for one year. An evaluation was conducted commencing just five months into the service’s life. As a consequence of this the pilot project has been extended for a further year. The service is funded to provide legal and social work advice, casework and information to elderly clients who have suffered abuse or financial exploitation. We also do community education and a range of other work within the scope of the funding brief.
There has been a vast range of problem categories that clients have sought assistance for over the past year. The range and quantity of issues that the service has assisted clients with is outlined in the Service Provision section. The largest number has fallen into the category of financial exploitation and it has been in this area that we have had some significant successes. I will explore just a few examples, in general terms being mindful of client confidentiality, to give an indication of the sorts of issues that arise.
One client, a pensioner on $270.00 per week, presented with a credit card debt over $50,000.00. This client had been provided with two cards by one financial provider who happily provided regular increases in the maximum limit for each card. A different finance facility had provided a further card. We were able to have the debt of the first $30,000.00 reduced to $2,000.00 and an interest and fees moratorium applied to the second. The repayments were reduced to an amount that the client could manage.
Another client had repairs carried out to the dwelling and an exorbitant fee charged with menaces. An action was commenced in the Commercial and Consumer Tribunal for restitution of the money paid. The matter settled prior to the hearing with a refund for all that was claimed.
Another client at a retirement village had been wrongly charged for “consumables” purportedly the responsibility of the operator to provide. This client received a full refund.
One of the approaches we have adopted is to reduce the risk factor for clients by advising clients on ways to set up their living arrangements and protect their assets before problems arise. One element of this has been our provision of advice on doing enduring powers of attorney to many clients. We have also advised on making family agreements. Both of these strategies, if done properly, can reduce the likelihood that elderly people will have their assets stripped from them in the autumn of their lives. We have found that doing this will reduce the likelihood of other abuse, such as psychological abuse, occurring.
This chart shows the range and type of problem that clients come to the Seniors legal and Support Service seeking help with.
Where our service is not able to resolve a client’s problems we can refer the client to other services better able to assist them. We have referred to other welfare and home assistance agencies to meet our clients’ needs. We have also referred clients to legal aid. One client, who was a migrant, spoke no English and was illiterate, had had the home fraudulently taken from her after her husband died. We assisted this client to obtain a grant of legal aid for what will undoubtedly be a lengthy and expensive Supreme Court case.
We have conducted a comprehensive community education and awareness raising program over the past year. This has included large group meetings, small group meetings, radio interviews, newsletter items and stalls at community fairs such as the Aquatic Festival and NAIDOC day on the Esplanade. We have attended nursing homes and spoken to residents and staff about their rights and obligations.
As an agency dealing with family and domestic violence as experienced by elders I have been a member of the Domestic and Family Violence Integrated Response Coordinating Committee representing CCLC and SLASS. This committee is still developing its own set of protocols and terms of reference but its purpose is to better manage the responses of individual agencies to instances of domestic and family violence through a coordinated approach of all agencies.
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is compulsory for legal practitioners. At least ten hours of CPD is required each year with some specific topics mandatory within the CPD program. Mandatory components include legal ethics, practice management and professional skills. During the past year, amongst the range of professional development that I have undertaken I have particularly appreciated seminars run by the Caxton Legal Centre specifically developed for the SLASS program. These seminars have been tailored to suit the multi-disciplinary approach that the SLASS service has adopted and have been very revealing for a legal professional such as myself about the types and intensity of social issues that elderly people experience.
The combination of legal and social work assistance that is offered to every client has been very successful from two perspectives. It has resulted in a more comprehensive approach to the way clients are treated during the service provision and it has resulted in better outcomes for the client that goes well beyond the mere legal resolution of their problems. The client pool that we are funded to service needs and merits the comprehensive approach to assistance that the combined professional approach provides.
It has also been my pleasure to work alongside an enthusiastic, dedicated and knowledgeable team at the Centre over the past year. Working in a team of mixed professions is a relatively novel idea for the legal profession but one that has worked very well for the Seniors Legal and Support Service.
Tom Cowen
Seniors Legal and Support Service Solicitor
Cairns Community Legal Centre Inc
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URL: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/ElderLawRw/2008/5.html