Darrin

*452 Jude Darrin, age 81, petitioned for a restraining order under the Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act (Elder Abuse Act, Welf. & Inst. Code, § 15600 et seq. ), alleging that her next-door neighbor, Sandra Miller, subjected her to ongoing abuse and harassment. 1 The trial court dismissed the petition, concluding that because the two women were simply neighbors, there was no special relationship between them to give Darrin standing under the Elder Abuse Act. We shall reverse. The plain language of the Elder Abuse Act authorizes a trial court to issue a restraining order against any individual who has engaged in abusive conduct, as defined by statute, toward a person age 65 or older regardless of the relationship between the alleged abuser and victim. (§§ 15610.07, subd. (a)(1); 15657.03.)

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Darrin filed a Request for Elder or Dependent Adult Abuse Restraining Orders on Judicial Council form EA-100, alleging that Miller and Miller's boyfriend harassed and intimidated her by taunting her, threatening her, twice removing a wire boundary fence between the properties, and trespassing onto her property where they destroyed a hedge and…