Trust Traps: Uncovering Elder Financial Abuse Schemes

I’m Michael Hackard, and it’s been more than 40 years since I fought my first will contest case in California courts.

Back then, we didn’t call it elder financial abuse—but that’s exactly what it was.

While I’ve been practicing law for decades, I really started to focus heavily on this area about ten years ago when these schemes became more sophisticated.

In my new book Inheritance Heists, I detail how modern predators use trust and authority to systematically steal entire family legacies.

What I’m sharing today comes from real cases I’ve handled—a compilation of schemes I’ve encountered over decades of practice.

This isn’t about strangers breaking down doors—this is about wolves already inside the house.

Over the years, I’ve seen the same pattern repeat itself in case after case.

Let me share what I’ve learned from representing families caught in what I call ‘Trust Traps’—the most dangerous form of elder financial abuse because it weaponizes the very relationships meant to protect our loved ones.

I’m thinking particularly of two widows I represented—both had helped their husbands build multimillion-dollar businesses in California, both became victims of sophisticated trust traps orchestrated by licensed professionals who should have protected them.

The Initial Setup: Months 1-6

Trust traps don’t start with demands for money.

They start with kindness. Here’s what the first phase looks like:

Red Flag #1: The Helpful Takeover

• Watch for trusted insiders who gradually assume control of daily financial activities
• It starts innocently—’Let me help you with those bills’—but soon they’re handling everything
• From grocery shopping to investment decisions, control expands systematically
• The victim feels grateful, not suspicious

Red Flag #2: New Best Friends

• Be suspicious when new relationships rapidly become central to major decisions
• These aren’t casual friendships—these are strategic relationships built for financial access
• The new friend becomes the primary social connection within months
• Other relationships are gradually discouraged or undermined

Red Flag #3: Professional Isolation

• One of the most dangerous signs: your loved one is isolated from longtime professional advisors
• Suddenly, the attorney they’ve used for 20 years is ‘too expensive’
• The accountant ‘doesn’t understand’ the new situation
• Financial planners are replaced with unfamiliar professionals

Red Flag #4: The Introduction Game

• Pay attention when potential beneficiaries introduce unfamiliar legal or financial professionals
• This isn’t coincidence—it’s coordination
• The new professionals often have prior relationships with the introducer
• Longtime advisors are systematically replaced

Red Flag #5: Routine Updates

• Watch for incremental changes to estate planning documents presented as ‘routine updates’
• Nothing about changing a will should be routine, especially when done repeatedly
• Small changes accumulate into major shifts in beneficiaries
• Each change is justified as necessary or beneficial

Red Flag #6: Grief Exploitation

• Perhaps most cruel: using isolation or grief to justify excluding family members
• ‘Your children don’t understand what you need right now’—classic manipulation language
• Recent loss or health scares are exploited to justify major changes
• Emotional vulnerability becomes a weapon against family relationships

The Psychology Behind Trust Traps

What makes these schemes so effective?

• They exploit our deepest human needs: connection, security, and independence
• Predators study their targets, learning fears, values, and weaknesses
• They don’t attack these vulnerabilities—they offer to protect them
• The victim feels rescued, not exploited

A Different Kind of Predator

Unlike street criminals, these predators often have professional credentials.

In one case, a caregiver slowly gained the trust of an elderly man recovering from surgery.

Within six months, she had convinced him that his adult children were ‘ungrateful’ and only wanted his money.

She helped him change his will three times, each version giving her more control.

By the time the family discovered what was happening, she had already transferred $200,000 from his accounts.

The man genuinely believed she was protecting him from his ‘greedy’ children.

This is just the beginning.

In Part 2, we’ll reveal how trust traps evolve into systematic financial entanglement, and I’ll share the specific warning signs that even experienced professionals miss.

If you’re concerned about an elderly loved one, don’t wait.

Subscribe now and hit the notification bell—because when it comes to trust traps, time is everything.

And remember, if you suspect elder financial abuse, contact Hackard Law immediately.

We fight these predators every day, and we know how to win.

Your family’s legacy is worth protecting.

Don’t let the wolves inside the door steal what generations worked to build.