Help Your Grandparents: Protect the House, the Inheritance and Social Security

3 min read

Not legal advice. This is general information for families, mostly in California. For advice on your situation, talk to a licensed attorney or one of the free programs below. This piece builds on our 16-point senior rights guide.

Why this matters now

In 2025, people age 60 and older filed 201,266 fraud complaints with the FBI and reported about 7.75 billion dollars in losses, up 59 percent in a year (FBI IC3 2025 report). Your grandparents’ house, savings and Social Security check are the targets.

1. Protect the house

• Sign up for the free LA County Homeowner Alert. It emails you when a deed, mortgage or foreclosure is recorded on the parcel (LA County Assessor).
• Suspicious recording? Call LA County DCBA at (800) 593-8222 (DCBA).

2. Protect the inheritance, trust and estate

• Taking an elder’s property by fraud or undue influence is financial abuse under California law, including through a will, trust or power of attorney (Welf. & Inst. Code 15610.30).
• When abuse is proven, the court must award attorney fees and costs (WIC 15657.5). Someone who takes property in bad faith can owe twice its value (Probate Code 859).
• California has a statutory financial power of attorney form (Probate Code 4401), and the courts’ self-help site covers wills, estates and probate (California Courts Self-Help).

3. Protect Social Security

• Representative payees. A payee must use benefits only for the beneficiary’s current and foreseeable needs. Anything else is misuse (SSA Handbook 1617).
• Report suspected misuse to SSA right away. SSA investigates, may name a new payee or pay the person directly, and works to recover the money (SSA payee FAQ). The misusing payee owes it all back (20 CFR 404.2041).
• Penalties on conviction can reach a fine of two hundred fifty thousand dollars and ten years in prison (SSA Handbook 1617.8).
• Fraud. SSA’s fraud page explains how to report scams and payee theft (ssa.gov/fraud).
• Appointing a representative. Use Form SSA-1696. A representative can be an attorney or a non-attorney, must register for a Rep ID, and cannot charge a fee unless SSA authorizes it first (SSA-1696; SSA-1693). Under a fee agreement the fee is capped at the lesser of 25 percent of past-due benefits or nine thousand two hundred dollars (SSA representation overview).

4. Free help first

Bet Tzedek (323) 939-0506 (bettzedek.org); LA County legal aid for 60+ (TLAP) (800) 510-2020 (ad.lacounty.gov); Adult Protective Services 1-877-477-3646 (APS). Small claims lets individuals sue for up to twelve thousand five hundred dollars without a lawyer (Courts Self-Help).

5. Offering an ethical document-help service to seniors

What the law allows. A California legal document assistant (LDA) may type forms at the client’s specific direction, give general information written by a lawyer, provide published forms, and file or serve papers at the client’s direction (Bus. & Prof. Code 6400).

Hard limits. An LDA may not give advice on rights, remedies, which forms to use or strategy. Paid LDAs must register with the county clerk, post a bond, complete continuing education and use a standard written contract (CA Attorney General opinion 22-602). Paralegals do substantive work only under attorney supervision. Practicing law without a license is a crime (State Bar of California).

Where a software assistant fits. Smart legal tools can organize receipts, track deadlines, watch recorder alerts and fill forms the client picked. The State Bar says to verify outputs, protect confidentiality and keep human judgment in charge (State Bar guidance). The FTC went after DoNotPay for “robot lawyer” claims (FTC complaint), so never promise the software is a lawyer.

RelatedBen Franklin Was Joking. We Changed the Clocks Anyway.

Pricing (our suggestion, not a legal rule). Charge flat per-document fees spelled out in the written LDA contract, for example a set fee per form packet. Offer a free alert-setup clinic as the entry point and a family “protection checkup” bundle. Never take a percentage of what a senior recovers; contingency fees are lawyer territory. Send low-income seniors to Bet Tzedek or TLAP first.

Compliance checklist. Register and bond before charging. No fear or urgency pitches: deceptive practices are banned (Civil Code 1770), and penalties can be tripled when the victims are seniors (CA AG). Never hold a client’s money or become their payee as a side business. Lock down their data.

Call your grandparents tonight

Set up the deed alert together, ask who handles their Social Security, and write down the free help numbers.

Not legal advice. General information only.

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