California Elder Abuse Law: Penal Code 368, Civil Remedies, and Reporting

California elder abuse law punishes mistreatment of older and vulnerable adults through criminal penalties under Penal Code 368, provides civil remedies that let victims recover damages and attorney’s fees, requires certain professionals to report suspected abuse, and gives victims access to protective orders. The criminal penalties range from short jail stays for low-level misdemeanors to nine years in state prison when a victim 70 or older suffers great bodily injury.

Who the Law Protects

Two groups fall within these protections. An “elder” is any California resident aged 65 or older.¹ A “dependent adult” is a California resident between 18 and 64 with physical or mental limitations that restrict their ability to carry out normal activities or protect their own rights, including people with developmental disabilities, anyone whose abilities have diminished due to age, and anyone in that age range admitted as an inpatient to a 24-hour health facility.²

The protections, penalties, and reporting obligations in this article apply equally to both groups. When California law refers to elder abuse, it almost always means abuse of elders or dependent adults.

What Counts as Abuse

The Welfare and Institutions Code groups abuse of an elder or dependent adult into three broad categories:³

Physical abuse, neglect, abandonment, isolation, abduction, and other treatment that causes physical harm, pain, or mental suffering.
A care custodian withholding goods or services the elder or dependent adult needs to avoid physical harm or mental suffering.
Financial abuse: taking or keeping an elder’s property for a wrongful purpose, with intent to defraud, or through undue influence.

Financial abuse has its own definition because it is one of the most common and least visible forms. It occurs when someone takes, hides, or keeps an elder’s real or personal property either for a wrongful use or with intent to defraud, assists someone else in doing so, or obtains property through undue influence. A person has acted for a “wrongful use” if they knew or should have known the conduct was likely to harm the elder.⁴ That standard is broader than outright fraud. A family member draining a parent’s account while knowing it will leave them unable to pay for care can meet it without any elaborate scheme.

Criminal Penalties Under Penal Code 368

Penal Code 368 structures elder abuse crimes around three variables: how dangerous the circumstances were, whether the abuse was physical or financial, and whether the offender was the victim’s caretaker.

Abuse Under Dangerous Circumstances

When someone willfully causes an elder or dependent adult to suffer, inflicts unjustifiable pain or mental suffering, or allows the person’s health to be injured under circumstances likely to produce great bodily harm or death, prosecutors can charge the offense as either a misdemeanor or a felony.⁵

As a misdemeanor: up to one year in county jail, a fine of up to $6,000, or both.
As a felony: two, three, or four years in state prison.

The deciding phrase is “likely to produce great bodily harm or death.” That turns on the conditions the elder was placed in, not on what ultimately happened. Leaving a bedridden person without food or water in extreme heat creates qualifying conditions even if help arrives in time.

When Great Bodily Injury Actually Occurs

If the victim suffers great bodily injury during a felony-level offense, the prison term increases:⁵

Victim under 70: an additional three years in state prison.
Victim 70 or older: an additional five years in state prison.

With the base term, a felony conviction involving great bodily injury to someone 70 or older can carry up to nine years.

Less Dangerous Circumstances

The same type of conduct under circumstances not likely to produce great bodily harm or death is a straight misdemeanor. First offenses carry standard misdemeanor penalties up to one year in county jail. A second or subsequent conviction under this section carries a fine of up to $2,000, up to one year in county jail, or both.⁵

Financial Abuse Penalties

Financial crimes against elders have their own schedule, with parallel subsections for non-caretakers and caretakers. The penalty turns on the value of what was taken:⁵

Property worth more than $950 is a wobbler. As a misdemeanor, up to one year in county jail and a fine of up to $2,500. As a felony, two to four years and a fine of up to $10,000.
Property worth $950 or less is a misdemeanor, with up to one year in county jail and a fine of up to $1,000.

These provisions reach theft, embezzlement, forgery, fraud, and identity theft when the victim is an elder or dependent adult and the offender knew or should have known the victim’s status.⁶

Civil Remedies for Victims

Criminal cases punish the offender. They do not compensate the victim. California’s Elder Abuse Act creates civil remedies that go further than an ordinary personal injury lawsuit.

Physical Abuse and Neglect Claims

A victim who proves by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant committed physical abuse, neglect, or abandonment with recklessness, oppression, fraud, or malice is entitled to reasonable attorney’s fees and costs on top of standard compensatory damages. The mandatory fee award is what makes these cases viable to bring on contingency. Enhanced remedies also lift certain limitations on damages that would otherwise apply in wrongful death or survival actions, so if the victim dies, the estate can potentially recover more than a standard lawsuit would allow.⁷

Financial Abuse Claims

The threshold for enhanced remedies in financial abuse cases is lower. A victim who proves financial abuse by a preponderance of the evidence automatically receives reasonable attorney’s fees and costs, with no need to show recklessness or malice. If the victim also proves by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant acted with recklessness, oppression, fraud, or malice, further remedies open up, including removal of damage caps that would otherwise limit recovery. Punitive damages remain available under standard Civil Code provisions.⁸

Deadlines to File

Physical abuse claims generally follow the two-year personal injury statute of limitations. Financial abuse claims have a four-year window. Either deadline can shift based on when the victim discovered or should have discovered the abuse, which often matters in financial exploitation cases where the conduct was hidden.

Protective Orders

An elder or dependent adult who has suffered abuse can petition for a protective order that works much like a restraining order. A conservator, someone holding power of attorney, a guardian ad litem, or another legally authorized representative can also petition on the victim’s behalf, and in certain circumstances a county Adult Protective Services agency can file for a victim with an impaired ability to recognize the danger or who has given written authorization.⁹

The order can prohibit the abuser from contacting or coming near the victim, exclude the abuser from the victim’s home (with some limits if the abuser holds sole title or lease), and restrain other conduct the court finds necessary. After a full hearing the court can also find that specific debts resulted from financial abuse and issue orders to stop isolation of the victim.⁹ Orders can be issued on an emergency ex parte basis and then extended after a noticed hearing, so protection can be in place within days.

Mandatory Reporting

California requires certain people to report suspected abuse. Mandated reporters include anyone who has assumed full or part-time responsibility for the care or custody of an elder or dependent adult, whether paid or not. The category covers administrators and licensed staff at care facilities, health practitioners, clergy members, Adult Protective Services employees, and law enforcement officers.¹⁰

A mandated reporter who observes, learns of, or reasonably suspects abuse must make an initial report by telephone or confidential internet reporting tool immediately or as soon as practically possible, followed by a written or internet report within two working days if the initial call was by phone.¹⁰ Reports for abuse in the community go to the local county Adult Protective Services office or local law enforcement. Reports involving long-term care facilities typically go to law enforcement and the relevant licensing agency.

Failing to report is a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in county jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both. If the failure was willful and the abuse resulted in death or great bodily injury, the penalty rises to up to one year in county jail, a fine of up to $5,000, or both.¹⁰ Reporters who file a report in good faith are immune from civil and criminal liability for making it; non-mandated reporters share that immunity except where they knowingly file a false report.¹¹

Steps That Reduce the Risk

The strongest defense against elder abuse is making it harder to commit in the first place. Setting up a durable power of attorney while the elder still has capacity lets them pick a trusted person to manage their finances if they lose the ability to do so themselves, which keeps a court-appointed conservator from stepping in by default.

Practical measures help too. Account alerts at the elder’s bank can flag unusual transactions in real time. A written inventory of accounts and assets, shared with a trusted family member who reviews it periodically, makes quiet draining much harder. Keeping the elder in regular contact with more than one person is one of the most effective safeguards. Isolation is both a form of abuse and the condition that makes every other form easier to carry out.

1
California Legislative Information. California Welfare and Institutions Code WIC 15610.27
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California Legislative Information. California Welfare and Institutions Code WIC 15610.23
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California Legislative Information. California Welfare and Institutions Code WIC 15610.07
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California Legislative Information. California Welfare and Institutions Code WIC 15610.30
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California Legislative Information. California Penal Code PEN 368
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California Department of Justice. Elder Abuse Laws (Criminal)
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California Legislative Information. California Welfare and Institutions Code WIC 15657
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California Legislative Information. California Welfare and Institutions Code WIC 15657.5
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California Legislative Information. California Welfare and Institutions Code WIC 15657.03
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California Legislative Information. California Welfare and Institutions Code WIC 15630
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California Legislative Information. California Welfare and Institutions Code WIC 15634