The offense of a caregiver, most often a family member or a paid or contracted care provider, deserting an elderly person for whom they have assumed a documented duty of care, leaving that person without the means or ability to provide for their own basic needs, including food, shelter, medical care or personal safety. Elder abandonment is treated in the elder-abuse framework recognized by the United States National Center on Elder Abuse and by most state adult protective services statutes as a distinct category from elder neglect, in which a caregiver remains present but fails to provide adequate care, and from elder financial abuse, which targets a victim's assets rather than their physical presence and safety; abandonment specifically involves the caregiver's physical desertion of a dependent elderly person. A number of states classify elder abandonment as a felony where the abandoned person suffers serious physical harm or death as a result, an aggravating-outcome structure similar to many states' child abandonment statutes.
Facts
Classification CodeCalifornia folds elder abandonment into California Penal Code Section 368, its elder and dependent adult abuse, endangerment and neglect statute 2 Typical PenaltyUnder California's caretaker abuse and endangerment statute, a caretaker whose conduct causes an elder's death is subject to five years imprisonment if the victim was under 70, or seven years if the victim was 70 or older 2 Elements of OffenseElder abandonment is a caregiver deserting a dependent elderly person with the intent to abandon them, or leaving them unattended long enough to endanger their health or welfare 1 Jurisdiction VariationCalifornia does not codify a standalone abandonment offense but keys its penalty for caretaker abuse causing great bodily injury to the victim's age, three years under 70 and five years for a victim 70 or older 2 Classification
Offense GradeMinor or Summary Offense 1 Connections
Has Offense Grade
Entity-backed identity for the offense-grade enum value this offense already carries, resolved to a crime concept by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The offense-grade fact itself stays on the offense unchanged.
Sources
1. Elder abuse (Wikipedia)
Types sectionQuote, Types section
deserting a dependent person with the intent to abandon them or leave them unattended long enough to endanger their health or welfare.
2. California Penal Code Section 368 (California Legislative Information)
Penal Code Section 368(b)(1)
willfully causes or permits any elder or dependent adult to suffer, or inflicts thereon unjustifiable physical pain or mental suffering
Penal Code Section 368(b)(3)
Five years if the victim is under 70 years of age. Seven years if the victim is 70 years of age or older.
Penal Code Section 368(b)(2)
Three years if the victim is under 70 years of age. Five years if the victim is 70 years of age or older.
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