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Terms Used In Kansas Statutes 21-5417

  • Conservator: means an individual or corporation appointed by the court to act on behalf of a conservatee and possessed of some or all of the powers and duties set out in Kan. See Kansas Statutes 77-201
  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
  • Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
  • Personal property: includes money, goods, chattels, evidences of debt and things in action, and digital assets as defined in the revised uniform fiduciary access to digital assets act, Kan. See Kansas Statutes 77-201
  • Personal property: All property that is not real property.
  • Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. Source: OCC
  • Property: includes personal and real property. See Kansas Statutes 77-201
  • Residence: means the place which is adopted by a person as the person's place of habitation and to which, whenever the person is absent, the person has the intention of returning. See Kansas Statutes 77-201
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Kansas Statutes 77-201

(a) Mistreatment of a dependent adult or an elder person is knowingly committing one or more of the following acts:

(1) Infliction of physical injury, unreasonable confinement or unreasonable punishment upon a dependent adult or an elder person;

(2) taking the personal property or financial resources of a dependent adult or an elder person for the benefit of the defendant or another person by taking control, title, use or management of the personal property or financial resources of a dependent adult or an elder person through:

(A) Undue influence, coercion, harassment, duress, deception, false representation, false pretense or without adequate consideration to such dependent adult or elder person;

(B) a violation of the Kansas power of attorney act, Kan. Stat. Ann. § 58-650 et seq., and amendments thereto;

(C) a violation of the Kansas uniform trust code, Kan. Stat. Ann. § 58a-101 et seq., and amendments thereto; or

(D) a violation of the act for obtaining a guardian or a conservator, or both, Kan. Stat. Ann. § 59-3050 et seq., and amendments thereto; or

(3) omission or deprivation of treatment, goods or services that are necessary to maintain physical or mental health of such dependent adult or elder person.

(b) Mistreatment of a dependent adult or an elder person as defined in:

(1) (A) Subsection (a)(1) is a severity level 5, person felony, except as provided in subsection (b)(1)(B);

(B) subsection (a)(1) is a severity level 2, person felony, when the victim is a dependent adult who is a resident of an adult care home, as described in subsection (e)(2)(A), during the commission of the offense;

(2) subsection (a)(2) if the aggregate amount of the value of the personal property or financial resources is:

(A) $1,000,000 or more is a severity level 2, person felony;

(B) at least $250,000 but less than $1,000,000 is a severity level 3, person felony;

(C) at least $100,000 but less than $250,000 is a severity level 4, person felony;

(D) at least $25,000 but less than $100,000 is a severity level 5, person felony;

(E) at least $1,500 but less than $25,000 is a severity level 7, person felony;

(F) less than $1,500 is a class A person misdemeanor, except as provided in subsection (b)(2)(G); and

(G) less than $1,500 and committed by a person who has, within five years immediately preceding commission of the crime, been convicted of a violation of this section two or more times is a severity level 7, person felony; and

(3) (A) subsection (a)(3) is a severity level 8, person felony, except as provided in subsection (b)(3)(B); and

(B) subsection (a)(3) is a severity level 5, person felony, when the victim is a dependent adult who is a resident of an adult care home, as described in subsection (e)(2)(A), during the commission of the offense.

(c) It shall be an affirmative defense to any prosecution for mistreatment of a dependent adult or an elder person as described in subsection (a)(2) that:

(1) The personal property or financial resources were given as a gift consistent with a pattern of gift giving to the person that existed before the dependent adult or elder person became vulnerable;

(2) the personal property or financial resources were given as a gift consistent with a pattern of gift giving to a class of individuals that existed before the dependent adult or elder person became vulnerable;

(3) the personal property or financial resources were conferred as a gift by the dependent adult or elder person to the benefit of a person or class of persons, and such gift was reasonable under the circumstances; or

(4) a court approved the transaction before the transaction occurred.

(d) No dependent adult or elder person is considered to be mistreated under subsection (a)(1) or (a)(3) for the sole reason that such dependent adult or elder person relies upon or is being furnished treatment by spiritual means through prayer in lieu of medical treatment in accordance with the tenets and practices of a recognized church or religious denomination of which such dependent adult or elder person is a member or adherent.

(e) As used in this section:

(1) “Adequate consideration” means the personal property or financial resources were given to the person as payment for bona fide goods or services provided by such person and the payment was at a rate customary for similar goods or services in the community that the dependent adult or elder person resided in at the time of the transaction.

(2) “Dependent adult” means an individual 18 years of age or older who is unable to protect the individual’s own interest. Such term shall include, but is not limited to, any:

(A) Resident of an adult care home including, but not limited to, those facilities defined by Kan. Stat. Ann. § 39-923, and amendments thereto;

(B) adult cared for in a private residence;

(C) individual kept, cared for, treated, boarded, confined or otherwise accommodated in a medical care facility;

(D) individual with intellectual disability or a developmental disability receiving services through a community facility for people with intellectual disability or residential facility licensed under Kan. Stat. Ann. § 39-2001 et seq., and amendments thereto;

(E) individual with a developmental disability receiving services provided by a community service provider as provided in the developmental disability reform act; or

(F) individual kept, cared for, treated, boarded, confined or otherwise accommodated in a state psychiatric hospital or state institution for people with intellectual disability.

(3) “Elder person” means a person 60 years of age or older.

(f) An offender who violates the provisions of this section may also be prosecuted for, convicted of, and punished for any other offense in article 54, 55, 56 or 58 ofchapter 21 of the Kansas Statutes Annotated, or Kan. Stat. Ann. § 21-6418, and amendments thereto.