Informative seminar being held for seniors

Every day, senior citizens receive offers that just sound too good to be true.

Since the decline of the stock market and the housing collapse, many seniors have fallen victim to a variety of estate planning scams because they don't have much savings to fall back on.

"There are people out there who will take advantage of you once they have you in their confidence," said Dennis Fordham, a Lakeport attorney who will present an educational seminar to Colusa County seniors next month in Colusa. "Most of the time, these are high pressured salesmen with phony credentials."

Fordham is one of several board certified specialist attorneys in estate planning, who volunteers with the State Bar of California's "Educating Seniors Project."

Fordham's presentation on Jan. 13 at the Colusa Senior Center will include a 20-minute presentation about taking charge of your finances, followed by an open discussion on estate playing.

Fordham said seniors often fall victim to sellers who offer goods or services, like home improvement services, annuities or long term care insurance, and then suggest that a reverse mortgage would be an easy way to pay for them.

"Once purchased, it's very difficult to get out of it," Fordham said. "There are high penalties because the commissions were paid upfront."

According to the FBI, reverse mortgages, also known as Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECM), have increased more than 1,300 percent between 1999 and 2008, creating significant opportunities for fraud perpetrators.

"Reverse mortgage scams are engineered by unscrupulous professionals in a multitude of real estate, financial services, and related entities to steal the equity from the property of unsuspecting senior citizens aged 62 or older or to use these seniors to unwittingly aid the fraudsters in stealing equity from a flipped property," the FBI Web site states.

Reverse mortgage scams is just one topic Fordham will speak about in the seminar , which is free to attend.

Fordham regularly gives free seminars on estate planning to educate seniors on the benefits of trusts, durable power of attorney and advance health care directives.

He also writes a bi-weekly column, "You Legacy and Peace of Mind" for the Lake County's Record Bee.

What:  Taking Charge: An educational seminar for senior citizens
When: 1 p.m. Jan. 13
Where: Colusa Senior Center, 901 Parkhill St.
For more information: call Carol Pearson at 458-0494.
Refreshments will be served

Contact Susan Meeker at 458-2121 or smeeker@tcnpress.com.