What many estate planners and occasional probate litigation attorneys don't understand about undue influence and elder financial abuse is how public policy has changed. California law now encourages firms like Hackard Law to investigate and prosecute elder financial abuse cases in civil court. br The California legislature has enacted laws to insure that the wrongdoer, not the elderly victim or hisher survivor, should pay the attorney's fees in successful cases. This is a game changer. A wrongdoer finds it much harder to hide behind the protracted processes of a probate court and in the proper circumstance will find himself as a defendant in civil jury trial subject to liability for his wrongdoing, attorney's fees and possibly punitive damages.