Children are dispossessing their parents. Either we are living too long or we’ve raised greedy, immoral children.
‘I Want My Inheritance Now’: Older People are Losing Their Life Savings to Family Members
As housing stress and cost-of-living pressures mount, adult children are asking parents to unlock their wealth early — or to stop spending it.
By Swati Pandey and Amy Bainbridge September 18, 2025 at 3:00 PM CDT
Inheritance Impatience Fuels a Surge in Elder Abuse
After years of renting, retired Australian nurse Joan thought she was finally securing a permanent home. She handed over her pension savings of A$70,000 ($46,700) to a family member to build a small guest apartment in their backyard.
The plan was to live there for the rest of her life, free from the stresses of an unaffordable rental market, and then leave the apartment to her family. Instead, the arrangement collapsed within a year. The unit was unfinished — with no kitchen or functioning laundry — forcing her to rely on the house. Relations soured with her relative, who had since remarried, and the agreement fell apart.
“I was told to get up and pack up and get out of there,” said Joan, who spoke through a lawyer and asked to use an alias and withhold further family details to protect their privacy. Stripped of her savings and barred from collecting her belongings, she was left with nothing — no home, no pension, no safety net.
Her experience fits into a pattern of elder financial abuse that’s increasingly common in Australia and other developed nations. Experts warn such cases will rise as aging populations and cost-of-living pressures converge. Those aged 75 to 85 are most at risk, says Robert Fitzgerald, Australia’s age discrimination commissioner.
One of the most frequent forms of abuse is “inheritance impatience,” Fitzgerald says, when adult children pressure parents to hand over savings early. Its equally insidious twin is “inheritance preservation,” when children block parents from spending on aged care or medical treatment.
In Australia, the success of compulsory retirement savings, or superannuation, is ironically compounding the problem. Employers are required to set aside 12% of wages, swelling the retirement savings pool to A$4.3 trillion — a sum that’s projected to become the world’s second-largest by 2030. Median balances for those aged 65 to 69 are about A$200,000 and many older Australians have also built wealth through soaring property values.
Meanwhile, home prices have risen far faster than wages, leaving younger generations increasingly locked out of the housing market. Some are resorting to extremes to secure inheritances while their elders are still alive. Studies in Australia have documented grandparents coerced into signing over property deeds under threats of losing contact with grandchildren, and retirement savings drained after children were added as trustees of pension funds.
“Younger people are not wanting to wait until their parents die,” said Sarah Abood, chief executive officer of the Financial Advice Association Australia. “And in some cases they are quite explicit about it and saying, Well, I want my inheritance now.”
Global Pension Markets
Australia’s retirement savings pool is the world’s fastest-growing
Source: Thinking Ahead Institute
Elder abuse — which can be psychological, physical and financial — is rising globally, according to the World Health Organization. Even if prevalence rates remain unchanged, the number of victims is projected to reach 320 million by 2050, when the population aged 60 and older will hit 2 billion. A WHO review of 52 studies in 28 countries found 15.7% of older people had suffered abuse — with psychological abuse the most common at 11.6% and financial abuse in second place at 6.8%.
A 2020 analysis of a helpline run by Seniors Rights Victoria — an Australian service aimed at preventing elder abuse — showed a 63% rise in calls over seven years. Most dealt with psychological abuse (63%) or financial abuse (62%).
In the US, the American Association of Retired Persons estimates victims of elder financial exploitation lose $28.3 billion annually. The UK charity Hourglasssaid calls to its helpline between 2021 and 2024 reported losses totaling £53 million ($72 million), averaging £85,000 per victim.
Researchers note the problem is vastly underreported because family members are often involved, which also keeps many cases out of court.
Even if prevalence rates remain unchanged, the number of victims of elder abuse is projected to reach 320 million by 2050.Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg
The United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing has called for a global push to improve data and guide action. Countries are taking various steps to address the issue. The UK’s Care Act legally defines financial abuse and obliges local authorities to investigate, while Canada’s banks have committed to training staff to detect exploitation. In Australia, a parliamentary committee last year made sweeping recommendations in a report titled “Financial abuse: an insidious form of domestic violence” — including preventing superannuation death benefits from going to perpetrators of family violence.
Julia Jeffries, managing lawyer with Seniors Rights Victoria, says older Australians need education about the superannuation system and their rights. “There are large sums of money” in pension funds, she said. “There’s a lot at stake.”
MaryAnn de Mestre, a lawyer and lecturer in succession law at Macquarie University in Sydney, says a heightened public understanding of enduring powers of attorney is crucial. “If you are going to appoint your kids, you need to understand what that actually involves and what the risks are,” she said.
Fitzgerald is now leading efforts to coordinate action by financial institutions and community groups. Backed by the Attorney-General’s Department, he is convening banks, pension funds, financial advisers, customer support groups and community legal centers to strengthen prevention and response systems and boost awareness. Changes could come as early as next year.
Fitzgerald says no country has yet cracked the problem, and that Australia could become a global case study in how best to protect retirees. “Other countries will look to Australia if we can get this right,” he said.
For Joan, recognition that she suffered elder abuse came only after eviction. With legal help, she entered mediation to recover most of her money and found emergency accommodation. Still, the fallout has been severe. “I’m not good at the moment,” she said. “I am going to get counseling.”
Note: Question: What is driving up housing prices when the younger generations are not able to purchase?