Category: Financial Elder Abuse

Is Your Step Parent Pulling the Strings

Proving a step parent unduly influenced your parent can be nearly impossible, until recently. Changes in California law may make this type of claim easier to bring. In this video, partner Stewart Albertson discusses the ways in which to bring an undue influence claim against step parents.

elder abuse

The Brooke Astor estate in New York provides insight into the Financial Elder Abuse laws that are being used, and abused, more often as more people age. In this video, we describe the important issue of California Financial Elder Abuse.

frozen assests

Why can’t you just freeze Trust assets as soon as you file your Trust lawsuit? Well sometimes you can, but other times it is not so easy. In fact, in nearly every case you have to start from the point that assets are not generally going to be frozen once a lawsuit is filed. Freezing […]

lawyer

If you have been disinherited, or your inheritance has been stolen from you in some way, you have just one chance to fight for your legacy. But not fighting is also an option, it all depends on what you want to do. A few years ago, a client told me that he wanted to fight […]

probate file

Trust and will cases are heard in Probate court and there are some strange rules that apply. The rules can be hard to master because some rules for filing and pleadings are contained in the Probate Code while others are taken from the Code of Civil Procedure. This hybrid of rules makes for a lot […]

Overcoming Hurdles

Ask most lawyers in California how hard it is to prove up an undue influence claim in a Trust Contest or Will Contest. The answer is likely to be that it is difficult to prove undue influence in these types of cases. But that’s most likely due to these lawyers thinking about proving an undue […]

Shark Lawyer

Let’s face it, lawyers have bad reputations, including being greedy opportunists, lazy, driving sports cars, and not really caring about their clients’ needs. I think part of that has to do with the surrounding circumstances—almost always bad—when it comes to hiring a lawyer. But our not so good reputations also come from not properly setting […]

There are four basic elements that must be proven in a Bay Area Financial Elder Abuse lawsuit: 1. the vulnerability of the victim, 2. the elder abuser’s apparent authority, 3. the actions or tactics used by the elder abuser, and 4. the equity of the result. I’ve provided more information on California Financial Elder Abuse […]

A growing problem in the Bay Area has to do with financial abusers taking advantage of vulnerable and dependent adults–in many cases parents. California’s Elder Abuse Act was passed to hold financial abusers responsible for taking advantage of vulnerable and dependent adults. Unfortunately, with an aging population, and with significant values of real property and […]

Financial Elder Abuse

Trust and Will Contests in Probate Court Traditionally Trust and Will beneficiaries who have been written out of their parents’, family members’, or friends’ Trust or Will were limited to filing a Trust Contest or a Will Contest in a Bay Area Probate Court of the county where the parent, family member, or friend died. […]