Alzheimer’s Estate Abuse | Trust Beneficiary Disputes

I’m Mike Hackard with Hackard Law. I lead a California law firm that focuses on estate and trust litigation.

I like to share the most common reasons that clients reach out to us for help. In three brief words – “Trust beneficiary disputes.”

These disputes involve trustee removals, secrecy, mismanagement, delayed distributions, and disinheritance. They often include the financial abuse of an Alzheimer’s patient.

An elder had an existing trust – a trust made before an Alzheimer’s diagnosis or its symptoms. The Trust reflects the elder’s long time estate planning goals. Goals that include a parent’s desire to equally distribute her trust assets to her children.

The elder begins to suffer from Alzheimer’s symptoms. It’s not always diagnosed. These conditions make the elder vulnerable to undue influence.

The elder is unable to manage her own financial resources. She suffers serious physical ailments. Her mental health is deteriorating. She becomes isolated. She depends on the assistance of others for her physical and financial well-being.

Someone, maybe a child, a caregiver, or a neighbor sees the vulnerability and acts upon it. The elder’s assets are taken, hidden, or appropriated. Sometimes the taking is outright – a deed or bank account transfer. Or it’s accomplished by an agreement, gift, will, or trust.

The bottom line – this is coercion. The elder’s free agency is destroyed. And the changes are inconsistent with the elder’s prior planning.

If the elder is alive, loved ones reach out for help. If deceased, excluded heirs or beneficiaries seek counsel.

You can call us at Hackard Law: 916-313-3030. Tell us about your family’s situation. We’ll see how we can help.

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