Alameda County Trust & Estate Litigation | Contingency Fees

Hackard Law is regularly engaged by Alameda County residents to represent them in estate, trust and elder financial abuse litigation. The Alameda County Superior Court is the trial court for civil, criminal and probate cases filed in the County. The County is home to more than 260,000 adults over the age of 65.

“Alameda County Adult Protective Services receives approximately 400 reports of (elder) abuse per month with self-neglect as the highest reported abuse, followed by (elder) financial abuse.”

Elder financial abuse is often not discovered until the elder has passed away. When the abuse is discovered, estate, trust and elder financial abuse litigation often ensues. The economic subject of such litigation often revolves around the family home.

Given that the average market value of a home in the county is $900,000, litigation is often intense when the focus of the estate or trust wrongdoing centers around the home. Our experience also confirms that a large percentage of estate and trust disputes revolve around the family home.

There are many examples:

• A caretaker convinces an elderly homeowner with dementia to deed over the elder’s residence shortly before the resident’s death;
• A child living in the home of his parent uses undue influence to have his parent amend her trust to cut out his three siblings as beneficiaries of the trust so that he will be the only beneficiary of the trust that owns the home;
• And a mercenary neighbor convinces an elder with Alzheimer’s to sell the family home to her at one-quarter of its value.

These examples mirror actual wrongs that Hackard Law regularly litigates. Wronged beneficiaries often lack funds to challenge the wrongdoing.

Hackard Law may provide contingency fee arrangements in estate, trust and elder financial abuse cases that are economically viable and meet the requirements of California law. Costs are an important part of such an arrangement. Fee agreements can be negotiated.

Contingency fee percentages will generally apply to any award, verdict, judgment or compromise. All contingency fee agreements must be in writing and conform to California’s statutory and ethical disclosures. Not all cases are won and past success is not necessarily indicative of future success.

Hackard Law regularly litigates estate and trust house fights on a contingency fee basis. If you want to explore whether a contingency fee in an estate and trust dispute may work for you, give us a call at 916 313-3030. We regularly litigate in Alameda County and most Bay Area counties, and we’ll be glad to see how we can help you.