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Marc B. Hankin Position: Founding Attorney. born New Haven,
Connecticut, 1950; admitted to the bar, 1980, California. Education: San
Francisco State University (B.A., 1976); Loyola Law School of Los Angeles
(J.D., 1980);
New York University School of Law (L.L.M. in Taxation, 1982).
Mr. Hankin is an attorney in private practice in West Los Angeles and
has served as an adjunct Professor of Law at Loyola Law School of Los
Angeles. Mr. Hankin’s practice primarily involves [1] conservatorships,
[2] controversies concerning legal capacity, [2] elder abuse, [4] probate,
will and trust litigation, and [5] estate planning including Medi-Cal
and tax planning. His practice also emphasizes catastrophic health
care coverage under [6] Medi-Cal and
related programs.
Mr. Hankin has been recognized by the Second District Court of Appeal as
a
recognized leader in the field of elder law. Mr. Hankin is the father of Welfare and Institutions Code
§14006.2, the California law that allows spouses to avoid nursing home
impoverishment by dividing community property and gifting the home to the
healthier spouse. This first legislative effort in the nation to
protect families from catastrophic health care impoverishment has become
the basis of much of the new field of Elder Law. The legislation was
copied in many states. A significantly modified version became
federal law in 1988, as part of the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act
(“MCCA”). Although MCCA preempted much of the field, Section 14006.2
and its related “Statements of Legislative Intent” have a continuing impact
on court orders in California to prevent spousal impoverishment.
Mr. Hankin is the conceptual father and draftsperson of The Elder Abuse and
Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act (EADACPA, pronounced ee-dak-pah),
enacted in 1991. EADACPA enables abuse victims to sue abusers by
requiring the victimizers to pay the victim’s attorneys’ fees and litigation
costs. Before EADACPA, the victim’s entitlement to damages for pain
and suffering would frequently evaporate when the victim died before the
verdict was announced. Now, EADACPA allows the victim’s estate to sue
and recover damages for the victim’s pain and suffering, thereby preventing
the victimizer from escaping without having to pay for the harm
inflicted. EADACPA also gave the probate conservatorship court the
general jurisdiction to award these damages.
Mr. Hankin is the conceptual father and principal draftsperson of The
Due Process in Competence Determinations Act (DPCDA, pronounced dip-see-duh),
enacted in 1995. DPCDA
was co-sponsored by the California State Bar Association and the California
Medical Association. DPCDA put measurable modern scientific standards
into the law for the determination of who is competent to consent to
medical treatment, to make contracts, trust agreements, gifts, sign wills,
marry, and perform other acts. This legislation is critical for many
financial and physical-neglect elder abuse lawsuits. DPCDA also makes it
possible and practical for medical staff and patients to seek court orders
determining whether or not a patient’s consent to a prospective treatment
is a competent and informed consent.
Mr. Hankin is the
conceptual father and principal draftsperson of California Probate Codes 259 and 2580(b)(13), which provide for the disinheritance of
persons who commit elder abuse, as well as several proposals currently before the
California Legislature. One proposal before the Legislature would
establish a unified California database tracking elder abuse, from the
first report and/or investigation, through administrative proceedings, criminal prosecutions, civil lawsuits and conservatorship
proceedings. Another proposal
would establish a special Public Guardian program for the purpose of
working with law enforcement to prevent the looting of the estates of
senile elders.
Mr. Hankin’s other legislative achievements include adding “isolation”
to Elder Abuse, a statute allowing a court to authorize a conservator to
sign a will for an incompetent conservatee, and other laws too numerous to
mention. Mr. Hankin worked on the State Bar Team 4 that helped
draft the Durable Power of Attorney Act that was enacted as Chapter 307 of
Statutes of 1994. Mr. Hankin drafted SB
1742, which established emergency procedures for the Public Guardian and law enforcement
to protect victims from financial abuse.
Mr. Hankin is working on the drafting
of legislation that would to give the Probate
Court the jurisdiction to annul abusive marriages to victims who are
incompetent to marry, and to reverse transfers of assets to the
victimizers); and legislation to codify the jurisdiction of the Probate Court
to appoint an additional attorney for a proposed conservatee, when the
Probate Court has reason to suspect that the proposed conservatee lacks the
capacity to hire the lawyer who is attempting to represent the proposed
conservatee.
Mr. Hankin is an active member of the Los Angeles City and County
Fiduciary Abuse Specialist Team (FAST). He collaborated on the
drafting of a Master Trust as a joint project for the Mental Health
Association and the California Alliance for the Mentally Ill. The
Master Trust organization, the Proxy Parent Services Foundation, attempts
to provide lifetime caregiver services to mentally ill persons. Mr.
Hankin is a former member of the board of directors of the Proxy Parent
Services Foundation.
Mr. Hankin is a former member of the Legislation Committee of the
California Alliance for the Mentally Ill, and a former member of the board
of the directors of the San Fernando Valley’s Organization for the Needs of
the Elderly.
Mr. Hankin is a former member of the Executive Committee of the
California State Bar Association’s Estate Planning, Trust and Probate
Section. He is the past chair of the Section’s Elder Law
Committee. He is also a former member of the Executive
Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Estates and Trusts
Section.
Mr. Hankin has lectured for the California Continuing Education of the
Bar (“CEB”) on such topics as tax law, numerous programs on Elder Law,
on
“Conservatorships, Guardianships and Other Devices for Handling
Incapacity,” on “Durable Powers of Attorney and Other Devices for Handling
Incapacity,” and on “Estate Planning for the Aging or Incapacitated
Client.” He has lectured at the UCLA - CEB Annual Estate Planning
Institute, a Practicing Law Institute program the California CPA Society’s
Annual Estate Planning Conferences, and at many other programs for CPA's,
lawyers, financial planners and health care professionals. Mr. Hankin
is the author of the chapter on litigating damages and injunctive relief for
elders and dependent adults in the CEB book on Elder Law. Mr. Hankin
has lectured for The Rutter Group on "Elder Law For All
Practitioners."
Mr. Hankin received a B.A. in French literature from San Francisco State
University, a J.D. from Loyola Law School of Los Angeles, and a post-juris
doctoral L.L.M. degree in Taxation Law from New York University School
of
Law.
PRACTICE AREAS: Elder Law; including: Elder Abuse Litigation;
Conservatorships Law; Estate Planning (Trusts, Wills, Powers of Attorney),
Medi-Cal Planning; Probate. Email: marc@marchankin.com
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