Lawyer Listings Add, Update, or Remove Listings

Elder Abuse and Adult Protective Services

What the law counts as abuse, neglect or exploitation of an older or dependent adult, who must report it, what Adult Protective Services can and cannot do, and the civil and criminal remedies that follow.

Informational only - this is not legal advice. These definitions explain general legal vocabulary in plain English. They are not advice about your situation, reading them creates no attorney-client relationship, and the law differs from state to state and changes over time. For advice you can rely on, speak to a lawyer licensed in your state.

What it means

Every state has an adult protective statute that defines abuse, neglect, self-neglect and financial exploitation of an older adult or an adult with a disability, creates an agency to receive and investigate reports, and names the people who must report suspected abuse - health care workers, social workers, care facility staff, and in many states bankers, clergy and anyone at all. Financial exploitation, a large and growing category, covers the misuse of a power of attorney, undue influence over a will or a deed, scams, and family members taking money or property; several states now let banks and brokers delay a suspicious transaction and notify a trusted contact or the agency.

Adult Protective Services is a social service agency, not a police force or a court. It investigates, offers services, and can arrange emergency shelter or medical care; where the adult has capacity and declines help, in most states the agency must respect that refusal, which surprises families. Where the adult lacks capacity the agency can petition for a protective order, an emergency intervention or a guardianship. Abuse in a nursing home or other licensed facility is handled by the state's long-term care ombudsman and licensing agency as well, and federal law requires facility staff to report a reasonable suspicion of a crime against a resident to law enforcement.

Remedies run on three tracks. Criminal statutes in every state make abuse, neglect and exploitation of a vulnerable adult specific offences, often with enhanced penalties. Civil elder abuse statutes in a number of states give the victim, or the estate after death, a claim with enhanced damages and attorney's fees beyond ordinary negligence, and courts can set aside transfers procured by undue influence, freeze assets, and remove an agent under a power of attorney. Federal law funds the state systems and adds a federal offence for certain schemes targeting older adults, but the operative law is the state's.

Where this comes from

Adult protective services, mandatory reporting and civil elder abuse remedies are state law; representative statutes are the California Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act, Welfare and Institutions Code § 15600 and following (§ 15657 provides enhanced remedies), and Florida Statutes chapter 415 and § 825.102 and following (criminal offences). Federal law: the Elder Justice Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1397j-1397m-5; 42 U.S.C. § 1320b-25 (reporting of crimes in long-term care facilities); the Older Americans Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3058i (state elder abuse prevention programmes); and the Senior Safe Act, 12 U.S.C. § 3423 (financial institutions reporting suspected exploitation).

When people hire a lawyer for this

Anyone who suspects abuse of an older adult should report it to the state adult protective services line, or to the ombudsman if the adult is in a facility, and to the police if a crime is in progress - reporting is free, is protected from retaliation, and does not require proof. A lawyer is needed when money or property has been taken, a power of attorney or a will has been manipulated, or a family member needs to seek guardianship or a protective order, because those remedies run through the courts and the evidence disappears quickly.

Find a lawyer for this in your state

Choose your state. Each link opens the directory page for the city in that state with the most currently published law firms in this practice area; a +n beside the city is how many other cities in the state also have one. The list is generated when this page loads, so a state whose listings have lapsed drops out rather than becoming a dead link.

« All glossary terms

Part of the LawyerLand plain-English legal glossary. Definitions are written from primary sources - statutes and court rules - and each entry states the authority it rests on, or says plainly when the doctrine is state law with no national rule.

If you cannot afford a lawyer, civil legal aid programmes provide free help with many of these problems: civil legal aid programmes by state.

Related free reference tools: statute of limitations for a personal-injury claim, by state, quoted from each state's official text - part of LawyerLand's legal reference tools.