Elder Financial Abuse

What is Elder Financial Abuse?

The California Welfare and Institutions Code defines Elder Financial Abuse as follows:

§ 15610.30. Financial abuse

    (a) Financial abuse of an elder or dependent adult occurs when a person or entity does any of the following :

        (1) Takes, secretes, appropriates, or retains real or personal property of an elder or dependent adult to a wrongful use or with intent to defraud, or both.

        (2) Assists in taking, secreting, appropriating, or retaining real or personal property of an elder or dependent adult to a wrongful use or with intent to defraud, or both.

    (b) A person or entity shall be deemed to have taken, secreted, appropriated, or retained property for a wrongful use if, among other things, the person or entity takes, secretes, appropriates or retains possession of property in bad faith.

        (1) A person or entity shall be deemed to have acted in bad faith if the person or entity knew or should have known that the elder or dependent adult had the right to have the property transferred or made readily available to the elder or dependent adult or to his or her representative.

        (2) For purposes of this section, a person or entity should have known of a right specified in paragraph (1) if, on the basis of the information received by the person or entity or the person or entity's authorized third party, or both, it is obvious to a reasonable person that the elder or dependent adult has a right specified in paragraph (1).

    (c) For purposes of this section, ? representative? means a person or entity that is either of the following:

        (1) A conservator, trustee, or other representative of the estate of an elder or dependent adult.

 
        (2) An attorney in fact of an elder or dependent adult who acts within the authority of the power of attorney.


What are the remedies for Elder Financial Abuse?

The remedies now include damages, attorney’s fees and in egregious cases, punitive damages.

-    Definitions:

-“Elder,” within the scope of the Act, is defined as “any person residing in this state, 65 years of age or older.”

- “Dependent adult” means any resident between 18 and 64 with physical or mental limitations restricting his or her ability to carry out normal activities or protect his or her rights, or any person of that age admitted as an inpatient to a 24-hour health facility.