Michael Hackard, author of The Wolf at the Door: Undue Influence and Elder Financial Abuse, was recently interviewed by KUSI TV - San Diego on how to keep seniors safe from financial exploitation. A big thank you to KUSI and Carlos Amezcua! As many as one in ten seniors are victims of elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation. We're going to talk about how to recognize the signs and what to do if you expect someone you love is being abused. That's coming up on Good Morning San Diego. Carlos Amezcua: Elder abuse affects an estimated ten percent of seniors. Mental and physical impairments make them especially vulnerable to financial abuse. Here to talk about the problem and how it can be prevented is Michael Hackard. He's an attorney and the a[...]

Californians have increasing concern over the frequency of elder financial abuse. The concerns are reasonable and prudent. California’s 65 and over population is 14% of the state’s overall population – that’s over 5 million people. The American Bar Association (ABA) and the American Psychological Association (APA) published a handbook in 2005 titled “Assessment of Older Adults with Diminished Capacity: A Handbook for Lawyers.” The Handbook is still in wide use today. The Handbook’s breadth could give rise to dozens of videos as well as multiple articles. This short commentary is not broad based – it only focuses on what the Handbook has to say about an elder’s functional abilities related to Financial Capacity. While the[...]

Hackard Law is proud that Michael Hackard was recently a guest on KTXL Fox 40 to discuss elder financial abuse and undue influence. Michael spoke with anchor Simone de Alba about how to safeguard your loved ones from exploitation. A special thank you and credit to Simone de Alba and Fox 40! Paul Robins: Each year the rate of financial exploitation is extremely high, with one in 20 older adults saying they've been mistreated. Simone de Alba is in the newsroom now with the tips on how to prevent this kind of financial abuse. Simone de Alba: Paul, thank you for joining me today. I've got Michael Hackard with Hackard Law in Mather. Thank you for joining us today. Thank you for having me. This is really, really interesting, also startling - s[...]

This is Your Legal Rights. I'm Chuck Finney. Happy New Year, everyone. Our topic is undue influence and elder abuse. What they are, how to identify them, and what to do if undue influence and financial abuse are suspected. It's my pleasure to have with me Michael Hackard, founder of Hackard Law, a law firm which focuses on estates and trusts litigation. Mr. Hackard is a member of the trust and the state section of the State Bar of California. He's the author of The Wolf at the Door: Undue Influence and Elder Financial Abuse. It's available in paperback and Kindle on Amazon Books, and Mr. Hackard's law firm is in Mather, Sacramento County, California. This segment of your legal rights is made possible by the trust and estate section o[...]

The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America trains healthcare professionals in dementia-specific care, provides free and confidential memory screenings to over 3 million people and provides support, counseling and education to thousands of people. That’s why Hackard Law supports AFA. In fact the profits from my new book, The Wolf at the Door: Undue Influence and Elder Financial Abuse are being contributed to the EFA. Over 5.1 million American’s have Alzheimer’s disease – 1/3 men and 2/3 women. It is the 6th leading cause of death in the United States. In our practice focused on estate, trust and elder financial abuse litigation in California we see a high number of cases where an elder with Alzheimer’s has been victimized. Am[...]

Every year in Los Angeles, elder financial abuse defrauds our senior citizens, stealing away hard-earned retirement income and decades of savings. Families, communities, and the local economy all suffer from this form of financial exploitation. There's plenty more than money involved, though - the well-being of our elderly loved ones and neighbors is on the line. As estate and trust litigation attorneys, we represent beneficiaries and heirs whose rights have been violated, and if necessary we hold perpetrators of elder financial abuse accountable in a court of law. As the largest and most populous county in California, Los Angeles also has a growing number of senior citizens. In order to prevent elder financial abuse, LA residents have to [...]

Hackard Law is a California trust, estate and elder financial abuse litigation law firm. Our lawyers respond to about 1000 new prospective client calls per year. Sometimes we think that we’ve seen and heard about everything. And, of course we haven’t. But I do want to talk about something that I’ve seen and heard a lot about. That is the abuse or outright fraud associated with a California durable power of attorney. So let’s start with what it is – A durable power of attorney is a document signed by a principal to authorize another person to act for him or her with regard to financial and legal affairs. The power can be revoked at any time as long as the maker is competent. For decades Flying magazine has had a column titled “[...]

False accusers should be held accountable for their actions when they commit elder financial abuse and hurt innocent people. So when a child of an elder alienates his mother or father against his siblings who are fellow beneficiaries, and as a result there is elder financial abuse, the false accuser is responsible for the harm. Now let me tell you the story of what often happens in Sacramento, Alameda or Los Angeles financial abuse cases. An elderly parent is vulnerable to the undue influence of someone close – in many cases a child – one of two or more siblings. The parent may lack capacity or may simply be sick, disabled, injured, or aged. The parent may lack education, with impaired mental abilities, have emotional distress or be d[...]

Family members of elderly victims of undue influence - a phenomenon often connected with elder financial abuse - recoil in disbelief when learning of an elder's coerced gift or bequest property transfers. This disbelief gives way to hurt and outrage as the estate thief makes brazen, insincere and false claims to the estate. It’s our job as probate and trust litigation attorneys to systematically gather supporting evidence to overcome the actions of estate thieves. Developing these cases often depends on claims of undue influence. "Undue influence" in California means excessive persuasion that causes another person to act or refrain from acting by overcoming that person's free will and results in inequity. California law considers a num[...]

Dysfunctional families seem part and parcel of probate, estate, trust and elder financial abuse litigation. There’s no getting around it. Marks of such dysfunction include the assignment of blame, threats of exile or abandonment, dominant and subservient relationships, grudges, disloyalty, winner/loser approaches to conflict and fear of loss. Family members with active addictions - alcoholics and drug (legal or illegal) addicts are common participants in the drama endemic to estate and trust lawsuits. So what should you expect when a trustee, executor, heir, beneficiary or elder financial abuser has a destructive addiction? You can start by assuming that the addict is in denial over his or her addiction issues and wrongdoing stemming f[...]