Protective orders: elder and dependent adults.

Existing law authorizes an elder or dependent adult who has suffered abuse, or another person who is legally authorized to seek that relief on behalf of that elder or dependent adult, to seek a protective order and governs the procedures for issuing that order. Existing law defines protective order for purposes of these provisions to include an order enjoining a party from specified forms of abuse, including attacking, stalking, threatening, or harassing an elder or dependent adult, an order excluding a party from the elder or dependent adult's residence, or an order enjoining a party from specified behavior that the court determines is necessary. This bill would include within the definition of protective order an order enjoining a party from isolating an elder or dependent adult. The bill would require certain requirements to be met for that order to be issued, including a showing by a preponderance of the evidence that the respondent's past act or acts of isolation of the elder or dependent adult prevented contact with the interested party and that the elder or dependent adult desires contact with the interested party, as specified. The bill would authorize the order to specify the actions to be enjoined, including enjoining the respondent from preventing an interested party from in-person or remote online visits, including telephone and online contact, with the elder or dependent adult. The bill would also include within the definition of protective order after notice and a hearing, a finding that specific debts were incurred as the result of financial abuse of the elder or dependent adult, as specified. The bill would make those provisions operative January 1, 2023. The bill would require the Judicial Council to revise or promulgate forms as necessary to implement those changes on or before February 1, 2023.