Power-of-Attorney Abuse Watch: Elder Exploitation Reports and the New Laws of 2026

Disclaimer: General educational research only — not legal advice. Power-of-attorney and elder-exploitation laws vary by state. If you suspect exploitation, contact your local Adult Protective Services or law enforcement. Talk with an estate planning attorney about your own documents.

Estate Planning Data & Research → Power-of-Attorney Abuse Watch

A power of attorney is one of the most useful documents in an estate plan. It lets someone you trust pay your bills and manage your money if you can’t. It’s also one of the easiest documents to misuse.

On Oct. 7, 2026, South Carolina’s State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) charged a 56-year-old Williamsburg County woman with exploitation of a vulnerable adult. According to the arrest warrant, as reported by WCIV, she used a fraudulent power of attorney to take more than $87,000 from the bank accounts of a resident with dementia and to transfer two parcels of the victim’s land into her own name. The charge is an allegation, and she has not been convicted.

This page is a 2026 law tracker with national figures only. The report counts below are FinCEN’s national totals. There is no state-by-state table of bank reports, because FinCEN’s public statistics did not yield state counts we could publish. The state table is legislation.

A power of attorney covers your life. A will or trust covers what happens after. Both work best with people you trust and safeguards in writing. See whether you need a will, a living trust or both.

Key findings

• 155,415 elder-exploitation reports in one year. Financial institutions filed 155,415 elder financial exploitation-related Bank Secrecy Act reports with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) from June 15, 2022, to June 15, 2023. They involved more than $27 billion in reported suspicious activity, including attempted transactions.
• The pace held. FinCEN received an average of 15,993 such reports a month from June 2023 to January 2024.
• About 1 in 5 reports involved theft by someone the victim knew. FinCEN calls this “elder theft,” as opposed to scams by strangers, which made up about 80% of reporting. Theft reports averaged $98,863 (median $23,762).
• Adult children were the most common thieves. In FinCEN’s manual review, filers named adult children as the perpetrators in nearly 40% of elder theft cases, followed by professional caregivers.
• 16 states enacted new protections in 2026. Our LegiScan tracking found 16 enacted financial-exploitation or power-of-attorney measures in 16 states this session. By their titles, about half deal with how banks can hold transactions, report or share records when they suspect exploitation.
• 88 bills in 31 jurisdictions. We tracked 88 substantive bills (plus awareness-day resolutions) on elder financial exploitation or powers of attorney in the current sessions. 61 are still pending, 1 was vetoed and 7 failed or stalled.
• South Carolina’s new law names powers of attorney directly. Act No. 226, signed May 19, 2026, defines financial exploitation to include acts taken “through the use of a power of attorney, guardianship, or conservatorship.” It lets banks decline or hold a suspicious transaction for up to 30 business days, or up to 55 at an investigator’s request.

New laws enacted in 2026

Source: LegiScan national search, current sessions, pulled Oct. 8, 2026. Final actions are as LegiScan reports them. South Carolina S.851 and California AB 2199 were checked against official state legislature sites. Maryland’s HB 1008 and SB 753 are cross-filed versions of the same act. All bills, including pending and failed ones, are in the CSV download.

What the new laws do

Bank holds and reporting. The largest group of 2026 laws gives financial institutions authority to pause transactions, contact a trusted person or report to Adult Protective Services or law enforcement when they suspect exploitation. That’s the subject of bills in Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and West Virginia, according to their titles.

South Carolina’s Act 226 shows how these laws work:

• It covers people 55 and older, plus vulnerable adults.
• Holding a transaction is voluntary for the bank.
• If it does hold a transaction, the bank must try to notify everyone authorized on the account, except a suspected exploiter.
• In that case it must also report incidents involving vulnerable adults to the appropriate investigative entity.
• Banks acting in good faith are protected from liability.

Criminal penalties and consequences. Illinois (Public Act 104-0671) amended its Criminal Code on elder abuse and financial exploitation. Wisconsin’s AB 19 increased penalties for crimes against adults at risk, and Tennessee’s Public Chapter 908 amended several titles of its code relating to abuse of elderly or vulnerable adults. Alabama’s SB 41 addresses how a conviction for elder abuse or exploitation affects inheritance under intestate succession, wills and joint assets.

Power-of-attorney forms. California’s AB 2199 (Chapter 47) rewrites the state’s statutory form power of attorney. The new form lets you name successor agents, choose whether co-agents act separately or jointly, nominate your agent as conservator of your estate, and grant authority over digital assets. Virginia’s HB 510 (Chapter 398) changes the agent’s duty of disclosure under its Uniform Power of Attorney Act. Iowa’s SF 2198 addresses an agent’s authority under a durable power of attorney for health care.

Why the numbers are hard to pin down

National figures only. The 155,415 reports and the amount above $27 billion are FinCEN’s national totals for one review period. This page does not include state-by-state suspicious-activity counts. Do not read the law table below as a ranking of where exploitation is reported.

Reports aren’t proven crimes. Suspicious activity reports are filed when a financial institution suspects a problem. FinCEN notes that its $27 billion figure may include attempted transactions, duplicates and amended reports.

Theft by family is likely under-reported. FinCEN says filers may detect elder theft less often than scams, and that some theft falls below the $5,000 SAR filing threshold for banks ($2,000 for money services businesses).

What this means for your family

A power of attorney is still worth having. Without one, your family may need a court guardianship or conservatorship to manage your money if you lose capacity. The answer to abuse is a better document and better oversight, not no document. See the incapacity gap.

Build safeguards into the document. Options many states allow include:

• Naming co-agents who must act jointly.
• Naming a successor agent.
• Requiring the agent to give accountings to a third person.
• Limiting or excluding gifting and real estate powers.

California’s new statutory form now includes successor-agent and joint-action options.

Tell your bank who your trusted contact is. South Carolina’s new law, for example, provides for emergency contacts a bank can reach when something looks wrong. Many banks and brokerages let you name a trusted contact person.

Consider a revocable living trust for larger assets. A successor trustee manages trust assets under the trust’s terms and owes fiduciary duties to the beneficiaries. Many families use both a trust and a power of attorney. See funding your trust.

Related: Deed theft watch · Estate planning law tracker · Essential estate documents

Related research: older Americans’ financial complaints by state counts 2025 CFPB complaints from older consumers per 100,000 residents 65+.

Methodology

National reports. FinCEN, Financial Trend Analysis, “Elder Financial Exploitation: Threat Pattern & Trend Information, June 2022 to June 2023” (April 2024). It covers BSA reports that used the key term from FinCEN’s June 2022 elder financial exploitation advisory. Figures are quoted as published.

Legislation. LegiScan getSearch API, all states plus Congress, current sessions (year=2), pulled Oct. 8, 2026. There were two queries. The first was “financial exploitation” with elder, elderly, older, vulnerable or senior. The second was “power of attorney,” “powers of attorney” or “attorney in fact.” We read up to 250 results per query and kept bills whose titles matched the topic, for 95 items in all. Of those, we classified 88 as substantive bills, 6 as resolutions (awareness days) and 1 as off-topic. Status is classified from LegiScan’s last action text (enacted, vetoed, failed/stalled, pending). Descriptions of what laws do are drawn from bill titles unless we read the enacted text (South Carolina S.851, California AB 2199).

No state report table. Suspicious-activity filings are not broken out by state on this page. The only state table is 2026 legislation.

The South Carolina case. WCIV (ABC News 4), Oct. 7, 2026, based on the SLED arrest warrant. The accused is not named here, and the charge is an allegation.

Frequently asked questions

How common is power-of-attorney abuse?

No federal source counts POA abuse specifically. FinCEN’s review of elder-exploitation reports found about 20% involved theft by someone the victim knew. Adult children were named in nearly 40% of those theft cases, followed by caregivers.

What new laws protect older adults from financial exploitation in 2026?

At least 16 states enacted measures this session, including Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and West Virginia on bank protections, and California, Iowa and Virginia on powers of attorney. The full list is in the table above and the CSV download.

Can a bank refuse a transaction if it suspects exploitation?

In many states, yes. South Carolina’s 2026 law, for example, lets a bank decline or hold a transaction for up to 30 business days (55 if an investigator asks) when it reasonably believes exploitation has occurred or may occur.

How do I protect myself when I sign a power of attorney?

Choose an agent carefully, name a successor, consider co-agents acting jointly, require accountings to a third person and limit powers like gifting. Review the document every few years.

Where do I report suspected elder financial exploitation?

Contact your local Adult Protective Services agency or law enforcement. Banks also file reports with FinCEN when they suspect exploitation.

Sources

Pulled or checked Oct. 8, 2026.

1. FinCEN, Financial Trend Analysis: Elder Financial Exploitation, June 2022–June 2023 (April 2024). https://www.fincen.gov/sites/default/files/shared/FTA_Elder_Financial_Exploitation_508Final.pdf ( and .txt; figures at text lines 20–30, 64–80, 160–175, 345–380)
2. FinCEN publishes national elder-exploitation totals in the Financial Trend Analysis cited above. This page does not include state-by-state suspicious-activity counts.
3. LegiScan getSearch API, current sessions.
4. South Carolina S.851 / Act No. 226 (2026), bill page and text. https://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess126_2025-2026/bills/851.htm
5. California AB 2199 (Chapter 47, Statutes of 2026). https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB2199
6. WCIV / ABC News 4, “SLED: Williamsburg County woman accused of exploiting dementia patient out of $87k” (Oct. 7, 2026). https://abcnews4.com/news/local/sled-williamsburg-county-woman-accused-of-exploiting-dementia-patient-out-of-87k-property (news report of an arrest warrant; used for the hook only)

Cite this data

You’re welcome to reuse the table with a link back to this page. FinCEN reports are public domain.

Published October 8, 2026 by Family Estate Guide. Data vintage: FinCEN Financial Trend Analysis (April 2024); LegiScan bill status pulled Oct. 8, 2026; SC Act 226 and CA AB 2199 checked on official sites Oct. 8, 2026. Editorial standards.