As used in this part, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) “Abandonment” means the knowing desertion or forsaking of an elderly or vulnerable adult by a caregiver under circumstances in which there is a reasonable likelihood that physical harm could occur;
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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 39-15-501

  • Abandonment: means the knowing desertion or forsaking of an elderly or vulnerable adult by a caregiver under circumstances in which there is a reasonable likelihood that physical harm could occur. See Tennessee Code 39-15-501
  • Abuse: means the infliction of physical harm. See Tennessee Code 39-15-501
  • Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
  • Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
  • Benefit: means anything reasonably regarded as economic gain, enhancement or advantage, including benefit to any other person in whose welfare the beneficiary is interested. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Deception: means that a person knowingly:
    (i) Creates or reinforces a false impression by words or conduct, including false impressions of fact, law, value or intention or other state of mind that the person does not believe to be true. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Deprive: means to:
    (A) Withhold property from the owner permanently or for such a period of time as to substantially diminish the value or enjoyment of the property to the owner. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Effective consent: means assent in fact, whether express or apparent, including assent by one legally authorized to act for another. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
  • Financial exploitation: means :
    (A) The use of deception, intimidation, undue influence, force, or threat of force to obtain or exert unauthorized control over an elderly or vulnerable adult's property with the intent to deprive the elderly or vulnerable adult of property. See Tennessee Code 39-15-501
  • Force: means compulsion by the use of physical power or violence and shall be broadly construed to accomplish the purposes of this title. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
  • Harm: means anything reasonably regarded as loss, disadvantage or injury, including harm to another person in whose welfare the person affected is interested. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Intentional: means that a person acts intentionally with respect to the nature of the conduct or to a result of the conduct when it is the person's conscious objective or desire to engage in the conduct or cause the result. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Knowing: means that a person acts knowingly with respect to the conduct or to circumstances surrounding the conduct when the person is aware of the nature of the conduct or that the circumstances exist. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Neglect: means :
    (i) The failure of a caregiver to provide the care, supervision, or services necessary to maintain the physical health of an elderly or vulnerable adult, including, but not limited to, the provision of food, water, clothing, medicine, shelter, medical services, a medical treatment plan prescribed by a healthcare professional, basic hygiene, or supervision that a reasonable person would consider essential for the weIl-being of an elderly or vulnerable adult. See Tennessee Code 39-15-501
  • Obtain: includes , but is not limited to, the taking, carrying away or the sale, conveyance or transfer of title to or interest in or possession of property, and includes, but is not limited to, conduct known as larceny, larceny by trick, larceny by conversion, embezzlement, extortion or obtaining property by false pretenses. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Person: includes the singular and the plural and means and includes any individual, firm, partnership, copartnership, association, corporation, governmental subdivision or agency, or other organization or other legal entity, or any agent or servant thereof. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Physical harm: means an action, regardless of gravity or duration, that:
    (A) Causes pain or injury. See Tennessee Code 39-15-501
  • 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: means anything of value, including, but not limited to, money, real estate, tangible or intangible personal property, including anything severed from land, library material, contract rights, choses-in-action, interests in or claims to wealth, credit, admission or transportation tickets, captured or domestic animals, food and drink, electric or other power. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Relative: means a current or former spouse. See Tennessee Code 39-15-501
  • Services: includes labor, skill, professional service, transportation, telephone, mail, gas, electricity, steam, water, cable television, entertainment subscription service or other public services, accommodations in hotels, restaurants or elsewhere, admissions to exhibitions, use of vehicles or other movable property, and any other activity or product considered in the ordinary course of business to be a service, regardless of whether it is listed in this subdivision (a)(38) or a specific statute exists covering the same or similar conduct. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Sexual exploitation: includes , but is not limited to, sexual contact, as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 39-15-501
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
  • Vulnerable adult: means a person eighteen (18) years of age or older who, because of intellectual disability or physical dysfunction, is unable to fully manage the person's own resources, carry out all or a portion of the activities of daily living, or fully protect against neglect, exploitation, or hazardous or abusive situations without assistance from others. See Tennessee Code 39-15-501
(2) “Abuse” means the infliction of physical harm;
(3) “Adult protective services” means the division of adult protective services of the department of human services;
(4) “Caregiver”:

(A)

(i) Means a relative or person who has a legal duty to provide care for an elderly or vulnerable adult, whether such duty arises by the relative or person’s claim or conduct, contract, or in any other fashion; or
(ii) Means a person who is married to or in a dating, romantic, or sexual relationship with someone who qualifies as a caregiver under subdivision (4)(A)(i) and resides with or has regular contact with the elderly or vulnerable adult; and
(B) Does not include a financial institution as a caregiver of property, funds, or other assets unless the financial institution has entered into an agreement, or has been appointed by a court of competent jurisdiction, to act as a trustee with regard to the property of the adult;
(5) “Confinement”:

(A) Means the knowing and unreasonable restriction of movement of an elderly or vulnerable adult by a caregiver;
(B) Includes, but is not limited to:

(i) Placing a person in a locked room;
(ii) Involuntarily separating a person from the person’s living area;
(iii) The use of physical restraining devices on a person; or
(iv) The provision of unnecessary or excessive medications to a person; and
(C) Does not include the use of the methods or devices described in subdivision (5)(B) if used in a licensed facility in a manner that conforms to state and federal standards governing confinement and restraint;
(6) “Elderly adult” means a person seventy (70) years of age or older;
(7) “Financial exploitation” means:

(A) The use of deception, intimidation, undue influence, force, or threat of force to obtain or exert unauthorized control over an elderly or vulnerable adult’s property with the intent to deprive the elderly or vulnerable adult of property;
(B) The breach of a fiduciary duty to an elderly or vulnerable adult by the person’s guardian, conservator, or agent under a power of attorney which results in an appropriation, sale, or transfer of the elderly or vulnerable adult’s property; or
(C) The act of obtaining or exercising control over an elderly or vulnerable adult’s property, without receiving the elderly or vulnerable adult’s effective consent, by a caregiver or accomplice committed with the intent to benefit the caregiver or other third party;
(8)

(A) “Neglect” means:

(i) The failure of a caregiver to provide the care, supervision, or services necessary to maintain the physical health of an elderly or vulnerable adult, including, but not limited to, the provision of food, water, clothing, medicine, shelter, medical services, a medical treatment plan prescribed by a healthcare professional, basic hygiene, or supervision that a reasonable person would consider essential for the weIl-being of an elderly or vulnerable adult;
(ii) The failure of a caregiver to make a reasonable effort to protect an elderly or vulnerable adult from abuse, sexual exploitation, neglect, or financial exploitation by others;
(iii) Abandonment; or
(iv) Confinement; and
(B) Neglect can be the result of repeated conduct or a single incident;
(9) “Physical harm” means an action, regardless of gravity or duration, that:

(A) Causes pain or injury; or
(B) Would cause a reasonable person to suffer pain or injury;
(10) “Relative” means a current or former spouse; child, including stepchild, adopted child, or foster child; parent, including stepparent, adoptive parent, or foster parent; sibling of the whole or half-blood; step-sibling; grandparent, of any degree; grandchild, of any degree; and aunt, uncle, niece, and nephew, of any degree, who:

(A) Resides with or has frequent or prolonged contact with the elderly or vulnerable adult; and
(B) Knows or reasonably should know that the elderly or vulnerable adult is unable to adequately provide for the adult’s own care or financial resources;
(11) “Serious physical harm” means physical harm of such gravity that:

(A) Would normally require medical treatment or hospitalization;
(B) Involves acute pain of such duration that it results in substantial suffering;
(C) Involves any degree of prolonged pain or suffering; or
(D) Involves any degree of prolonged incapacity;
(12) “Serious psychological injury” means any mental harm that would normally require extended medical treatment, including hospitalization or institutionalization, or mental harm involving any degree of prolonged incapacity;
(13) “Sexual exploitation” means an act committed upon or in presence of an elderly or vulnerable adult, without that adult’s effective consent, that is committed for the purpose of sexual arousal or gratification, or for the purpose of dissemination to others by a person who knew or should have known the act would offend or embarrass a reasonable person. “Sexual exploitation” includes, but is not limited to, sexual contact, as defined in § 39-13-501; exposure of genitals to an elderly or vulnerable adult; exposure of sexual acts to an elderly or vulnerable adult; exposure of an elderly or vulnerable adult’s sexual organs; an intentional act or statement by a person intended to shame, degrade, humiliate, or otherwise harm the personal dignity of an elderly or vulnerable adult; or an act or statement by a person who knew or should have known the act or statement would cause shame, degradation, humiliation, or harm to the personal dignity of an elderly or vulnerable adult. “Sexual exploitation” does not include any act intended for a valid medical purpose, or any act reasonably intended to be a normal caregiving act, such as bathing by appropriate persons at appropriate times; and
(14) “Vulnerable adult” means a person eighteen (18) years of age or older who, because of intellectual disability or physical dysfunction, is unable to fully manage the person’s own resources, carry out all or a portion of the activities of daily living, or fully protect against neglect, exploitation, or hazardous or abusive situations without assistance from others.
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