Elder Abuse
For people over the age of sixty-five, claims of financial and physical abuse require additional care. California treats the abuse of an elder as its own wrong, with protections and remedies that ordinary claims do not carry, and those protections are the starting point of this work.
Under California law, harm to an elder is not treated the same as harm to anyone else. The statute carries heavier consequences, and reaching them turns on how well the abuse is proven.
Financial elder abuse takes many forms. An elder's savings are taken or diverted, sometimes by a stranger through a fraudulent investment or a high-pressure sale, sometimes by a family member or caregiver in a position of trust. The statute allows for the recovery of what was lost and, in certain circumstances, for damages and fees beyond it. These cases can overlap with consumer protection statutes as well, some of which carry additional penalties for elder consumers.
The same law reaches physical abuse and neglect, whether in a skilled nursing or residential care facility or in an elder's own home. These matters are proven through records, witnesses, and the standards that govern care, and the statute's heightened protections apply only where the conduct is shown to meet them. That is the work: building a case to the standard the law sets for it.
The firm brings financial and physical elder abuse claims in Nevada County and throughout California.
Scope
Scope
Financial abuse and undue influence; predatory sales and fraudulent investments; abuse by fiduciaries, family members, and caregivers; physical abuse and neglect in care facilities and at home; and claims under California's Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act.
