Under California financial elder abuse law, you must prove four elements to establish undue influence: (1) vulnerability of the victim, (2) apparent authority of the wrongdoer, (3) actions and tactics of the wrongdoer, and (4) an inequitable result. Two of these elements stand out over the rest: vulnerability and actions and tactics. Actions and tactics refers […]
The most difficult undue influence cases in California occurs when you want to take action while your parent is still alive. You may believe that your parent is being victimized by a wrongdoer through the use of undue influence, but taking action is complicated. We refer to these cases as the difficult, can’t miss undue influence […]
As lawyers, we have heard many people tell us their version of events that led up to a wrongly created Trust or Will. And one of the main issues we try to determine is whether there are facts to support an undue influence claim. Overturning a Will or Trust based on undue influence is not so […]
It can be hard to distinguish between influence and undue influence. People influence each other every day, but that does not make it undue. Undue influence is far more sinister. Legally speaking, undue influence means the complete replacement of the victim’s intent with the intent of the wrongdoer. Instead of a document reflecting what I want, it […]
It can be hard to convince and judge or jury to rule in your favor unless you have a good back-story. That means a good reason why someone would have left you assets had they not been unduly influenced. In this video, partner Keith A. Davidson describes the need for a good story to go […]
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.
A Better Standard for Undue Influence. Staring January 1, 2014, the California Welfare and Institutions Code section 15610.70 created a “new” standard for undue influence. It is not really new because it simply codifies concepts that were previously known by way of judge-made common law. But for the first time, we have a four part […]
It’s all in the circumstances. Proving undue influence can be a tricky thing to do, especially since the person who was coerced is usually no longer alive to testify in court. Therefore, you have to use the next best thing: circumstantial evidence. In this video, we describe how to prove your undue influence claim in […]
