From Pharmaceutical Litigation to Elder Financial Abuse: Michael Hackard’s Path to Fighting for Families

by Michael Hackard

Publication Date September 16, 2026 in Elder Financial Abuse

A Journey Built on Twists, Turns, and Purpose

I am Michael Hackard, founder of Hackard Law. Over nearly five decades of practice, I have fought for clients whose stories rarely fit a textbook  –  and whose losses were anything but abstract. I have published four books on inheritance protection and elder financial abuse, and our firm has produced more than 1,000 educational videos that have reached over seven million viewers. My practice serves families throughout Sacramento, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Los Angeles, and I have litigated cases in roughly 30 California counties.

A recent Wall Street Journal book review on evolutionary fitness stopped me in my tracks. The reviewer’s central point  –  that evolution solves real-world problems rather than chasing abstract ideals, and that sometimes the path forward requires doubling back  –  described my own career more accurately than any biography could. I graduated from law school in 1976. I did not know exactly where I was headed. What I found, after decades of detours, near-misses, and hard lessons, was a mission I did not expect: standing with heirs, beneficiaries, and elder abuse victims when the legal system had not yet caught up to the scale of the problem.

Hackard Law provides contingency fee representation  –  no upfront costs for qualified cases. If you believe you have a trust, estate, or elder financial abuse matter, call us at (916) 313-3030.

Quick Summary

Michael Hackard’s career spans will contests, pharmaceutical litigation, and elder financial abuse  –  each chapter shaping a firm built to fight for families when others would not.

• Hackard Law litigates trust, estate, and elder financial abuse cases across California, including the Bay Area.
• Elder financial abuse affects roughly 1 in 9 seniors, yet legal advocacy in this area remains underdeveloped.
• Hackard Law accepts substantial cases on contingency  –  clients pay no upfront fees.
• Four published books and more than 1,000 videos reflect a commitment to educating families, not just litigating for them.
• Key venues include Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, San Mateo, and Sacramento counties.

Where the Path Began: Will Contests and Probate Courts

When I joined my first firm after law school, nobody wanted to go to court to challenge wills. It sounded like a fight, and most estate planning attorneys preferred the quiet work of drafting documents over the noise of litigation. I volunteered. It was satisfying work  –  not because conflict is enjoyable, but because someone had to represent the people who had been left out or pushed aside.

By the early 1980s, I had moved into business and real estate law. The work was good, but I carried a quiet sense that I had left something unfinished. That feeling stayed with me for years.

A Personal Crisis That Changed Everything

In the early 1990s, a brain tumor changed my life. Surgery and recovery shifted my perspective in ways I could not have anticipated. Then, a drug prescribed to me during recovery  –  later ordered withdrawn by the FDA in 1994  –  introduced me to a different kind of suffering. My complaints to my physician had been dismissed. It was a nurse I happened to sit next to on an airplane who told me the FDA was pulling the drug from the market.

That moment  –  a chance encounter that may well have saved my life  –  is the kind of twist the Wall Street Journal reviewer was describing. I had walked a mile in my own shoes. I knew what it felt like to be ignored by someone with authority over your health. Several people were not as fortunate. Acute liver failure and aplastic anemia took lives that did not need to be lost.

I became a lead plaintiff in litigation against the drug maker. Later, when Fen-phen injured thousands, I became a lawyer for those clients. I understood their experience because I had lived something close to it. That empathy  –  earned the hard way  –  never left me.

Case Pattern: For months, the treating physician disregarded a patient’s serious side effects from a later-discontinued medication. The damage was already done when the FDA took action. Accountability that the medical system had declined to offer was obtained through litigation against the manufacturer.

Returning to Probate: A New Mission in a Changed Landscape

After a short retirement and a return to practice, I found myself drawn back toward the work I had started in the 1970s  –  probate litigation. But the landscape had changed dramatically. California had passed significant new laws to protect trust beneficiaries and seniors subjected to financial exploitation. The understanding of undue influence in both medicine and law had undergone a transformation.

For Alameda County estate litigation and cases across the Bay Area, these new statutes created real tools for families who had previously had nowhere to turn. I wanted to use them. I approached estate and trust wrongdoing differently than the old guard did  –  and I was not particularly bothered by their skepticism.

Statistics that I encountered during this period have stayed with me: 1 in 9 seniors report being abused, neglected, or exploited in the past 12 months. 1 in 20 older adults report some form of financial mistreatment. Those are not abstract numbers. They are families  –  often Bay Area families  –  trying to understand what happened to a parent’s estate and finding no one willing to help.

Case Pattern: In the last few months of their lives, an elderly parent’s trust had been subtly changed to transfer significant assets to a single family member who had taken over daily care and financial management. Only after the death did the surviving heirs learn of the changes. Early legal intervention uncovered a pattern consistent with undue influence, including a review of the parent’s medical records and the timing of the amendment.

Building a Firm Around the Cases That Matter

Hackard Law litigates estate, trust, and elder financial abuse cases in courts across California  –  probate and civil superior courts alike. Michael Hackard has handled cases in some 30 California counties, with key venues including Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, San Mateo, and Sacramento. For families in the Bay Area, Oakland estate litigation and Alameda County mediation are among the pathways the firm uses to pursue justice.

The firm accepts substantial cases where the facts support a meaningful claim and where heirs, beneficiaries, and elder abuse victims have a real chance at recovery. Defendants in these cases are often well-funded  –  sometimes drawing directly from the trust being challenged. Hackard Law has faced some of the strongest defense counsel in California’s trust and elder financial abuse world and has not backed down.

For families trying to understand whether a loved one’s estate was manipulated, the complete guide to elder financial exploitation is a useful starting point. California’s civil remedies  –  including double damages and attorney fee recovery  –  give families real leverage when financial abuse can be proven.

Four Books, Thousands of Videos, and a Commitment to Education

I have written four books designed primarily for families rather than lawyers. The first, The Wolf at the Door: Undue Influence and Elder Financial Abuse, came out of an unexpected source  –  a friend who pointed out that after more than a hundred educational videos, I had enough material for a book. He was right. That book received national attention and remains, I am told, an important resource for understanding how financial exploitation actually works.

The books and videos reflect a belief that families cannot protect themselves from what they cannot recognize. Guarding against elder financial abuse requires understanding the patterns  –  the isolation, the document changes, the sudden shifts in estate plans  –  before it is too late for legal intervention. Early legal intervention in estate transfers can make the difference between recovery and permanent loss.

Why This Work Still Matters

I have supported families who came to me after someone had already taken something that wasn’t theirs for many years. Beyond legal tactics, discovery, forensic analysis, and the pursuit of justice protect families threatened by fraud and undue influence. I have seen what happens when families are told their concerns aren’t worth pursuing or when the legal system moves too slowly. The cost increases. Often, the fracture is too deep for any judgment to heal.

I did not arrive at this work in a straight line. A steadfast commitment to truth restores what dishonesty tried to steal  –  and that conviction, shaped by decades of unexpected turns, is what drives Hackard Law forward. If you are a trust beneficiary, an heir, or a family member concerned about elder financial abuse, your story deserves to be heard by someone who has spent a career fighting for people in exactly your position.

Learn more about Michael Hackard and the firm’s approach to these cases.

Key Definitions

• Undue influence: Pressure or manipulation that overrides a person’s free will, often used to change estate documents in favor of the manipulator.
• Elder financial abuse: The illegal or improper use of an elder’s funds, property, or assets, often by someone in a position of trust.
• Contingency fee: A fee arrangement in which the attorney is paid only if the case is won or settled  –  no upfront cost to the client.
• Trust beneficiary: A person entitled to receive assets or income from a trust under its terms.
• Probate litigation: Court proceedings to resolve disputes over wills, trusts, or estate administration.
• Undue influence presumption: A legal standard in California that shifts the burden of proof when a person in a confidential relationship benefits from a document change.
• Double damages: A civil remedy available in California elder financial abuse cases that can award twice the amount of proven financial losses.
• Trustee: The person or institution responsible for managing trust assets according to the trust’s terms and California law.
• Will contest: A legal challenge to the validity of a will, typically based on lack of capacity, undue influence, or fraud.
• Fiduciary duty: The legal obligation of a trustee or other representative to act in the best interests of the beneficiaries they serve.

What to Do Next

• Look for signs of sudden changes to a parent’s trust or will, especially near the end of life or during a period of illness.
• Get copies of any trust amendments, account records, or property transfers that occurred in the final years of a loved one’s life.
• Look for patterns of isolation  –  a caregiver or family member who controlled access to the elder and their finances.
• Try to avoid delaying a call to an attorney; California has strict deadlines for contesting trusts and pursuing elder abuse claims.
• Gather medical records that document the elder’s cognitive condition during the period when documents were changed.
• Look into California’s civil remedies for elder financial abuse, which can include recovery of double damages and attorney fees.
• Try to avoid confronting suspected abusers directly before speaking with an attorney  –  doing so can complicate litigation.
• Get a clear picture of the assets involved and whether any property was transferred out of the estate before death.
• Call Hackard Law at (916) 313-3030 to share your story and learn whether your case qualifies for contingency fee representation.
• Reach out through the Hackard Law contact page to schedule a consultation at no upfront cost.

CALL THE SAGE | When Experience Matters, Families Listen

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