A probate lawyer urged seniors to give power of attorney only to someone they know well after two Brighton women were arraigned yesterday on a 63-count indictment accusing them of stealing more than $450,000 from a disabled elderly neighbor by leveraging the woman's cat to gain control of her finances.
Bob O'Regan, a partner in the Boston law firm Burns and Levinson, said before seniors become frail and dependent, they should grant someone they know is trustworthy "durable power of attorney," or written authorization to act on their behalf in private, business or legal matters, even after they lose the mental capacity to supervise the person.
"Too often, you have a senior citizen who lives alone, whose family is far away or not in much contact with them, and they become dependent on the wrong people," O'Regan said. "As their health declines, they sign documents to make life easier. That's a license to steal."
That's what prosecutors allege Randi Berkowitz, 63, did to a 74-year-old neighbor with progressive dementia after Berkowitz and her roommate, Patricia DiGiacomo, 58, ingratiated themselves with the woman by caring for her 7-year-old tabby, "Puddy Cat."
Berkowitz and DiGiacomo then used the woman's money to buy a 2010 Mini Cooper, an iPad, exercise equipment, meals, specialty kitchen supplies and other items for themselves and ultimately got her to transfer ownership of her condominium to Berkowitz, prosecutors said.
Berkowitz's attorney, Susan Rayburn, said the defendants had a "loving relationship" with their elderly neighbor, and authorities' pursuit of them has been a "witch hunt."
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