The World Day for Awareness of Violence against the Elderly is celebrated on June 15 and was established by the UN in 2006. The World Health Organization estimates that one in six people over 60 years old suffers abuse, but the number can be much greater, because it is one of the most underreported types of aggression.

Elder abuse can be defined as follows: a single or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, that occurs within any relationship in which there is an expectation of trust, which causes injury or disturbance to an elderly person.

In Brazil, elderly people are considered to be those over 60 years of age (art. 1, Law 10,741/2003, Statute of the Elderly).

The Federal Constitution, when speaking of Families, includes rights especially dedicated to the elderly:

Art. 230. The family, society and the State have a duty to support the elderly, ensuring their participation in the community, defending their dignity and well-being and guaranteeing their right to life.

§ 1 The programs to support the elderly will preferably be carried out in their homes.

§ 2 To those over sixty-five years of age, public urban transport is guaranteed free of charge.

The Elderly Statute provides in its art. 4 that “No elderly person will be the object of any type of negligence, discrimination, violence, cruelty or oppression, and any violation of their rights, by action or omission, will be punished in accordance with the law. § 1 It is everyone’s duty to prevent the threat or violation of the rights of the elderly.”

It is evident, therefore, that this is a topic of greater relevance for our society, dealt with in the same Chapter VII as the Family, considered by the Federal Constitution as the basis of society and which has special protection from the State.

At this point, within families, care for the elderly is essential. This June 15th, we bring as a legal instrument to prevent possible violence (in any of its meanings), legal and patrimonial family planning focused on the planning person. Far beyond leaving your inheritance prepared for those who will survive you, this measure seeks to anticipate possible situations (general and specific) that may place the planning person in a situation of particular vulnerability towards third parties.

Among the legal instruments that can be used (and are defined after anamnesis of the planning person): Advance Directives of Will, constitution of legal entities (what is popularly called a holding company), partner agreements, wills, donations (with or without reservation usufruct), constitution of trust, among others.

The partner Juliana Maggi Lima places this planning as essential, which she recommends to everyone, and the measures will be proposed according to the result of the detailed anamnesis that is done at the beginning of the planning.

Furthermore, it is necessary that all people be aware of elderly people in a situation of vulnerability, whether physical or psychological, in any form, and aware of their responsibility as members of a family and as a society to care for the elderly, including acting to prevent situations of violence from occurring.