Pope Francis on Protecting the Elderly | Estate Litigation

I’m Mike Hackard. At 70, I count among America’s elderly. My work as a lawyer and author involves speaking out for the protection of the elderly. And it’s not just because I’m 70.

It’s because I know that life is a gift – for young or old. Our culture often minimizes the value of our elders. When challenged – silence can be overwhelming.

Pope Francis is a leading voice that challenges us to do better. He’s said that a society that doesn’t help and reach out to its elderly is “perverse.” A society that discards its elderly is one that “carries the virus of death.” This culture magnifies “the elderly’s anguish over being barely tolerated and abandoned.”

At Hackard Law, we fight for the elderly in California’s courts. These fights can be rough and taxing. And the golden rule to do unto others as you would have them do unto you may be given short shrift by elder abusers.

A daughter stops her widowed mother’s visits to her grandchildren as punishment for slights real or imagined. The elderly mother is alone and abandoned.

A son takes title to his ailing mother’s house and then tosses her out.

A daughter won’t speak or meet with her living 90-year-old mother but litigates for control over her mother’s body at her mother’s death.

A son absconds with his mother to an out-of-state location and won’t tell his siblings where he has taken her. He changes her life insurance beneficiary designation so that when she dies, he will receive millions of dollars. His mother dies, and he doesn’t tell his siblings of her death. They hear of it by happenstance.

We fight against this wrongdoing. The results aren’t perfect. I wish that they were. But like doctors on the front-line fighting disease for their patients, some battles are won and some lost.

We need more voices to speak for the elderly. Voices that tell the truth. Voices that call elder’s children, grandchildren and their community to do better – to treat others as you would like to be treated given the same circumstances.

At Hackard Law we take significant cases where we think there is a substantial opportunity that we can make a wrongdoer financially accountable for their wrongdoing. If you would like to speak with us about your case, call us at 916 313-3030 or email us at ha*****@ha********.com

Hackard Law: for Abused Beneficiaries and Heirs.