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From Brain Tumor to Advocate: Why Michael Hackard Fights for Trust, Estate, and Elder Abuse Clients
Why I Do This Work
I am Michael Hackard, founder of Hackard Law, and I don’t share the story of why I practice law the way I do lightly. Over five decades of practice, I have fought for families in Sacramento, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Los Angeles who are navigating some of the hardest moments of their lives – trust disputes, estate fraud, and elder financial abuse. I have authored four books on inheritance protection and produced more than 1,000 educational videos that have reached over seven million viewers. But none of that work means as much to me as the personal journey that shaped it.
In 1992, when the person’s career was at its peak, a routine CT scan showed a brain tumor. Everything changed after that: surgery, being disabled, losing our home and other valuable things, and having a very bad reaction to a dangerous drug. That event did not end my career as a lawyer. It changed its path. It helped me see my purpose in a way that no amount of success in court could.
Hackard Law takes qualified cases on a contingency fee basis, meaning there are no upfront costs to you. If you believe your family has been harmed by trust misconduct, estate fraud, or elder financial abuse, call us at (916) 313-3030.
Quick Summary
Michael Hackard’s personal experience with a brain tumor and a dangerous pharmaceutical drug transformed his legal practice and deepened his commitment to clients facing life-altering challenges. Hackard Law now focuses on trust, estate, and elder financial abuse litigation throughout California.
- Michael Hackard survived a brain tumor diagnosis in 1992 and a near-fatal drug reaction during recovery.
- His personal crisis led him to represent clients harmed by pharmaceutical companies – and ultimately to trust and estate litigation.
- Hackard Law serves clients across Sacramento, the Bay Area, and Los Angeles.
- The firm takes qualified cases on a contingency fee basis with no upfront costs.
- Decades of hard-won insight inform every case the firm litigates.
A Career Built on Unexpected Turns
In 1992, Michael Hackard was a partner in one of Sacramento’s leading land use law firms. The practice was thriving. Life included European travel, a pressurized twin-engine airplane, and a home where political and charitable fundraisers were a regular occurrence. Then came the headaches – dismissed at first as nothing serious, managed with aspirin and Tylenol.
Then some strange things happened. Skin irritations that wouldn’t go away. Waking up to things that didn’t make sense. Then there was an event at work one day that wouldn’t go away. Amnesia in parts. Fear among coworkers. His wife wouldn’t agree to a movie nite; she insisted on going to the doctor instead. A Cat scan was done after that visit. A brain tumor was found on the CT scan.
Surgery came quickly. So did disability. The family sold their home, sold the airplane, and downsized to a rental. The road back was steep – made steeper by a near-fatal reaction to an anti-seizure medication that was later pulled from the market by the FDA.
From Patient to Plaintiff’s Attorney
Rather than retreat from the law entirely, Michael Hackard found a new direction. He left his firm, built a smaller one, and took a lead role in litigation against the drug company responsible for the dangerous medication that had nearly cost him his life. That case was won. It opened a new chapter – representing people harmed by pharmaceutical drugs and, in time, people harmed by those who exploit trust, estate, and elder financial vulnerabilities.
The experience of being a patient – of facing a diagnosis that strips away certainty and control – gave Hackard something no law school curriculum could provide. He understood, from the inside, what it means to feel powerless in the face of an institution or an individual with more resources and more leverage. That understanding drives how Hackard Law approaches every case today.
For families dealing with elder financial exploitation, that insight matters. It means working with an attorney who does not treat a client’s crisis as an abstraction.
Case Pattern: A family member recovering from a serious medical event discovers that a sibling, acting as trustee during the illness, has transferred significant trust assets to personal accounts. By the time the recovering family member is well enough to investigate, months have passed and documentation is incomplete. Hackard Law’s approach in similar patterns focuses on forensic reconstruction of transactions and early court intervention to freeze further dissipation.
What a Brain Tumor Teaches About Elder Financial Abuse
The connection between Michael Hackard’s personal history and his focus on elder financial abuse in Sacramento is not coincidental. Cognitive vulnerability – whether caused by illness, aging, medication, or injury – creates opportunity for those who would take advantage. Hackard Law litigates cases where that opportunity was seized at the expense of heirs, beneficiaries, and elder abuse victims.
California law provides meaningful remedies for victims of elder financial abuse, including the recovery of double damages and attorney fees in qualifying cases. Understanding those remedies – and knowing how to pursue them – requires experience built case by case over years of litigation. You can learn more about those remedies through Hackard Law’s resource on civil remedies for elder financial abuse.
A family pilgrimage to Lourdes after Michael Hackard’s surgery – a trip made in search of courage and renewed purpose – reflects something that still runs through the firm’s work today: a commitment to standing with people in their most difficult moments, not just processing their legal problems.
Case Pattern: An elderly parent with a recent cognitive diagnosis executes a new trust amendment that dramatically favors one child over others. After the parent’s death, the excluded children discover that the amendment was signed during a period when the parent was heavily medicated and isolated from family contact. Cases following this pattern often turn on medical records, witness testimony, and the legal standards governing capacity and undue influence under California law.
Representing Clients Across California
Hackard Law serves clients throughout California, with deep roots in Sacramento County and the surrounding region. The firm also handles matters in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles, traveling to clients and courts as the case demands. Over the course of his career, Michael Hackard has represented clients in 31 states – a reach that reflects both the complexity of modern estate structures and the trust families place in his counsel.
For Sacramento County matters specifically, the firm’s work in Sacramento County probate litigation spans contested trusts, trustee removal, elder financial abuse claims, and inheritance disputes involving real property. The firm’s Sacramento estate lawyer practice is grounded in decades of local court experience.
For decades, I have stood with families who did not choose the fight they are in. I have seen the financial toll grow while families wait, hoping the situation resolves on its own. The fracture that runs through a family when inheritance is stolen or an elder is exploited often runs too deep for any judgment to fully mend. But the pursuit of accountability – and the recovery of what was taken – matters. A steadfast commitment to truth restores what dishonesty tried to steal.
Key Definitions
- Elder financial abuse: The wrongful taking, concealment, or appropriation of an elder’s money, property, or assets by a person the elder trusts.
- Undue influence: Pressure applied to a vulnerable person that overcomes their free will and causes them to make decisions they otherwise would not have made.
- Contingency fee: A fee arrangement in which the attorney is paid only if the client recovers – no upfront payment required.
- Trust litigation: Court proceedings to resolve disputes over the administration, validity, or distribution of a trust.
- Trustee: The person or institution responsible for managing trust assets according to the trust document and California law.
- Capacity: The legal standard for determining whether a person had sufficient mental ability to execute a will, trust, or other legal document.
- Double damages: A statutory remedy available in California elder financial abuse cases that allows courts to award twice the amount of actual damages proven.
- Probate court: The California court with jurisdiction over trust and estate disputes, conservatorships, and related matters.
- Fraudulent transfer: The movement of assets out of an estate or trust with the intent to defraud heirs, beneficiaries, and elder abuse victims.
- Pharmaceutical litigation: Legal action against drug manufacturers for harm caused by defective or dangerous medications.
What to Do Next
- Look for signs of financial exploitation early – unexplained account changes, new beneficiary designations, or sudden shifts in estate documents.
- Get copies of trust documents, account statements, and any recent amendments before records become harder to access.
- Try to avoid confronting a suspected abuser directly before speaking with an attorney – it can complicate the legal strategy.
- Document your concerns in writing, including dates, observations, and names of witnesses.
- Look into California’s elder financial abuse statutes, which provide stronger protections than general civil law – Hackard Law’s complete guide to elder financial exploitation is a good starting point.
- Try to gather medical records if cognitive decline or illness may be relevant to the dispute.
- Look for patterns of isolation – abusers often cut elders off from family before taking financial action.
- Get guidance on trustee accountability if you suspect a trustee is failing in their duties or concealing information about trust accounting.
- Call Hackard Law at (916) 313-3030 to discuss your situation with an attorney who has spent decades fighting for families in trust, estate, and elder financial abuse cases.
- Visit our contact page to reach out online and learn how Hackard Law may be able to help your family.
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Michael Hackard is the founder of Hackard Law, a California trust and estate litigation firm with more than five decades of experience protecting the inheritance rights of families across Sacramento, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Los Angeles. He is the author of six published books and has produced more than 1,000 educational videos with over seven million views.