Elder Abuse Lawyer in Northern California

Table of Contents

Does California elder abuse law cover home caregivers and residential care homes, or only nursing homes?

It reaches well beyond nursing homes: California’s definition of a care custodian includes home health agencies, residential care facilities for the elderly, adult day care and agencies providing publicly funded in-home supportive services, along with their administrators and employees, including support and maintenance staff (Welfare and Institutions Code section 15610.17). The Law Offices of J. Chrisp handles many elder abuse cases.

California’s elder abuse law protects two groups. Elders are people living in California who are 65 or older (section 15610.27). Dependent adults are residents aged 18 to 64, whether or not they live independently, with physical or mental limitations that restrict their ability to carry out normal activities or to protect their rights (section 15610.23). The firm offers a free consultation, and there is no fee unless we win.

Care settings the law covers beyond nursing homes

The care custodian definition in section 15610.17 also names, among others:

Twenty-four-hour health facilities and clinics
Community care facilities
Adult day health care centers
Alzheimer’s Disease day care resource centers
Respite care facilities and foster homes
Regional centers for persons with developmental disabilities

The list ends with a catch-all: any other protective, public, sectarian, mental health, or private assistance or advocacy agency or person providing health or social services to elders or dependent adults.

Neglect is not tied to that list. Under section 15610.57, neglect covers any person with the care or custody of an elder or dependent adult who negligently fails to use the care a reasonable person in a like position would use.

Restraints, medication and isolation

Physical abuse covers more than assault and battery. Under section 15610.63(f), it includes using a physical or chemical restraint or psychotropic medication in any of these ways:

For punishment
For longer than ordered by a California-licensed physician who is providing the person’s medical care
For any purpose that physician did not authorize

Isolation is also a form of abuse. Section 15610.43 defines it to include:

Acts intentionally committed to prevent, and that do prevent, an elder or dependent adult from receiving mail or telephone calls
Falsely telling a caller or visitor that the person is not present or does not want contact, against the person’s express wishes, to keep the person from family, friends or concerned persons
False imprisonment
Physically restraining the person to prevent meetings with visitors

These acts are presumed not to be isolation when a California-licensed physician caring for the person gives the instructions as part of medical care. That presumption can be rebutted. The acts are not isolation when done in response to a reasonably perceived threat of danger to property or physical safety.

Financial abuse of an elder or dependent adult

Under section 15610.30, financial abuse occurs when a person or entity takes, secretes, appropriates, obtains or retains an elder’s or dependent adult’s real or personal property for a wrongful use or with intent to defraud. Helping someone else do so also counts. So does taking or keeping the property by undue influence, as defined in section 15610.70.

One way conduct counts as a wrongful use is if the person or entity knew or should have known it was likely to be harmful to the elder or dependent adult.

A lawsuit for damages for financial abuse under sections 15657.5 and 15657.6 must be filed within four years after the plaintiff discovers, or with reasonable diligence should have discovered, the facts that make up the abuse (section 15657.7).

Standards of proof and added remedies

Claim	What must be proven	What the law adds
Physical abuse, neglect or abandonment (section 15657)	Liability, and recklessness, oppression, fraud or malice in committing the abuse, both by clear and convincing evidence, unless section 15657.02 applies	The court must award reasonable attorney’s fees and costs, in addition to other remedies
Financial abuse (section 15657.5(a))	Liability, by a preponderance of the evidence	The court must award reasonable attorney’s fees and costs, in addition to compensatory damages and other remedies
Financial abuse with recklessness, oppression, fraud or malice (section 15657.5(b))	Liability by a preponderance of the evidence, and the recklessness, oppression, fraud or malice by clear and convincing evidence	The damage limits in Code of Civil Procedure section 377.34 do not apply

In a physical abuse or neglect claim, damages or fees under section 15657 can be imposed on an employer only if the standards in Civil Code section 3294(a) for punitive damages against an employer for an employee’s acts are met.

Section 15657.02, which Assembly Bill 251 (Chapter 433, Statutes of 2025) added, lets the court apply the lower preponderance standard to a section 15657 claim in two situations. One is when a judge or arbitrator finds the defendant committed spoliation of evidence. The other is when the plaintiff wins a discovery motion based on the defendant’s spoliation. In both situations, section 15657.02(d) limits this to records or evidence that are material to the claim and that the defendant was specifically required to maintain or preserve. The section applies only to claims against certain licensed residential care facilities for the elderly, adult community care facilities and skilled nursing facilities. Facilities owned or operated by a general acute care, acute psychiatric or special hospital are excluded, as are facilities holding certain other licenses.

Reporting suspected abuse in California

Call 911 if someone is in immediate danger. According to the California Department of Social Services, every county has an Adult Protective Services (APS) agency. County APS agencies investigate reports involving elders and dependent adults who live in private homes. APS has its own eligibility ages: 60 and older, or 18 to 59 for dependent adults who are disabled. Callers to 1-833-401-0832 who enter a 5-digit zip code are connected to their county’s APS.

For abuse in nursing homes, the Office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman has jurisdiction to investigate. The Ombudsman serves residents of long-term care facilities of any age. Reports can also be made to local law enforcement.

The firm and its offices

Jesse Chrisp, the firm’s founding attorney, was born in Santa Rosa and grew up in Lake County. The firm’s service area covers Sonoma, Napa, Lake and Mendocino counties and the San Francisco Bay Area. The firm’s offices are:

Lower Lake (main office): 9667 Highway 29, Lower Lake, CA 95457, (707) 994-0529
Santa Rosa: 3558 Round Barn Blvd, Suite 200, Santa Rosa, CA 95403
San Francisco: 1330 Bush Street, Suite 9D, San Francisco, CA 94109

The firm has Spanish-speaking staff.

Frequently asked questions

Is a 60-year-old hospital patient protected by California’s elder abuse law?

Possibly. Section 15610.23(b) treats any person between 18 and 64 who is admitted as an inpatient to a 24-hour health facility as a dependent adult. The statute uses Health and Safety Code sections 1250, 1250.2 and 1250.3 to define a 24-hour health facility.

Can a gift, a contract or a will provision be financial abuse?

It can, if the rest of the definition is met, such as a wrongful use, intent to defraud or undue influence. Under section 15610.30(c), property is taken or retained when an elder or dependent adult is deprived of any property right, including through an agreement, a donative transfer or a testamentary bequest. That is true whether the property is held directly or by a representative, such as a conservator, trustee or attorney-in-fact.

Does the elder abuse law apply to a medical mistake by a doctor or hospital?

It depends on what the claim is based on. Section 15657.2 sends a claim against a health care provider that is based on the provider’s alleged professional negligence to the laws written specifically for professional negligence claims. Code of Civil Procedure section 340.5 supplies the definition of a health care provider used in that section.

Can a conservator’s fees be recovered in an elder abuse case?

They can be part of the costs award. When a court awards attorney’s fees and costs under section 15657 or 15657.5, the costs include reasonable fees for a conservator’s services, if any, devoted to litigating the claim.

If an elder or dependent adult in your family was abused or neglected, call the Law Offices of J. Chrisp 24/7 at 877-J-CHRISP (877-524-7477) for a free consultation. There is no fee unless we win.

About the Law Offices of J. Chrisp

The Law Offices of J. Chrisp is a Northern California personal injury law firm founded by attorney Jesse Chrisp, who was raised in Lake County. The firm represents injured people, with offices in Lower Lake (main office), Santa Rosa and San Francisco, and serves Sonoma, Napa, Lake and Mendocino counties and the San Francisco Bay Area. Consultations are free, the firm works on a contingency fee with no fee unless the firm wins, and the phone is answered 24/7 at 877-J-CHRISP (877-524-7477). The firm was named to Best Law Firms 2026 (Tier 1, Santa Rosa, Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs). Jesse Chrisp has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America since 2024 and selected to Super Lawyers from 2023 to 2026.