California Housing Legal Questions

From what you wrote, this sounds like a case of elder fraud/abuse.  Sadly, such cases are often perpetrated by family members, and the fact that your son is also an "elder" as that term is defined in the law does not mean he also cannot be liable for committing elder fraud/abuse.  Based on the information you provided, the fraudulent conduct is the theft of money and changing the title to your house.  Without more information, I am not sure how your son changed the title without you knowing about it.  Does he have a power of attorney over you?  Are you under a conservatorship?  For now, I am assuming those situations are not the case, and I am also assuming he did not pay any money to you for obtaining the title.  If that is what happened, that could be presumptively fraudulent behavior on his part, making him liable to you in a civil action.  Based on the information you provided, the abusive conduct is, obviously, changing the locks and forcibly removing you from your home.  Any verbal or physical abuse would also constitute elder abuse.  All are potentially unlawful behavior.  I would recommend that you start by contacting the nearest Adult Protective Services agency and let them know what has happened.  They can investigate and also point you toward other services you may need during this period.  If what you are saying has happened, your son could be both criminally culpable and civilly liable as well, so you may want to contact the local District Attorneys' Office and speak to the Consumer Fraud Unit.  The D.A. may or may not be helpful; they may tell you it's a civil matter.  Lastly, if this happened in the North Bay Area, I would be interested in speaking with you more about whether it makes sense to pursue a civil action against your son.... Read More