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This is a column about people and activities we do not like.

We all know some people whom we cannot stand. We know exactly what we don't like about them or what they do.

We want to say we will always have the patience of Job for these people, can get along with anybody, and that we will "live and let live." But it is just not possible, nor is it right, when we see wrongdoing. We cannot let it continue nor can we permit the wrong-doers to escape.

Picture yourself with a family member or with one of your best friends, sitting at the kitchen table. It's morning time. You are watching the sun rise over the mountains. Or it's the end of the day. You are in your living room enjoying the sun setting over the desert. The problem is, your conversation is very troubling.

Though you see wondrous beauty outside your home, inside you are discussing a subject you do not want to talk about, let alone admit, would prefer not to face. The tranquillity, stability and quality of the life of someone close to you in Arizona is being disrupted. You are wondering what you can do about it.

Here is the problem. Each day in Arizona and in the nation trusted caregivers are taking financial advantage of vulnerable and incapacitated adults. The caregiver can be another family member, a friend or neighbor, an in-home care specialist, even a professional financial adviser.

The initial shock of suspecting, then believing, that someone you trusted is taking advantage of your mother or father, an older sister, brother or close friend, causes you to say, "I just cannot believe it!" You are stunned, flabbergasted. What to do?

Your first order of business is to recognize that the Arizona legislature has enacted a law which addresses financial exploitation of vulnerable and incapacitated adults.

The law says:

• "exploitation means the illegal or improper use of an incapacitated or vulnerable adult or his (her) resources for another's profit or advantage."
• "vulnerable adult means an individual who is eighteen years of age or older who is unable to protect himself (or herself) from abuse, neglect or exploitation by others because of a physical or mental impairment."
• "incapacity means an impairment by reason of mental illness, mental deficiency, mental disorder, physical illness or disability, advanced age, chronic use of drugs, chronic intoxication or other cause to the extent that the person lacks sufficient understanding or capacity to make or communicate informed decisions concerning his (her) person."

A. Paul Blunt, a well-known Arizona probate attorney, was instrumental in the lobbying and drafting of this law. A former prosecuting attorney in Payson and Paradise Valley, Blunt says that "financial abuse of the elderly is a night-mare" for the person being exploited. He calls the exploiters the "bad guys."

In Ohio, my former residence before moving to Arizona, we also had a "financial abuse" statute. In 1838, an Ohio court decision held that even if no attempt is made to defraud, self-dealing - that is to say, "borrowing money" from the senior's accounts, using or selling the senior's property without intent to repay - is just not acceptable. This same legal practice applies in Arizona and nationwide 160 years later.

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