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Los Angeles County has the largest elderly population of any county in California, with hundreds of licensed nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities serving residents across the region. Where the population of elderly residents is large, the opportunity for financial exploitation is also large. California law provides comprehensive civil remedies for elder financial abuse, including fee-shifting that makes it economically viable to pursue claims against well-funded institutional defendants. At The Elder Justice Firm, we handle elder financial abuse cases throughout Los Angeles County.
According to the California Attorney General's Division of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse, approximately 110,000 Californians live in about 1,300 licensed nursing homes, with another 150,000 or more living in residential care facilities for the elderly. This large population of often-cognitively-impaired, financially-vulnerable residents creates substantial opportunity for exploitation. Financial abuse of elders is both a civil matter and a criminal matter in California, and the AG's Division actively investigates and prosecutes financial crimes against elderly residents of care facilities.
Los Angeles County's nursing home population reflects the county's extraordinary demographic diversity. Residents come from every economic background, speak dozens of languages, and have widely varying levels of family involvement in their care. Financial exploitation in this context takes forms that sometimes exploit language barriers or cultural differences in how families approach financial disclosure. Residents whose family members live abroad or have limited English proficiency may be particularly vulnerable because the practical oversight that deters financial abuse is harder to maintain. A Los Angeles elder financial abuse attorney understands these dynamics and knows how to investigate exploitation across a wide range of facility types and resident populations.
Under Welfare and Institutions Code Section 15610.30, elder financial abuse covers taking, secreting, appropriating, obtaining, or retaining an elder's property for a wrongful purpose or with intent to defraud, and also covers assisting others in doing so. The statute explicitly includes the bad faith exercise of a power of attorney and the use of undue influence, a legal concept that captures the psychological manipulation of an elder through their relationship of dependency and trust with the abuser. This broad definition ensures that financial exploitation is covered regardless of the specific mechanism used.
Staff members who provide daily care have routine access to residents' personal spaces, wallets, purses, and financial items. Cash theft, stolen debit and credit cards, and the misappropriation of jewelry and other valuables are frequently reported in Los Angeles nursing home settings. Residents with dementia often cannot report the theft, making detection entirely dependent on family vigilance.
Some staff members or administrators gain access to residents' financial information and use it to open new accounts, make online purchases, or transfer funds. When financial statements are sent to the facility's address rather than to a family member, these transactions can go undetected for extended periods.
Powers of attorney obtained in connection with a nursing home admission are sometimes abused. An agent who is supposed to manage an elder's finances for the elder's benefit instead makes transactions that serve the agent's own interests. Transfers of real property, changes to investment accounts, and large gift transactions are patterns that merit investigation.
Some nursing home staff or administrators cultivate financial relationships with cognitively impaired residents and then induce them to make estate planning changes that benefit the staff member or someone in their network. Courts in Los Angeles County can set aside these documents when they resulted from undue influence and when the resident lacked adequate cognitive capacity to make the decision freely.
One of the most practically important features of California's financial elder abuse statute is its fee-shifting provision under Welfare and Institutions Code Section 15657.5. When a financial elder abuse claim succeeds, the court awards attorney's fees to the plaintiff's attorneys, paid by the defendant. This provision matters because it allows families to pursue claims against well-funded nursing home corporations or individuals who might otherwise be judgment-proof or who might try to outlast a family's legal resources. The fee-shifting provision levels the playing field and makes it financially viable for experienced elder abuse attorneys to take on cases that might be cost-prohibitive under a standard contingency arrangement alone.
Civil financial abuse claims in Los Angeles recover all misappropriated property plus interest, and attorney's fees are payable by the defendant under Welfare and Institutions Code Section 15657.5. The four-year discovery-based statute of limitations under Welfare and Institutions Code Section 15657.7 applies. Punitive damages are available when the conduct was malicious or fraudulent. Criminal referrals to the California AG are appropriate in cases of deliberate theft or systematic fraud.
California's financial elder abuse statute applies to any person who exploits an elder's property, including family members. The statute applies regardless of the relationship between the abuser and the victim. Family member financial abuse claims proceed under the same legal framework as claims against nursing home staff.
Yes. The estate's personal representative can pursue financial elder abuse claims that accrued before the resident's death. If the exploitation contributed to the resident's death or occurred as part of a pattern of abuse that also involved neglect, the financial abuse claim may be pursued alongside a wrongful death claim.
Gather all available financial records, document what you know about unauthorized transactions or missing property, and consult an elder abuse attorney. An attorney can issue litigation holds to preserve electronic records, subpoena financial institution records, and coordinate with law enforcement or the AG's office when criminal conduct is involved.
If your loved one has been financially exploited in a Los Angeles nursing home or care facility, you have legal options, and The Elder Justice Firm is ready to help. We investigate financial abuse claims, pursue recovery of misappropriated assets, and hold institutions and individuals accountable. All cases handled on contingency, meaning no fees unless we recover for you. Contact us today for a free, confidential consultation.
We have won multi-million-dollar cases against public and private facilities on behalf of our clients. As a result, many institutions and their insurance companies opt to settle with us, based on our attorneys’ reputations.
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