Elder Abuse / Special Needs Abuse

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Elder Abuse is defined under California Welfare and Institution's Code Section 15610.07, as abuse of an elderly person or a dependent adult.

It is defined as neglecting, exploiting, or inflicting painful or harmful mistreatment on a person 65 years old or older. The statute also applies to the mistreatment of anyone 18 to 64 years old who is classified as a dependent individual. It can be committed by anyone, such as a nursing home worker, a family member, or a person providing respite care.

Isolation and abandonment are examples of elder abuse. In addition, keeping the elderly person from seeing others or leaving the elderly person without needed care that they would need is another example of elder abuse. One other example of elder abuse is financial elder abuse. Financial elder abuse includes stealing money from them, improper use of bank accounts, real estate, or other property through fraud or breach of fiduciary duty to safeguard their assets. Many people who are in control of an elderly want to take advantage of a person's Will or Estate commit financial elder abuse.​