Elder Abuse Laws in California: Penal Code 368 and EADACPA

Elder abuse laws in California run on two parallel tracks: a criminal track under Penal Code 368 that can send an abuser to jail or state prison, and a civil track under the Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act (EADACPA) that lets victims and their families recover money damages, attorney’s fees, and in some cases punitive damages. The same conduct can trigger both. Reporting is often the first step, and for many professionals it is legally required.

Who and What the Law Protects

California’s Welfare and Institutions Code defines abuse of an elder or dependent adult as physical abuse, neglect, abandonment, isolation, abduction, financial exploitation, or any treatment that causes physical harm or mental suffering. It also covers a caregiver who withholds food, water, clothing, shelter, or medication.¹

Two groups get protection. “Elders” are anyone 65 or older living in California. “Dependent adults” are people between 18 and 64 who have physical or mental limitations that prevent them from carrying out daily activities or protecting their own rights, including anyone admitted as an inpatient to a 24-hour health facility.² Everything below applies equally to both, even though “elder abuse” is the common shorthand.

Categories overlap in practice. A relative who controls a parent’s finances and stops paying for home care may be committing financial abuse and neglect at the same time.

Financial Abuse

Financial abuse has its own detailed definition. It occurs when someone takes, hides, or keeps an elder’s property for wrongful use, with intent to defraud, or through undue influence. The statute reaches everything from draining a bank account to manipulating a parent into changing a will, and a person commits financial abuse even if they only helped someone else do it.²

Isolation

Isolation is illegal even when no one is hit or robbed. It includes physically restraining an elder to keep them from seeing visitors, lying to callers or visitors by claiming the elder does not want contact, and cutting off mail, phone calls, or other communication with family and friends. The isolation has to go against the elder’s wishes and be aimed at preventing contact with people who care about them.³

How to Report Suspected Abuse

Anyone can report. California operates a statewide Adult Protective Services hotline at 1-833-401-0832, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. After you enter a five-digit zip code, the system routes you to the county APS office.⁴ Local law enforcement is often the better call when there is immediate physical danger. If a Social Security representative payee is misusing benefits, that report goes separately to the SSA Office of Inspector General at oig.ssa.gov or 1-800-269-0271.⁵

Who Must Report

Certain people have to report, not just the option to. Mandated reporters include health practitioners, care custodians, clergy members, employees of Adult Protective Services, law enforcement officers, and anyone who has assumed responsibility for the care or custody of an elder or dependent adult, paid or unpaid.⁶

Where the report goes depends on the setting. Abuse in a long-term care facility is reported to the local ombudsman or local law enforcement. Abuse anywhere else goes to the county APS agency or local law enforcement. Either way, the mandated reporter phones in an immediate report and follows up with a written report within two working days.⁶

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 victim suffered great bodily injury or death, the penalty rises to up to one year in county jail and a fine of up to $5,000.⁷ Mandated reporters who file a good-faith report of suspected financial abuse are protected from civil liability for making it.⁸

Criminal Penalties Under Penal Code 368

Penal Code Section 368 is the main criminal statute. It reaches willfully inflicting unjustifiable physical pain or mental suffering on an elder, permitting an elder in your care to be injured, or placing an elder in a situation that endangers their health.

Physical Abuse and Endangerment

The critical line is whether the conduct was likely to produce great bodily harm or death. When it was, the offense is a wobbler. As a misdemeanor it carries up to one year in county jail and a fine of up to $6,000. As a felony it carries two, three, or four years in state prison. When the conduct was not likely to produce great bodily harm or death, it can only be charged as a misdemeanor, with a maximum of six months in county jail and a fine of up to $1,000.⁷

Felony convictions can add consecutive prison time based on the injury and the victim’s age:

Great bodily injury, victim under 70: three additional years in state prison
Great bodily injury, victim 70 or older: five additional years
Victim’s death, victim under 70: five additional years
Victim’s death, victim 70 or older: seven additional years

These enhancements stack on the base sentence, so a felony conviction involving the death of a victim over 70 can produce eleven years in state prison.⁷

Financial Crimes Against Elders

Penal Code 368 separately criminalizes theft, embezzlement, forgery, fraud, and identity theft against an elder. Penalties turn on the dollar amount:

Property worth $950 or less: misdemeanor, up to one year in county jail and a fine of up to $1,000
Property worth more than $950: wobbler. Misdemeanor carries up to one year in county jail and a fine of up to $2,500. Felony carries two, three, or four years in county jail and a fine of up to $10,000

Felony financial abuse is served in county jail under realignment, not state prison. Felony physical abuse is served in state prison. That distinction matters at sentencing.⁷

Civil Lawsuits Under EADACPA

Separate from any criminal case, victims or their representatives can sue under the Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act, starting at Welfare and Institutions Code Section 15600. A civil case does not require a criminal charge, and the burden of proof is preponderance of the evidence rather than beyond a reasonable doubt. The point is compensation, not incarceration.

Ordinary damages include medical expenses, lost property, and other out-of-pocket costs. EADACPA becomes more powerful than a standard negligence claim when the plaintiff can show the defendant acted with recklessness, oppression, fraud, or malice. Meeting that higher standard unlocks two things: the court can award attorney’s fees and costs, and the elder’s pain and suffering damages survive even if the elder dies before the case ends.⁹ In a typical personal injury case, pain and suffering claims die with the plaintiff. EADACPA removes that limitation, which is why families often pursue these cases after losing a loved one.

Punitive damages are available, but when the abuser worked at a care facility, the plaintiff must show that an officer, director, or managing agent authorized, ratified, or was personally guilty of the abusive conduct before punitive damages attach to the employer.⁹

Deadlines to File a Civil Case

Physical abuse, neglect, and similar claims generally must be filed within two years of the abusive conduct. Financial abuse claims have a longer window of four years under Welfare and Institutions Code Section 15657.7. Missing either deadline almost always means losing the right to sue. Building an elder abuse case takes time, especially when medical records or financial records need to be gathered, so waiting until the deadline is close is a mistake.

Elder Abuse Restraining Orders

When an elder needs immediate protection, they or someone acting on their behalf can petition the court for an Elder Abuse Restraining Order under Welfare and Institutions Code Section 15657.03. The court can issue a temporary order right away, without the restrained person present, to hold the line while the case moves forward. A hearing must be held within 21 days, or within 25 days if the court finds good cause.¹

After the hearing, the court can issue a longer order lasting up to five years. These orders can bar the restrained person from contacting, threatening, or coming near the elder, from destroying the elder’s property, and from isolating the elder from family and friends. When the order expires, the protected party can request a renewal for another five years or even a permanent order, without having to show new abuse after the original order was entered.¹ The original finding of abuse is enough to keep the order in place.

Federal Backstops

California law works alongside federal protections that matter in specific situations. The Elder Justice Act of 2010 was the first comprehensive federal legislation on elder abuse and authorized grant programs for state APS systems.¹⁰ The Representative Payee Fraud Prevention Act of 2015 makes it illegal for a Social Security representative payee to use a beneficiary’s payments for anything other than the beneficiary’s needs; the SSA will investigate, help find a new payee, and try to recover misused funds.⁵ Federal sentencing guidelines also allow judges to impose harsher sentences on defendants who targeted vulnerable victims.

1
California Legislative Information. 2025 California Code WIC Section 15657.03
2
United States Department of Justice. Elder Abuse and Elder Financial Exploitation Statutes
3
California Legislative Information. 2025 California Code WIC Section 15610.43
4
California Department of Social Services. Adult Protective Services
5
Social Security Administration. Fraud Prevention and Reporting
6
California Legislative Information. California Welfare and Institutions Code Section 15630
7
State of California Department of Justice – Office of the Attorney General. Elder Abuse Laws (Criminal)
8
California Legislative Information. 2025 California Code WIC Section 15630.2
9
California Legislative Information. 2025 California Code WIC Section 15657
10
ACL Administration for Community Living. The Elder Justice Act