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[IA] Can public schools use collection agencies to go after parents for school fees?

school

I was pulled out of work the other day for a phone call in which the gentleman was "very insistent" he speak to me (read: he harassed our secretary). When I came to the phone, he kept telling me "they" were going to "proceed", but when I asked, "Who is going to proceed with what?" he said he couldn't offer me legal advice. After asking several times what he was talking about, and what it meant to "proceed" and with what he intended to proceed and for whom, and getting no answers... I hung up on him. He was calling about a $150 unpaid public school fee. He knew both of my kids names, where they went to school, and where I work (plot twist - I work in the district.) In my own research on this topic, I came across a Q&A sheet that states that districts may not use any method of collection not specified by law as permissable. So what are the laws regarding school fees going unpaid, and what collection methods are permissable, and what, if any, criteria must be met in order to proceed with collections against a family?

Navy friend, lives out of state, not made aware of recent court hearing

family

Helping a friend of mine out who seems to be getting railroaded by the system. Some details left vague for privacy reasons. ​ **Background info:** I have this friend who is a former Navy vet. While in the service, he got married and had a son. As things tend to go, the marriage fell apart and they recently got divorced (a little before COVID). After he was discharged, he found it difficult to find a job. His child support was calculated based on his Navy wages and he got into arrears. He tried to file to have support amended based on the new reality of his financial situation, but COVID ended up pushing all cases back significantly. Recently, he ended up finding a great job out of state and is living in temporary housing while he gets back on his feet. ​ **The Problem:** It came to his attention today that his child support case had set a date and he had missed it. The judge has issued what seems to be a warrant for his arrest and a requirement to pay a large sum of money (less than $1000) to resolve his arrears. He no longer lives in state (Florida) and the notice advises him to contact the sheriffs office to dispute. His request to lower his support was also nullified because he did not attend the court hearing. ​ **We're wondering what his next steps should be based on the following:** * He did not receive the letter advising the court date, his family has been holding his mail for him and they did not receive anything. He has no forwarding address at this time. * He currently resides halfway across the country, so returning to dispute (or pay) in person is extremely difficult * He was not made aware of the official hearing until his ex-wife contacted him afterwards. * He's currently trying to receive updates to his security clearances with the new position (how will this impact him?) * His ex-wife has legal counsel that appears to be listed, would they have to have shown proof of notification or registered mail to show he was made aware of the hearing? * Should he contact the sheriffs office to reserve and is there any penalty he should be aware of for waiting to hear from potential pro bono services. * Does he seek pro bono legal services in his current state or in the state that issued the grievance (Florida)? ​ Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Moved into apartment, didn’t disclose gym below

housing

I’m in Seattle, WA and I recently moved into an apartment without having seen it before move in. It’s been a week and I hadn’t really been home until yesterday, which is when I found out there’s a gym below my apartment. The noise is unbearable and causing me constant anxiety. People dropping weights causes the floor to shake constantly. I also work from home so this type of noise can’t be worked around as the gym is open from 6am-8pm. The leasing agent and property manager did not disclose there was a noisy gym right below my apartment, and there’s nothing in my lease mentioning the noise/shaking or any type of urban living addendum. What points of recourse do I have? Can I nullify my lease? The ideal situation would be moving into an apartment a floor above to reduce the pain of moving again but there are currently none available.

Is it legal to post a video of someone saying a slur?

digital

This is about a girl in my class who is 15 years old in Milwaukee,Wisconsin,USA. Would it be legal to spread a video of her saying a racial slur over the internet?

[VA] Landlord taking too long to return security deposit. What are my options?

housing

It's my understanding that in VA landlords have 45 days to return a security deposit and today is the 46th day since my old lease expired. I sent an email this morning and haven't heard back but they typically take a week to respond to emails.. What are my options?

NYC tenant, the building I’m moving out of has bed bugs and my landlord just wants to pay for the apt walls/floor

housing

Hi everyone, My lease ends in January. Last week I discovered that my unit (along with a few other units) has bed bugs. As I have a lot of books, upholstered furniture, etc, I don’t exactly know where the bed bugs are but I don’t feel comfortable living in that apartment for several rounds of treatment while still getting bitten and losing sleep every night. I’ve decided I want to move out early so I can load all my stuff into a truck and fumigate it all at once, then move into my new place. My landlord is okay with this as long as I pay another month of rent and forfeit my security deposit. The problem is, based on our conversations he seems to be saying that he is responsible only for treating the apartment (which at that point would be empty of my stuff, even though I’m still on the lease through January), and not for the fumigation of my bed, couch etc, which would have been treated along with the apartment if I was physically staying for the full lease term. Am I responsible for paying for bed bug treatments if I physically take my stuff out of the apt I’m leasing?

Seeking Legal Advice Regarding Rental House Lease Following a Storm Making the House Unlivable for Two Months of the Lease.

housing

I am currently 23 and a Full-Time student as well as working around 35 hours a week to pay bills for living expenses, I live in Georgia, United States. About 2 weeks ago a large storm came through my area and a tree was knocked down and fell on the house of the place I am renting with 2 other roommates. We were told to move out until the repairs were finished as the damage was pretty significant and we were given a timeline estimate of at least 2 months before we would be able to move back into the house with all of our amenities turned on. For my roommates, this has been no problem as one of them, we'll call him A, does not work and his parents pay for rent while he is taking online classes. He returned home immediately and plans to stay there until the house is livable again. For the second one, I'll refer to him as B, He has decided to live with his girlfriend and her roommates (who also live in the area) until everything is livable again. He is not in school there but works full time so nothing has really changed for him as he is actually closer to his workplace living with her. As for me, this has thrown off my whole situation. I have no place to stay in the area and so I have been forced to return home 3 hours away and crash on the couches of friends and do odd jobs until I can return. Luckily my classes are online this semester but for the upcoming semester (beginning Jan. 11th) I will have to take in-person classes to fulfill my remaining requirements. As for the response of the leasing agency, they have waived our rent payments until the repairs are complete as well as giving us the option to terminate the lease without penalty as long as we all agree on it. The problem is that neither of my roommates wants to terminate the lease because their situations aren't even that different as they barely stayed in the house anyways. A was at his parent's house most of the time and does not work while B is always at his girlfriend's house and rarely stays at our house. I need to terminate the lease and find a new place so I can return to work or I will get fired, and I also need to know that I will be able to be living back in the area when this next semester starts or I will have to drop all my classes which would defeat the point of me even living in this area in the first place. I am seeking any legal or personal advice about how to deal with this situation. Thank you for taking the time to read this. TLDR: Roommates and I had to move out of our house for 2 months due to storm damages. They are content to wait it out because they have a place to stay and their lives are barely affected. I cannot work because I have nowhere in the area to stay and will have to drop all my scheduled classes for next semester if I am not able to move back before January. I am also couch surfing for potentially 2 months.

[OH] Would this be considered retaliation? If so what do I do?

employment

So I’m finally quitting my toxic job! Woo! I put in my two weeks last week. So I’ve got about 7 days left. Well the weather’s been awful as I’m sure everyone has noticed, so I’ve run into the issue of that. My job is basically driving from house to house all day, on the roads 99% of the time. So on days the roads are not safe, I’m hesitant to go to work. The sick day policy is 8 days maximum, on the 8th day youre fired. I used 5 sick days as of last week. If the office of closed I don’t have to go in. On Monday I called in due to weather, despite the office not being closed.. when it should have been as everyone else was working from home. ( I’m the only one who can’t) my boss is the one who replied to my email and told me it wasn’t closed. The snow got worse on Tuesday so I called in because I hadn’t been told if the office was closed or not. My boss never responded to that email. This morning I got a forwarded email saying we were back to work today and that the office had been closed yesterday.. despite no one telling me this. The email saying the office was closed was initially sent out at 4;50 pm Monday evening. No one sent it to me. So I emailed my boss to confirm and said something like “just wanted to make sure the call in didn’t count yesterday since the office was closed.” She responded “it did count because you called in before the office was closed.” I called in Tuesday morning at 7:45 am. The email closing the office for Tuesday was sent out at the aforementioned time. I can see the time and I know she’s lying to me. Would this be considered retaliation for my quitting? Maybe she doesn’t want to let me call in if I need to before my last day? Can they even fire me before my last day for missing days? Sorry if all this is hard to understand. I’ll answer any questions Thanks

My friend got a ticket and the cop told him to plead not guilty and he wouldn't get charged, is this true? (Context in comments)

driving

So I was driving and my friend was hanging out the window. A New York State trooper saw and promptly pulled us over. After explaining the situation I wasn't given anything but my friend was given a ticket for a seat belt violation. The cop however told him that if he pleaded not guilty the cop would vouch for him and he'd get off with no charge. Is this true? We're both 18 so we're pretty inexperienced with the law. Also a different friend of mine got pulled over a few weeks and the cop said the same thing but now he is getting charged $200 since the cop pleaded against him. So we're both kinda confused on what is gonna happen.

[FL] Elderly driver blamed for accident but his car wasn't hit.

driving

An elderly relative is being sued for causing an accident when he wasn't involved. Can they sue? He was making a left onto the the roadway (going eastbound) and a car driving westbound slammed on the brakes and hit another car. We don't know where this other car was coming from. The two cars were totalled and one driver has a broken arm. They're suing for over a million dollars. Relative stopped and gave an eye witness report to the cops but wasn't charged. Now his insurance, Geico, will take over but his coverage is for only $100,000. Should he get his own lawyer or will Geico be good enough? If my relative wasn't even involved in the accident, can he be sued? Thank you.

BC, Canada - Is there any legal recourse for opting out of student union fees?

school

My friend's school in Alberta allows him to opt out of certain fees he might find morally reprehensible. I have been informed by the student union that I am not able to do so. It's not a huge amount of money, but I don't feel comfortable providing any amount of money to the causes my student union is supporting.

[MA] Holding the engagement ring until he keeps his word?

family

Location: Massachusetts My fiancé and I (F) broke up recently. It was mutual - we just didn’t make each other happy. I am buying a condo to move out of his house but I’m stuck living here for 5 more weeks. Initially he offered me the car we share. The house is his. He turns into an asshole when he’s drinking (every night, one of the many reasons we broke up). Last week he was in a mood and just unloaded on me. Really vile things about how I’m just like (family member that abused me my whole life), the devil, how my ex husband gave my daughter all of her good traits... on and on. Basically attacking every part of my life that I was insecure about. I’m good at letting it roll off my back, but the words are still very much there. At the end of his tirade he said he reneged in his plan to give me the car. I’m just trying to keep my head down. This morning, I woke up to a text from him saying “can you give me the ring back today?” I have every intention of returning it, but given his tirade and threat about the car, I feel I should keep the ring until he signs over the car. Is this legal? I’m just trying to protect myself and my child. Especially as I uprooted my life to be with him and had to quit my job when I moved, meaning I don’t have the cushion I’d need to buy myself a car. Again, I will absolutely be returning the ring!

Can you do community service online?

digital

I read somewhere that you can indeed do community service online but wasn't sure about this. I have a lot of skills using computers and I was wondering if working for a non-profit or community service company online would suffice as court ordered community service.

I have asthma and I’m being arraigned 3000 miles away

criminal

I live in Rhode Island and I am being arraigned in Washington for two misdemeanors that I committed one year ago. Can anyone offer me advice or explain my options here? I am afraid of flying because of the risk of contracting covid-19. I have been told that the only way to get a public defender is to be present in court the day of arraignment. I have been working in Rhode Island full-time and I have people who rely on me here. If anyone here knows what kind of a sentence I might be facing whether it be community service or a fine or jail time that would be helpful as well. My two charges are as follows: 3rd degree criminal trespass (misdemeanor) 2nd degree criminal mischief(gross misdemeanor)

What Licenses Do I Need?

business

I think this is the right place to ask, please forgive me if it isn't. What kind of licenses (if any) do I need if I wanted to start selling stuff on a site like Teespring or Threadless, or if I wanted to have a Patreon; basically if I want to make money online, but not on my own site. Is there even a difference if I own the site I'm selling on? I have tried looking it up but the information is confusing and kinda vague. Thanks for any help you can give.

Unemployed abusive father trying to divorce mom for alimony.

family

My father is currently in the process of attempting to divorce my mom while yelling at her regularly that he will “get my two grand in alimony once I leave your stupid ass” apparently wanting a regular alimony payment from my mom while he leaves to live with my aunt. Mom is struggling enough with payments and bills as is and he only contributes what little his social security provides to bills, yet he intends on taking exactly half of everything she owns. I want to try and help her however I can about this but I don’t know anything about this.

Hotel power surge broke my computer.

digital

I am pretty sure my computer is broken as a result of a power surge that just happened at a hotel I am staying in. I'm posting this basically right after it happened, so if it ends up being the case that my computer is unfixable, what should I do?

(PA) Ex-Roommate was not lease, left behind bed. How long if any do I have to keep?

housing

So I let a woman move in with me for about a month and things went sour very quickly. I ended up telling her to move out and she agreed and got all of her possessions but her mattress and box spring. I am not the landlord as I am renting this property as well. How long do I have to give her to get her mattress? Also she never returned my key and I was subsequently robbed 3 days after she got her things, I highly suspect it was her and do not want her coming back here.

Is it possible to contest this traffic citation?

driving

In case location matters, this happened in Pennsylvania just an hour ago. For some backstop, I work at a fairly popular gas station/deli where its not uncommon for the cops at the state station to visit for coffees and food. Just recently my partner sold me her van since due to an issue with her social security card, she was unable to acquire an in-state license and the registration of her van lapsed. In order to get the van street legal she either needed to get her PA license (which would require amending her SS card, which is impossible atm due to the social security offices being closed and her unwillingness to send her only drivers license to Harrisburg through the mail) or it would have to be registered in my name as I hold a PA license. The van also has expired inspections. I was told that we had 10 days to get in inspected. As of today, it's only been four days. The incident I'm inquiring about happened today. After work (I work the night shift) I sat in the van smoking a cigarette as I normally due to unwind and wait for the parking lot to settle as the van is an extended cab and can be tricky to leave when the lot is busy. I noted that a state trooper with a supervisor decal had backed up into the spot besides me where he sat for about 5 minutes as he fiddled with his computer. I figured it was probably time to leave. I proceeded to head home. It's important to note here that I'm generally a very safe driver, especially so when I'm driving my partners giant behemoth of a van. Parking near my house is only permitted on one side of the road, so for me to park, I have to circle the block and parallel park. Only to my surprise my parking spot was occupied by the same state trooper, parked the opposite way as the rest of the cars on the road. He was stood outside the vehicle, clearly looking for me, and waved me down to pull up behind his vehicle, which would block my neighbors driveway. He clearly ran my plates and must have discovered my address and chose to meet me there instead of pulling me over.. He directed me to step out and once I did and ask me for my driver's license and papers. Our conversation went as followed: (ST= State Trooper. DC=Me) ST: Good morning. Are you aware of why I am here? DC: No sir, I'm honestly not sure. ST: Well I recognized your van as a repeated offender for invalid registration and expired inspection. I ran your plates and see that you are now registered in your name, but I do notice that you failed to inspect your vehicle. DC: Yes, but I was told I had ten days to have it inspected. ST: Your inspection is over a year overdue. I'll have to write you a citation. DC: I was told by the Auto Tag location that I was permitted my ten day period to get it done. ST: That's false. I don't know why they told you that. Also I'm going to have to write you a ticket for careless driving. I was following you and you not only went 5 over the limit, but you crossed the white line into the shoulder a few times. Note here that I followed the speed limit to a tee, and I didn't notice the trooper behind me as I had a bumper humper hugging my tail the whole time as I was adamant about sticking to the limit. As the van is tall and the tires are a bit low, on windy days such as today the van tends to veer towards the passenger side. DC: I don't believe I was speeding sir. I can say that I might have crossed the shoulder, but the van is awful wide and it's sometimes unavoidable. ST: Doesn't matter. I know what I saw. He went back to his vehicle where he sat for a few minutes and returned with my citations and documents. He left fairly soon after. Now I've been a PA resident for some time, and I've been pulled over before for small things like a busted tail light and the one time I went over the limit on a highway, and I've never had an encounter as bizarre as this, and I think the citations are unjustified, but I'm not fluent in PA law so the encounter might be legit. But my partner thinks it was wildly unprofessional and I have grounds to contest and get the ticket dropped as the fines have accused to a pretty penny, and a careless driving can result in points on my license. Is there anything I can do here?

[GA] Simple Battery on my boyfriend and I.

criminal

Okay, so. My boyfriend and I got into it the other day -- it wasn't super bad but he called the cops (I suppose to scare me, because he said he didn't think either of us would be arrested) and we were arrested. We spent thirty hours in jail and were fined 612 dollars each. We bonded out right after. Now we have court in Feb. and I'm curious as to what a lawyer (or someone who has been through this) thinks may happen. I looked it up and found out that we could receive up to a year and a 1000 dollar fine. The fine doesn't bother me, but the time does. Neither of us have any prior offenses. He has some seat belt tickets and some traffic tickets (all have been paid and handled) but that is it and I've never been in any sort of trouble ever. What is the likelihood that we will serve time? Is there any way we could avoid that? I read that taking classes or counseling could help, but how do we go about doing that? Could we set it up through the courts? When we do go to court, will we be one on one with a judge? Neither of us are still fighting and we have complied with everything asked of us, so far.

What rights would I have as a sperm donor? [FL]

family

Someone wants me to be their sperm donor. I'm still debating it, I just want to make sure that I wouldnt get screwed into paying child support down the line if I do decide to do it. They said they wouldnt put me on the birth certificate, and they could even write up a document confirming that I'm just a donor.

Paternity test legal advice

family

Hi, I’ve hit a road block on researching my issue online so I decided to turn to here. (We are located in Kentucky.) My dad (59) recently received a call from someone claiming that my dad is also her dad. The girl is in her 30s and my dad never knew about her. She’s only asking for a DNA test but my dad is still a bit hesitant. He’s wanting to talk to a lawyer first to see about his rights towards the situation. He is nervous about finances mainly. Anyone have any advice?

Landlord lost my 60 day notice

housing

This is for an apartment in Dallas, TX. My lease ends on 8/18/2018. I moved in on a lease takeover/subletting agreement on 6/11/2018, and verbally gave 60 day notice. I also signed the document to give them the official 60 day notice at that time. However, on 7/23 they told me that they didn’t have my 60 day notice, and went in that day to sign the notice and told them that they lost my notice. Today I got an email saying that I’m on the hook for rent until the end of September. What are my options? I didn’t pay the security deposit because that was covered by the person I’m subletting from, but don’t want to cause the person I’m subletting from to lose their deposit. I’ll be going in to talk to the apartment manager later today. Thanks so much for your advice.

Broken AC leads to stolen items. My landlord left my garage door open all day.

housing

Hello /r/legaladvice I would like to take my landlord to small claims court, but I've never done anything of the sort. My wife and I rent a condominium in Oklahoma, we've lived here for a little more than a year with our daughter. A few days ago our air conditioner died, so I called him. He can fix it, but it will take a few days. Inside the house my thermostat read 89 degrees at its peak. Our daughter spent time with my wife's parents while this was going on. I set up a custom code so he could enter my garage. I asked if he could knock on the door first. I felt safe doing this because this person owns this condo and we have a security system that logs everything from the window opening to the garage door not being shut. Which is *exactly* what happened. I came home from work to find my garage door was left open all day. All of my astronomy equipment was taken. Three telescopes, a cash lock box with six eyepieces, a laser collimator and my empty Celestron carrying bag. Nothing in the house was taken, but they could have come inside. It could have involved my wife and daughter. I called the landlord to figure out what happened. During the conversation he admitted to leaving the garage door open, but denied that it was his problem saying it was our responsibility to check. My wife had already left before he even showed up so she couldn't have known. I left for work at 11:30 am out the front door with my wife's mother. Only until looking at our security time stamps did I find out he had been working on the AC since 10:36 am unannounced with no knock at the door as previously asked. TL:DR After fixing our broken AC, the landlord left the garage door open and my astronomy equipment was stolen. He admits to leaving the door open, but claims no responsibility for the damages. I filed a police report and detailed my garage door time stamps. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

My landlord is looking for any reason to evict me and my mother.

housing

I'm 15, and me and my mother have been living in this apartment for a good year or more. And a month or so ago I had a slip from the doctor to get a dog. And so my mom went and asked the landlord if he could sign it. He had no problem with it or so we thought. And when we were about to get the dog he called the animal shelter and gave us a bad recommendation. Which was a cowardly and just plain shitty thing to do. He could have said "legally I can't stop you from getting this dog, but I would really appreciate it if you didn't" but he did not say that. And ever since then he has been looking and really searching for the littlest things to evict us. We have been living here quitly for a long time. Never gave anyone any shit. Ever inspection we had the place spotless. But we had a forth of July party the weekend before he was coming to do the inspection and it wasn't spotless. It wasn't bad at all but we hadn't scrubbed the floors or anything. So we told us the next inspection if the place isn't clean he is evicting us. He said he's had a problem with how the place has been taken care of. Yet he didn't once tell us anything about it. Or we would have busted our asses to make sure he was satisfied. My mother is a fantastic mother and a good person. This doesn't deserve to happen to her. If we get evicted nobody except her abusive husband can take us in. And he's in Louisiana we don't know anyone there. We are broke, we cant afford a house or another apartment. She goes to college and works constantly to put food on the table. I'm in school and we have done nothing to deserve this. What can I do?

Siblings fighting over inheritance after my Grandmother-in-law passed away.

wills

My mother in law has lived with her mother for the past 10 years. Her mother recently passed away. My mother in law has 5 siblings. Her mother did not have a will so my understanding is that anything left after debts will be divided among the 6 grown children (she had no husband). My mother in law who is the oldest, had applied to be the personal representative of the estate. One of her sisters who has quite a bit of money hired her own lawyers to fight that and won because my mother in law did not have the money to fight and was hospitalized when they were supposed to go to court. My MIL is now out of the hospital but they have locked her out of the house. She is having to stay with a friend but she cannot even get in to get access to her things. They did not serve her a formal eviction notice. They are claiming everything in the house is part of the estate and won’t let her retrieve any of her furniture/personal items. When my MIL moved in she brought furniture, personal items, washer/dryer. Does she have any legal recourse? She may not be able to afford to fight this but any direction would be appreciated. Edit: This is in Oklahoma USA

Can my landlord make me lock my cat in a room all day

housing

Hi! My landlord said I had to lock my cat in one room for a day while maintenance crew came over. I asked if they could at least let him out when they are done, and they refused. Is this legal? My cat is a very nervous little fellow and yowls at closed doors (except the front door of course). The landlord also refuses to come in on days I have off or give me a timeframe so I can take time off from work to let the cat out. Any advice would be appreciated! I live in Lynnwood, Washington. My cat is an ESA in an apartment complex that allows pets regardless of their ESA status.

Do I have any bases for a case against my Faculty?

school

Hello, I'm a senior university student in Ontario Canada. Recently the term marks (for the first term) were released, and it turns out one of my courses was dropped from a 90 to a 80. This 10% drop was done for everyone in the course. Now my problem with this is that the way they did it is kind of morally ambiguous. We had 10% of our final mark determined by participation marks (5% each half term). For the second half participation mark, we were supposed to get full marks due to the in class activities we participated in, but the faculty changed it to encompass a new element the professor had not assigned. by doing this, everyone ended up getting 6/10 participation marks for the course. (this was done after the course had completed) They are holding their stance that what they did is ok. Is there any legal case to have them assign the original mark?

Senior Prank Question

school

I want to take apart a striped car and re assemble it on the roof of my school, can I get into trouble for this?

False accusations in an anonymous survey - what should I do?

employment

I work as an instructor at a college. I have been falsely accused of things I haven't done by a student in an anonymous survey. This person is the only one in all my classes to write such accusations, other reviews are quite positive. However, I do feel attacked by these false claims and I am worried that this will taint my image at work in the eyes of my supervisors. What is the legal action to take for false accusations in anonymous surveys? Thanks in advance!

found something disgusting and incriminating, don’t know what to do (part 3 sorry)

criminal

i don’t really know if i should be making so many posts but i’m just scared and trying to prepare myself for anything. sorry first post- https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/7c7cgo/found_something_disgusting_and_incriminating_dont/?st=JA1XZGDD&sh=2c7a3401 second post- https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/7cqrgr/found_something_disgusting_and_incriminating_dont/?st=JA1XZXB5&sh=eb7d89dd i just wanted to say once more thank everybody so much for all of the support it means so much. i was on r/bestoflegaladvice and i wanted to say thanks for all the kindness. no, my mother is not the predator, and my father is not transgender, i used they/them so i wouldn’t be identified as easily. and about my dad assaulting my sister’s old boyfriend, i don’t believe that because the boyfriend accused many of his relatives of doing the same thing. i know the timeline is kinda sketchy but thats because i’m stressed and because i was young and don't really know the details. my sister’s boyfriend accused my dad in 2012 when i was 8/9, the trial ended in october 2014 when i was 10/11, i found the pornography originally in 2014, and now it’s 2017. also i’m not a troll, i fucking wish i was. so after school today i went to my grandmother’s to talk. it was very upsetting. i hate seeing my family cry but seeing them cry broke me, and i’m so worried about my grandmother, she was hyperventilating and her blood pressure was rising and she was literally going to have a heart attack. she told me if i went to the police it would kill her, and that by the time my father got out of jail they would be dead. my grandparents begged me not to go to the police but i made up my mind already. my grandmother wanted to confront my dad and she did. he’s in mandatory counseling as part of his probation for his previous offense, so she begged him to talk to his counselor and get help or medication or something. he promised he would but i didn’t believe him. he deleted all the shit off his new phone and i’m hoping it can be recovered. they wouldn’t let me leave for 2 hours but i talked my grandfather into taking me home. when i got home i made some food and acted natural. my sister didn’t want me to go to the police either. i messaged my mom and asked if i could stay with her tonight because i couldn’t be around him, and asked her if she would come to me to the police station. i walked to her house and then her friend drove us to the station. we spoke to an officer and a detective who specialized in this kind of stuff. they were both kinda rude adn insensitive and kinda intimidating because they're cops and all and i couldn’t really explain myself to them because i was scared. of course child services is gonna get involved so i’m probably going to be placed in foster care which is the last thing i fucking want :))))))))))). so since i fucked up my explanation i wrote everything i wanted to say down. i’m gonna give my therapist it on friday so she understands the situation, could she also pass this along to the cops or courts?? so here are my questions: 1. could my therapist pass my explanation along to cops/courts? 2. what can i expect with child services. i don’t want to go into foster care. 3. what can i expect as far as the rest of this goes, they talked about search warrants and arrest warrants and shit i don’t really remember because i was too busy crying. could anyone give me a general explanation of how things might play out i’m very anxious. thank you to everyone who has helped me and has given me support, encouragement, and reassurance. everyone in my family was telling me i shouldn’t go to the police and was making me doubt myself but i’m just trying to remember that this is the right thing, and that 33,000 people care about my situation. thank you. edit: location- massachusetts update: i stayed home from school today because yesterday sucked and i had no time to do my homework or anything so i'm home. child services has called my mom two or three times today. they want her to get emergency custody of us, which she can do, but the thing is she rents one bedroom from her friend's sister and there's no room for me, my sister, and our 20 pieces of furniture. not to mention that her roommate has a pit bull so i can't bring my cats here so i don't really know what to do. my grandmother's name is on the lease of my apartment, so she could just give my mom permission to move in and could kick my dad out, but she probably wouldn't do that. my sister was thinking that my mother could just 'stay over for a few days' and when he gets arrested she could just live with us, but i don't think that'll work because child services doesn't want us around him. and i haven't even told my grandmother i went to the police. i don't really know what to do so if someone could help i'd appreciate it. sorry if this is confusing it's just such a complicated situation update: my sister is really mad at me for going to the police and she’s mad that cps is in our lives and i’m feeling worse. i‘m completely alone.

I’m worried my roommate might come into my room and destroy all my things.

housing

My roommate thinks I broke his guitars even though I didn’t. He said something on Snapchat a long the lines that he was going to get revenge(didn’t save it). I think he’s going to come into my room and destroy everything worth value. Can I take him to court for this? I’m thinking of setting up a security camera.

[CA] Are private prosecutions possible in California?

criminal

I'm working on the [Wikipedia article on private prosecutions](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_prosecution), and I'm trying to fill in the relevant information for all 50 states. I figured I'd start with my home state. While private prosecutions are uncommon these days, they are still allowed in certain jurisdictions. I couldn't find any state laws or court rulings that say private prosecutions can't be done in California, but I haven't found any cases of private citizens filing criminal charges against other citizens either. So I'm wondering: is it possible for a private citizen to prosecute another citizen in California? If not, is there a court ruling that outlawed private prosecutions? Or did California state law never have provisions for private prosecutions to begin with? If you have an answer, please also provide a source, such as a news article or court case. I asked this question on Avvo a while ago and got three responses saying that private prosecutions aren't possible in California, but none of them had a source. I figured I'd have better luck here. Thanks!

Can we manufacture parts using old molds that have been abandoned?

business

We are a plastic injection molding facility and have in our possession customer owned molds from many years back, whose owners we can no longer contact. We were thinking of scrapping these molds (since storing them cost $) but there might be a market online if we start producing and marketing the products which the molds can produce. Some of the molds go back 40 years and the original owners have passed (or are unreachable) or the original companies who purchased the molds are no longer in business. Would we be able to produce parts and sell them using these molds? If not, are we able to scrap them if we have been unsuccessful in contacting the original owner? There was never any type of contract in place to spell anything out. Any feedback would be great. Thank you for the help! Jean

Can a landlord force us to sign addendums after we both have signed/executed a lease but before moving in?

housing

Hi /r/legaladvice - this is for the state of Florida. Last week we signed a lease for a new townhouse and gave a certified check for our security deposit. The landlord promptly sent a signed lease back to us. While signing the lease the real estate agent who works for the landlord put a pile of papers on the counter and said "read these and fill them out and bring them to me on the day of move-in" Most of them are basic things like mold prevention and community rules. However there are some items that we are certainly not ok with: - You have to pay the first $300 for any minor maintenance - Upon moving out you have to pay $250 for carpet cleaning - Upon moving out you have to pay $150 for changing the locks - Upon moving out you have to leave utilities in your name for 3 days after move-out - On the last day of your lease you have to be out by noon or you are charged double the rent for that day This is not a shit hole place....it's a really nice high end luxury single-family unit, brand new in a nice neighborhood. High rent. I've been renting my whole life and I've never come across such craziness. We are supposed to move-in next week and I'd rather not be homeless. Can we refuse to sign and if we do is the landlord obligated to still give us the keys and let us move-in?

Legal Aid Vs Private Lawyers

criminal

Is legal aid available to people who committed a serious crime, or do they just get sent straight to a private lawyer? I’m worried because I’m a victim of a sexual assault, and I just found out that the accused’s lawyer is a private lawyer. I usually thought legal aid were lawyers who weren’t as good as private lawyers. Reason I’m asking his because his lawyer is trying to fish for every single reason to find if I “consented” or not, he’s even going as far as to say the anti depressants I was on somehow rendered my ability to remember I consented. It’s being disputed in court on September 4th. I’m worried a judge (with no medical experience) will find that my mind altering medications did effect my ability to remember, and the defense will have access to my medical records. For the sake of the post, I did not consent to intercourse with him, and my story has never changed since day one.

Can I use uber to transport food from my supplier to my coffee shop?

business

Me again. We are looking for a baker to supply pastries to our coffee shop. Some of the bakers already have Uber services set up out of their shops. It would be much cheaper and easier for me to hire an uber every day to pick up and deliver 100 pastries than me getting up at 5 am to pick up pastries. Can I use an uber to transport and then resell food? I live in California.

Ticket for Expired Tabs After Renewal [Seattle, WA]

driving

I recently updated the registration on my car and got new tabs, but haven't been driving much and forgot to put the sticker on my license plate. My car was parked on a public street, and when I came back to it I had a $50 ticket for expired tabs. Is this worth contesting in court? From what I can tell I technically violated the law, but it seems like I might be able to get the fine reduced or waived since I had updated my registration before the ticket date and have not driven the vehicle. With the current Seattle courts I have the option to submit an online form to mitigate or contest the ticket; are there any downsides to filling this out?

Divorce attorney overload

family

Trying to help a friend who is going through a nasty divorce. She has a local lawyer but since it’s the weekend, cannot get ahold of him. She was given yesterday a stack of papers from opposing lawyer that is just overwhelming her. (Which, I know was the point). My question- She was told to go through and provide what she reasonably could get of the items listed, however we aren’t sure how to proceed on some of them. One request is for all of her emails in the last 2 years, sent and received. Does she really have to waste her time and ink printing kohl’s and other junk e-mail? In similar fashion, it was requested she provide a list of all of her text messages and printouts of any social media she has (which she doesn’t). Does she really expect to receive these? Can my friend get in trouble for not providing them? The opposing lawyer is also requesting medical information from her pertaining to therapy. Does she have to disclose? Thank you for any help you can give. Friend is just really overwhelmed and I’m trying to help.

I have a contracting company and a large company terminated it.

business

So a nationwide company had hired my company to do work in my state (telecoms). There was also ANOTHER company who had the same deal, and we were both overlooked by the same regional manager. The head of the other company was into some very crooked business, such as having employees steal credit cards, using bonus money to keep fake accounts open, and other shady business to get bonuses and whatnot. All of which I have proof of. My first thought was to go to the regional manager because I felt like he would do something about this or at least look into it, but what happened I never expected. Within 2 months of me telling him about what was going on my contract was terminated. Now I'm not sure what to do about this. I feel like my contract was wrongfully terminated but I don't know where to go from here. Anyone have ideas? (This is in the Northeastern USA if there is specific advice people can give)

[UK] I am a developer and need help with the final part of my project, do any laws protect it?

digital

Hi, I am a (student) developer and recently had an original idea for a very useful app for a large audience. I have completed all the server side, back-end ... everything behind it & it is fully working. I've never however done any front end stuff - I need someone to display what my program/server returns, nicely in an app. I have a few friends who specialize in this sort of stuff but they're not close friends by any means, just people from my courses that I speak to from time to time. I imagine whoever I ask would agree to a 80/20 split of any profit made from the app for payment - it's not a large project by any means so I think they'd be fine with no profit if it doesn't take off. If I share the project info with one of said friends, knowing that I'll have to share the entire idea and probably a lot of my source code, am I or can I be protected against theft of everything I give in any way? Can I make them sign a form or something before sharing the idea? Thanks

She wants to move, I want to stay.

family

I'm 32 (m) she's 46 (f) together 10 years married 4. We reside in Georgia USA. We have 2 homes (both in Georgia) one is in my name and was bought pre marriage (currently being rented by a nice family). The other is in her name and was purchased last year. (Both mortgaged) We've moved frequently in our relationship for better quality of life but now she wants to move home to be with her family (Massachusetts) We met in MA and at the time were both desperate to escape. Crime, property tax, unaffordable housing etc.. Georgia has been very nice to us and we are established here, for the first time in my life I feel a sense of security. She told me she is unhappy being away from her family and will be moving back. I refuse to move there and it seems divorce will be coming as we are unable to find a compromise. We get along well and most likely it will take her a year or two to save funds for a down payment on a house there. Knowing that my wife will leave me in the near future what should I do now to prepare? We currently share finances 100%. Thank you all! TLDR; wife wants to move to another state and I don't. Slow motion divorce incoming.

Caught Driving w/o License [17] California

driving

Back in January I received a ticket at a DUI checkpoint because I don’t have a license. The officer advised me to obtain a license and the judge may dismiss the violation. However, because of Covid-19, DMVs are closed and all appointments are cancelled. That leaves me with no permit or license. I turn 18 before my court date. Do my parents need to be at court with me? I’m an unaccompanied youth. What would be the worst case (fines, etc)? Can someone give me a rundown of what would happen at court?

My Landlords are selling my house and want me to let people see it whenever and schedule all the showings.

housing

My landlord is wanting to sell the houses that he and I live in along with another in between us. They have given the realtor my number and it is supposed to be up to me to accept or decline the showing. The problem is that we have one small dog and a medium size dog and the medium size dog is very protective, especially of the smaller dog. So letting them in while we are at work is not possible. But when the texts come in for the showings, if I don't answer fast enough they are calling my phone. The dogs make messes during the day so having the house clean as soon as we get home at 4:30 is difficult. I currently am only allowing showings on Wednesday and Saturday, but even with just that this is extremely disruptive to my life. How often am I required to allow them in to do showings. Also I've never heard of this happening before is this a normal thing. Are my rights as a renter being violated. I pay my rent for my house. Not to mention having to take all the phone calls and texts and basically schedule all of the showings for them. If anybody can maybe point me in the right direction to do the research, or share some advice that would be great. Thanks.

Swerved and hit the median.

driving

I was driving on the left lane of the road. A car was coming from the right hand side of the road from a parking lot and moved into my lane causing me to swerve into the median to avoid hitting him. I got his tag and not really sure what to do.

Is it murder if I kill my own clone?

criminal

As technology progresses cloning will probably become more prevalent and more common but I wonder if I were to kill a clone of myself is it murder or suicide and would I own them as I am the original person?

[CA/CO] Separation Agreement Terms

contract

Hi all, I currently reside in CA, but worked remotely for a company in CO in which when they terminated my employment, had me sign a separation agreement. It has been a number of months (however not a full year), but an opportunity has arose for employment with a company previously associated with my former company. I’m curious as to if this would breach what I presume to be a non-compete portion of the agreement? Thank you.

Do I need to have a will?

wills

I live in Houston TX. Family in Illinois and Missouri In St Louis Metro area. I'm upper low class. I'm not carrying around a bunch of debt. I don't have many possessions. I have 401k and IRAs that name beneficiaries. My beneficiaries know my funeral wishes. Is there something I'm missing?

(CO) Employer keeping all tips from non-labeled tip jar

employment

I work as a barista in a coffee shop. In front of the cash register is an unlabeled jar with change/dollars in it. It's setup to look like, and customers use it like, a tip jar (though there's no explicit label). When I have a pleasant interaction with someone, they usually throw a buck in. At the end of the night, my employer takes the whole jar and pockets it. I don't see a single dime. Is this legal?

Banned from website, threatened my job

employment

So, I was banned from a website. I know what I did wrong. I should not have pressed it but I went around their bans and spammed their messaging systems and emails. I know what I did could be considered harrassment. After sometime of this they responded by calling out my employer by name and the location of where I work from. They said they would send a cease and desist letter to my employer if I continued to contact them. I immediately stopped and begged them to not send a C&D to my employer. What ramifications could this cause? I feel extremely threated by the fact they knew my information and threatened to send a legal letter to my employer. Any advice or explanation would be more helpful!

[NYC] Tennant is illegally subletting a rent-controlled house. Wasted a lot of money and time

housing

Hello, I’m currently living in California and planning to move to NYC in 4 days. Last month I talked to a coworker who connected me to a person currently living in NYC. This person offered me a room in midtown, and gave me a deal for $1200 because I “used to work at the same company as him which makes us family.” I ask to see the place, he says sure. I fly over all the way from Cali to confirm the apartment exists and to sign the lease. When I ask to sign, he says there’s nothing to sign and that the lease was verbal. BIG red flag, I know. I told him I was uncomfortable with that but he insisted he can not give me a lease because his apartment is rent-controlled. I told him I’ll move in but I will only pay when I move in. He said that’s reasonable. I get a call yesterday from him saying i can’t move in. This was 5 days before my move in date! He was rude and didn’t even apologize. I talked to my coworker who said that person rented the entire apartment out to some other people for more money. My coworker had no idea how big of an ass that guy was. Basically, I wasted money and time flying over to see a place. The tenant is subletting his place out for much more money even though it’s rent controlled, and he doesn’t even live there. It’s a 2 bedroom with both rooms filled with other people not actually on the lease. Is this not illegal? I’m in an extremely stressful situation because I’ve no apartment and no plans. I’ll have to bite the bullet and stay at a hotel while I search for an apartment. Obviously, this is my fault for being naive and not getting a proper place with a lease signed. I don’t think it’s worth suing as I’ve no evidence (all through phone talking), and lawyer fees would most likely be larger than any compensation I would ever receive. What’s the best course of action? Should I report to the landlord?

Divorce/Spouse missing for 19 years.

family

I was married in NC in 2011, and 3 months after the marriage I moved home to Detroit while he went to Tijuana to secure housing for us. After 3 weeks of phone calls between the two of us I never heard from him again. I have tried to locate him using private investigators and have contacted the one family member I could find (this was several years ago) and was only able to ascertain that he spends his time between Mexico and the Philippines. I am engaged and obviously need a divorce. I live in MI and have been a resident since 2011. I would like to circumvent an expensive lawyer. There are no children, no mutual properties, bank accounts, etc. we were married in the courthouse and haven’t seen each other since. TYIA

[US, MD] Manager constantly harasses, lies, and discriminates employees

employment

New manager at my job started approx. 4 months ago. Since his time here, he has a noticable vendetta against specific coworkers, typically verbally abusing/harassing them (including but not limited to: Calling people worthless, making lies up about their work efficiency (which affects their status in the workplace risking unemployment), insulting employees, and emotionally abusing certain employees). His boss refuses to do anything, and HR has been less than helpful. The only interaction I have had with him resulted in me yelling at him for accusations, ceasing any further contact with me due to a presumed intimidation, a power rush for whatever reason till swatted down. If the company is unwilling to handle the situation, are there any legal actions possible in regards to harassment, discrimination, and emotional/verbal abuse? Thank you.

[CT] How to protect my private Internet information from government?

digital

What are some effective, legitimate measures I can take to prevent spies from accessing and viewing my personal information on my computer? I have sensitive data that I absolutely don't want hackers -- or worse, government agencies -- to see. I need to be absolutely sure that my personal content, particularly my Internet history and files, does not fall into malicious hands. Although I know and already implement some basic steps, like using Tor and clearing browser data, I'd like to know more helpful tips on how to further secure my privacy. To clarify, I have no reason to suspect that I am currently under investigation or warrant; I merely want to exercise future precaution. Thanks!

CO, US Neglect

family

TL;DR- Oldest child got knee injury, father who currently has majority of parenting time isn't doing anything to fix it, mother got medical device with simple instruction, father refuses to use it, child's knee is exponentially worse. How do I document this to show that he may not be the more fit parent. My ex (*some insight into our relationship is below) and I have three children, the oldest of whom hurt her knee about 6 weeks ago. He apparently took her to urgent care and they gave her an ace bandage. I was unaware of this and when I saw it I panicked and also took her to urgent care where they gave her an immobilizer and said to wear the immobilizer and give her motrin as needed for about a week and the swelling should go down. As soon as they went back to their dad's he told her she didn't have to wear it, lo and behold, her knee hasn't gotten better, I took photos of it on my last two weekends with the kids and at this point I am just wondering what I need to do to make him take their health more seriously. She will probably need a more invasive procedure now because he refused to make her wear the immobilizer. Our break up was nasty, he was physically, emotionally and financially abusive. When he found out I had started dating he cut me off from the kids and put a protection order against me it did not prevent me from seeing the children, just from contacting him however, he wouldn't let me see them for 3 months until it was court ordered. I got very little parenting time because I was in a new environment and we all thought it would be best to keep the children's world as stable as possible until the end of the school year when I get more parenting time. Permanent orders hearing for custody is in July.

Landlord locked access to my fire escape

housing

Hey everyone, thanks for reading this. So my apartment has a window that opens and allows me to get onto my fire escape. Recently they’ve hired painters to paint the building and now all the windows in my apartment are locked. The one I use the most is the one that opens the fire escape. I talked to my landlord and he said it that there isn’t an eta on when the windows will be unlocked, but hopefully by the end of the month. Is there anything I can do here? I live in California

Can the below be considered fair use? This is regarding a YouTube video

digital

So I made a trailer/promo video for a friends business and posted that onto Facebook. It’s been a couple of years now. Recently someone made a video talking about the industry that the business is in. It has interviews, snippets of other videos etc. In that video he used snippets from my video (without credit or permission); I wouldn’t go out to say those snippets he used were needed to push the narrative, but more of fillers for the overall video. In such a circumstance, is it considered fair use?

Forced to work while I’m taking a sick day

employment

I think I already know the answer to this, but figured I better ask. I left work early by less than one hour yesterday due to a medical issue. While I expected to be feeling better today, I was not. I told my boss 45 minutes in advance of my shift (as much time as I could) that I was still not feeling good and will be taking the day off and using my sick time to take the day off today. Later, I receive messages from the HR person asking if I will be coming in. In tell them I will not, and that I told [boss] at 7:45 I would be taking sick time. The HR person proceeds to request that I call three clients while on my day off. When I did not respond immediately (due to being in a doctor’s appointment) they texted back “yes or no????” I reluctantly told them I would call after my appointment. But is this even legal? My understanding of it is that if they are paying me for “sick time” then I should not be working. State is Arizona. I am a salaried worker, if that matters.

I think I might have stumbled on an illlegal website and I am freaking out.

digital

I have a bad habit of going on a porn binge on some weekends which led me to a site called porntopic. Under the video there was a message stating "sponsored by 14yo.se" and I thought to myself "there's no way it's actually what it sounds like". And like a dumbass (I guess to find out if it's actually a legal site to ease my mind) I clicked on the link. I did not see any images or videos so I don't know for sure if it's actually a CP site or not, however I did see a bunch of links with very questionable names so I quickly exited out and now I'm having a panic attack. I'm very prone to anxiety and I just doubled my dose of meds. I've heard of the asacp and I'm going to make a report, but can the act of actually clicking on the site get me in trouble? Is there anyone who works in law enforcement on this subreddit who's allowed to investigate this stuff? If so can you please look into it? I'm sick to my stomach right now. I live in the United States. Edit- Okay I reported it to both the asacp and ncmec. I also visited whois.net and it appears to be registered to a legitimate domain host in Sweden. I don't know Swedish but I'm going to see if I can e-mail them. Does the fact that it has a legitimate registrar suggest that it's actually legal and I'm overreacting? I don't know the process but I can't imagine a large domain host would register with a site like that otherwise.

Employer Possibly Denying FMLA

employment

I have been planning to have a surgery since early March, which I let my employer know about as soon as I knew I was a candidate for the surgery. I’ve been through several classes and a dozen+ appointments, and while COVID-19 definitely slowed the progress down I’m on track to getting the surgery soon. My insurance finally approved last week, and up until this week my employer has been supportive. When I told them the insurance approved the surgery and I would need a week, 2 weeks off max, when I got an official surgery date, she told me they didn’t know if they could do that since it was elective and it would put them in a tight position for me to be gone for up to 2 weeks. Legally, can they deny my FMLA request? Is there a timeframe I need to formally request FMLA within, and what kind of paperwork would that involve? This is an elective surgery but it’s to improve my overall health and I don’t want to have to start from the beginning with the insurance because they require a 3 month waiting period to even be approved for surgery.

Non-response from lawyer regarding my newly created estate plan, is this normal?

wills

In February my husband and I started the process of creating our estate plan through my work's legal plan. Then COVID happened and we kept pushing out the signing appointment until our lawyer said we could do it via Zoom meeting with the signing parts being recorded. That happened June 12 with no issues, it was great and they were very thorough in explaining everything to us. They said they would schedule another appointment later when our shelter in place restrictions were lifted to get the whole thing notarized, but they would send us the final completed doc to us within a week (we were only sent the signing pages for the Zoom meeting). She said the trust was ready to go and I could start funding it if I wanted to. So now it's almost a month later...and they haven't sent anything. And I've reached out via email twice to get a status update - no response. This is the first time I've ever worked with a lawyer, so I don't know if this is normal. I'm sure boring estate plans being paid for by employer legal plans are very low on their priority list, but it seems like they just had to insert the signed pages into the document and it would be done, so I'm wondering what's taking so long and feeling a little uneasy. Am I needlessly worrying about this? Edit: We are in California

EMS exempt from overtime? (Va)

employment

I'm a full time paramedic in Virginia and I work for a rural EMS agency as that has less than 10 full time employees, and a handful of part time employees. When I was hired, they told me that they would only pay overtime past 212 hours in a 28 day work period, because of the firefighter exemption under the Fair Labor Standards Act. I read that exemption, and it applies to Fire protection personnel include firefighters, paramedics, emergency medical technicians, rescue workers, ambulance personnel, or hazardous materials workers who: 1. are trained in fire suppression; 2. have the legal authority and responsibility to engage in fire suppression; 3. are employed by a fire department of a municipality, county, fire district, or State; and 4. are engaged in the prevention, control and extinguishment of fires or response to emergency situations where life, property, or the environment is at risk. I'm required to get Firefighter certifications per my contract, but my job description is for a paramedic, and we only staff ambulances. I'm not issued turnout gear, and only provide medical coverage when on fire scenes. Fire suppression is provided by local volunteer departments, as our agency is strictly EMS. It seems that I only meet that first criteria, and the way the law is written, it sounds like you need to meet all 4 criteria for employers to utilize this exemption. I'm curious if I'm interpreting it right, and what type of recourse I could take (Since I frequently work more than 40 hours a week, but fall short of the 212 hours in a pay period).

How to go about evicting an undesirable, rule breaking tenant.

housing

Hello, I am writing this in hopes that someone will provide any sort of advice. My father is a landlord and owner of the 2 floor apartment we are living in. We live on the first floor and the second floor upstairs is divided into 2 halves (2nd floor front, 2nd floor rear) with 2 separate tenants. Our 2nd floor front tenant is a woman I believe in her high 50’s (not really sure never bothered to ask). She has lived there for around 3 years now I believe (I’m sorry for not having an exact timeline, now that I have decided to take interest in what my father has to deal with in terms of tenants, I have realized just how much of an advantage people take on his kindness). We have never had a tenant so stubborn and unwilling to cooperate. When she first signed her lease everything was going fine, given the lease was pretty standard (no pets, no smoking, what is included in terms of space, electricity, water etc.) as well as the time frame of the lease. Within shortly after, I’d say about a few months into her residing here, my father and practically everyone else in the house myself included would smell cigarette smoke throughout our front porch leading to the back porch as well as occasionally within our living room and bathroom. Since then, there would be the obvious smell and when my father would confront her about it, she would deny smoking inside the apartment or say she would be smoking on her outside balcony (still not allowed). Though specifically stating in the lease that there was no smoking allowed, she would continue to do as she pleased. The cigarette smoke smell would be noticeable year round after that (especially during the winter time as I doubt she would layer up to step outside her balcony to smoke and the wind would just so happen to push all the smell back into the building), fast forward to this year and it has only gotten worse. I myself have witnessed her about to enter our front porch to get inside the door leading upstairs to her apartment with a lit cigarette only for her to notice me parking and step back outside to put it out before she entered. Just today my father was upstairs attempting to identify parts on the balcony that needed repair only to have been overpowered by the cigarette smell but did not say anything to her as she would have denied it as usual, she has literally never admitted to smoking inside the building. The smell has gotten so bad it has even traveled through the laundry chute leading from her floor to our basement and it is down there as well. I am very fed up with having to come home to a cigarette smelling home, and would like to know if there is anything my father and I can do to remove her from the premises in a legal and civil manner as she does not seem to want to comply with any lease given to her regarding no smoking. My father is kind hearted as fuck always looking for the good in people and wanting to get along, it hurts to see some one literally ignoring HIS rules for HIS property and knowing he will not and has not done anything about it. P.s as stated no pets allowed, we have seen and heard dogs being let inside on her floor by her and her visitors. Want to know more bullshit that she’s done? Keep reading Thought she is the only renter for that half and sole individual allowed to live there, I once saw a completely different woman in a bath towel with a lit cigarette walking out to the balcony talking on the phone as if she lives there. Not to mention the woman constantly has people over and when I’d hear more people up there I’d always joke to myself and say “smoke time” knowing that’s most likely what is happening. Earlier this year she moved 2 drawers from her floor and left them on our front porch, as I was the first person she spoke when she knocked that day, she claimed that they were being put up for sale and if they were not sold and gone after 2 weeks, that she would get rid of them. Well come 4 weeks later they were still there, the 3rd week was given because she had told my dad that someone was going to pick them up, no one ever did. I asked my dad about them after the 4 weeks and he had showed me the text message he had sent her about the drawers to which she did not reply. There was a bike for her granddaughter she had placed there as well which I believe just kept there as she did not attempt to store it on her floor at all. Once my father had texted her again including to remove the bike, she had texted my father in all caps attempting to shame him for not allowing her to leave a bike that her granddaughter uses on the front porch. I then replied back using my dads phone saying I understand her frustration but that not, the front porch was to remain uncluttered. My father is a hispanic immigrant, worked hard for everything he has earned. So the conversations he would have with her in person and in text were not exactly fluent english. I feel this is also a reason why she has ignored his rules “well what is that broken english speaking hispanic going to do about it, he obviously hasn’t done anything”. She definitely noticed it was me who texted her off his phone as everything was written in clear english because the next day, the drawers and bike were off the porch. What pisses me off the most is that my parents have had a noticeable cough that has gotten worse, especially for my dad and it hurts to hear him like that when he has never smoked a day in his life. She is ruining the apartment and their health with her stubborn and selfishness. Love when it’s past midnight and it sounds like there is a stampede up there, loud thud after loud thud, pauses in between and continue again. God I love when my nephew is over and making all the noise in the world for her to hear. Oh yea, you better believe she has that raspy voice. Just spoke to my 2nd floor rear neighbor and had confirmed that he would occasionally smell the strong odor upon arrival. TLDR: tenant has broken lease after lease by smoking in the apartment and never admitting guilt, eviction? Currently there is no lease for her & coming August 1st we are trying to strictly enforce the lease this time but just want to know how to go about it or if we should take any action right now.

Issues with pay, what can I do legally?

employment

I've been working for a newer hospital corporation for almost two years now and have recently received a promotion to a Trainer which included an increase in pay along with additional responsibilities. I signed documents with my director on 10/26 and they pay to reflect that pay period. The pay increase has not been added on and it has been now 2 months. I have addressed this with my director and feel like I have been getting stonewalled. What can I do to get this resolved?

I haven’t had hot water in my rented home for over a week. How do I get my landlord to fix this today and/or have rent reduced this month if possible

housing

Hey guys, so I recently moved into a 1/1 which is attached to a larger 3/2 home, it was converted into a living space just recently. With that being said, the old tenant just moved out of the larger house, and during the natural gas inspection before new tenants move in, the pilot light went out on the hot water heater and the inspector discovered the electric spark component which re lights the pilot was ruined beyond simple repair. My 1/1 shares the water heater and now I have been without hot water for over a week, and I’ve been going back and forth with the realtor over text (she handles all communication between the owners and tenants) all week. Apparently they sent someone to replace it, however the heater is so old that the parts will take another week to come in for the repair, which I told her was unacceptable. Now she has been just making excuses saying their gas guy can’t come out until Wednesday to replace the unit, which I also said was unacceptable, as I work every day and need to shower and do my dishes with hot water. Is there anything I can do about this to motivate them to do it sooner or have my rent reduced this month? I understand they have a legal obligation to provide hot water and this should have been fixed within 24 hours, but obviously that didn’t happen and I just want this to be dealt with. Ideally I would not like to break the lease and find new housing, this place is otherwise really great for me and in a great location for work.

Evicting tenant with no lanlord/tenant contract [PA]

housing

Posting on behalf of my mom who wishes to evict tenant [M60s] with which she has a verbal landlord/tenant contract. He pays roughly 600 bucks biweekly for board and access to shared facilities. But recently got into a physical altercation with her son (my brother), the cops were called for this altercation. I can't find any information regarding evicting someone without a physical landlord/tenant agreement or how to even begin the process without one. For relevant information this tenant has been living in the home for over a year, so I know he has to be granted a notice to have 30 days to find some other accommodation.

I am being falsely accused of academic dishonesty. What is my next step?

school

Hello r/legaladvice! I just finished speaking to my professor over Zoom about the accusation. Apparently I used one word in one of my answers that is included in the exam answer key, however, is there as a "distractor" to catch students that cheated. The professor is giving me an automatic F in the class even though I got the answer completely wrong and failed the exam. She has reported me to the Center for Student Rights & Responsibilities and I will be hearing from them soon. What are my next steps? Do I need a lawyer? Do I continue doing her assignments throughout the investigation? Thanks.

Medical Cannabis Cards vs No Smoking rules in leases? (UT)

housing

My boyfriend has a medical cannabis card here, we are looking to move — if there is a no smoking rule in the lease does that hold or since he uses medically, would he be able to smoke anyway?

PLEASE HELP tenant law info CA needed: meth fire victim

housing

Hi, so I am new to this sub but I have been going through actual apartment hell. (I live in California btw) 51 days ago my upstairs neighbor running a meth lab had a fire that flooded my apartment. At first our apartment wouldn’t give us anything at all for a hotel even though there were at least 10 giant industrial fans running and I’m in online school rn. People came into our place everyday without notice or consent to do tons of construction while I was in class. (taking midterms) this went on for 17 days and finally my renters insurance allowed us to have two weeks in a hotel (that got broken into) the day we got back and we’re sure the ordeal was over, someone knocked on my door nearing 10pm to tell me “I needed to be out by yesterday” because meth was all over all of our belongings and apartment. We were told to pack for 8-14 days but it keeps getting extended and now (4/22/21) is the 34th day. We went to a hotel that kicked us out because we are a gay couple and the apartment decided to house us in another furnished apartment in the building. This has been absolutely hell on my mental health and has been awful timing seeing as this started during midterms and Im approaching finals now. We haven’t been allowed back into the apartment to get anything we own even though we weren’t packed for 34+ days. We have spent about $4000 on things like food because we haven’t had a kitchen, internet that we haven’t used, extra medication for an existing health condition that was worsened from stress, clothes, storing things that can’t be in the apartment because of construction. They offered us each $1000 for food but after reading extensively on California civil codes it looks like they owe us around $7000 (CA civil code 1942.2) for the 17 days we were on our own, (CA civil code 1947.9) we shouldn’t pay April rent (which we haven’t yet and they haven’t pestered us for but we don’t want to ruin our credit) on top of the $2000 for food they offered us only after these first things as well as an end to our lease with no repercussions. I sent them a detailed letter of demand citing all my codes and using all specific dates and numbers but they rejected it immediately and offered me $1000 off next months rent... I know this is super long but I NEED advice, anything helps. Should is get a lawyer and sue them or is there anything I can do that’s less time and $ consuming????

Child support obligations for non-custodial parents of students with disabilities (Autism & T1D) who will be going to college in California.

family

Please advise.

What are rights of people living in extended stay hotels in the state of Florida

housing

I(F25) have been living at an Extended Stay America property since February last year up until today. I paid my rent monthly and on time each month. I woke up today as normal and went about my routine(feed and walk dog, shower, get dressed, etc) Apparently, a new manager started today. She kept calling the room(while I was in the middle of showering) demanding I come down and make a payment. Now money wasn’t the issue. I had the rent money, but my relationship with the other manager was that I just come in at whatever point on the day I’m ready and pay my rent. I told the new manager I would be at the front office as soon as I dressed and brush my hair. I politely hung up. She calls right back and said since I hung up on her she wants me gone from the property. I go into the front office ready to pay and she is livid, saying how dare I talk to her that way and I need to be out by 4pm. It was after 12pm at that point. Now, I wasn’t to sure on the law and procedures regarding removing long term tenants from an extended stay hotel, so I searched it right there and found something vague that said I did have to receive at least three days notice. I even called the sheriffs office to confirm this and the officer said she would need to serve me a notice and give me time to organize my belongings. The manager called the police and when they show up I inform them of what I was told by the sheriffs office and the Florida Statute I found online. The cop says I have no legal protection and they could really only give me 30min to leave instead of giving me until 4pm. At that point I break down crying because I have so many items of clothing, dog bed, and refrigerated food to try and get into my car in a few hours and I have no other arrangement than going back to my parent’s house so I can figure out my next move. Even though the cop said I have no legal rights or recourse I don’t believe that fully. I think they were just banking on me being a young woman who doesn’t really know any better and just go along with what they they said whether I had been clear on the laws that or not. Doggo and I are now safe at the parent’s, but I’m laying awake wondering if what the hotel did was right and you I have any recourse I can take. It just makes me sad and sick in stomach to think somewhere I had been for 11months could just throw me out within a few hours all because the new manager wanted to bully and flex her power. Of course I’m putting energy into finding a new place to live, ( hopefully a real apartment with a lease) but I still want to know if the hotel manager was in the right and if there’s any legal action I could take. Thank you in advance for any information.

6th leak in my apartment in one year... is there any chance of compensation?

housing

From the get go we’ve had so many water issues with this apartment. This is my first apartment. I used to live in a townhome my family rented from an individual landlord for ten years, then I moved for undergrad where I lived in campus housing, and once I got accepted to grad school, I moved to this nice apartment complex, I pay $1800 a month for a 2bed/2bath. The day we got our keys to this place, as we were there with the UHaul moving our furniture in, there was a flood. Someone two flights above me had a leak in their apartment and it came down and flooded one whole bedroom, bathroom, closet, half the living room, and a bit of the kitchen. It was a rude awakening, and the repairs took two weeks to complete, all the carpet needed replacing, the walls were soaked, they were spraying to prevent mold, maintenance guys were in and out all day, we couldn’t finish moving in, so we moved into a motel for 10 days until it was partially completed and habitable again. The apartment complex wouldn’t do anything except refund the $300 deposit. We had renters insurance but the deductible kicks in at $1000, and the motel cost $970 so we just paid out of pocket for it. A month later, the kitchen dishwasher starts leaking and floods our kitchen. We’ve never even used the dishwasher because we’re Asian so we hand wash everything in the sink. They replace the dishwasher, a week later the new one starts leaking too, again it floods the kitchen. They just disconnected it, since we don’t use dishwashers anyway, we didn’t complain about that, just the flooding. A few months later, another leak starts coming down into my closet. A few months after that, an intermittent leak happens in the ceiling of one of the bathrooms, floods the bathroom and hallways. It takes maintenance a long time to figure out where the leak is coming from. So they keep telling us to clean it up, wait for it to happen again, and call them ASAP and hope they get there in time. Eventually they fix the showers of our upstairs neighbors, and the leak stops. The next week... another leak in the same bathroom, but now it’s a piping problem. They patch it. A few days later, another leak, this time in the hallway, because now that the previous leak was patched, the leak just moved further down along the same pipe, they patch it. This was a few days ago. Today we have a leak in our living room, it looks like the leaks keep moving further along the pipe. I just renewed the lease last month because I’m still in grad school and this complex is like across the street from my school. But this is exhausting. The maintenance guys are legitimately trying their best. They’re frustrated because the pipes in the entire complex are really old and rusty and there are leaks like this happening all over, but usually people might deal with one a year. We’ve dealt with several. I’m in Colorado. This is like a nice typical American suburb about 30 minutes outside of Denver. Not like some sketchy area with slumlords. The head manager here seems like a really nice lady, it seems like the problem is that corporate (which manages hundreds of apartment complexes all over America) doesn’t want to put the investment in to actually fix the piping. I’ve been too wrapped up in my studies to really address this, but all of these maintenance orders and more have been thoroughly documented, is there any way I can get any sort of compensation for this hassle? I’ve literally spent months of my time here with fans and industrial dehumidifiers blowing all the time. It was never my fault. And I’m just sick of this. If I hadn’t just signed on for another year, I would have actually considered moving, but now I can’t break my rental agreement cause then I’d have to pay $5000+ I’m just stuck in a messy situation and I don’t know what to do. The maintenance guys are doing all they can. I can write a letter to the management but the “management” is just this one lady who seems to have her hands tied as to how much she can really do about stuff like this. A big apartment complex corporation probably doesn’t care about all the leaks I’m having. Is there anything I can do to get these problems addressed?

Previous employer asking for payment of non-eligible vacation time used without any record or proof. [KY/MI]

employment

I joined this company on 1/5/2015 after being a contract worker with them for a year. I left the company on 8/31/2018 which puts me at 3.66 years of service. I was eligible for 80 hours of vacation at the time of joining with the eligibility increasing to 120 hours after 3 years of service. I planned to get married in July of 2018 so I purchased an extra 40 hours of vacation during the enrollment period in 2017 in case I needed it after the honeymoon for emergencies (I had not intended to leave the company at that point). Come 2018 I had assumed I had 160 hours of vacation that I could use that year. The timecard system does not indicate how many days you have accrued and all vacation time was approved by my boss prior so I was under the impression that I could use it all. Additionally, the company forces you to take 1 week of vacation during in July for maintenance of facilities. Employees are able to opt out if they prove they have critical work to do. I did not have critical work to do and we planned around this mandatory vacation time so that we could get married. I also took 1 week after this time to honeymoon. In previous months I took days here and there for mental breaks or long weekend trips to visit family. When I left the company, I had used about 118 hours of vacation time. Come September of 2018 (1 month after leaving), I received a bill in the mail for roughly $2600. I immediately emailed HR asking for justification. They emailed back saying the following: >The employee states that he should have had his vacation entitlement increased in 2018 because he reached his 3rd service anniversary this year. This is incorrect. Per the vacation policy, vacation entitlement is based off your completed years of service as of 12/31 of the prior year. See excerpt below. The employee’s FSD was 1/5/2015; on 12/31/2017 he had 2.9 years of service; he was eligible to accrue 80 hours in 2018. The purchased vacation policy, available in **redacted** in the Flexible Benefits summary plan description, states that purchased vacation can only be used AFTER all regular vacation is accrued and used. > The IRS requires that purchased vacation may be taken only after all regular vacation days are earned and used. Regular vacation days are defined as the maximum number of days for which you would be eligible, based on your length of service, and assuming you worked the entire year. You must use all of your vacation, including any days you purchase, by December 31, of the plan year. >Because salaried employees accrue 1/10 of their annual vacation on the last workday of each month until all 10/10 are accrued, and the employee terminated 9/1, he accrued vacation in January – August (8 months). 8/10 x 8 hours/month = 64 hours. The employee did not accrue all his regular vacation, and therefore was not able to use any purchased vacation. Per IRS rules, unused PV is forfeited and no refunds of contributions are made except where state law requires (which it does not, in his state). He will need to discuss his vacation usage with his supervisor; the supv reported that the employee used 118 hours of vacation. Three things immediately stood out to me, I was not aware there was an accrual for vacation since all vacation was blessed immediately by bosses and many coworkers have used several weeks of vacation at a time in January or for Spring break. The second is that my years of service is counted as less than what I actually worked due to their backwards rule of only counting from Dec 31st of the year your joined. Since I joined on 1/5, I lost pretty much an entire year of "eligible service". Lastly, my purchased vacation is only able to be used during the last two months of the year per the rules that I can only use it until I have accrued and used all my normal vacation time. This was never made clear to me or written during the enrollment period when I completed the purchase. I do not have any receipt from the company and am locked out of the payroll system. HR provided a screenshot on the eligibility from the first paragraph and the second paragraph is a copy of another screenshot. There was no screenshot provided on the accrual. I have no access to any of this documentation, including pay stubs and policies. Per their recommendation, I contacted my old supervisor and asked for a proof of record including exact dates and hours for when vacation was used. I received no response. They have sent me a letter stating that I owe them money every month since and I have refused to pay because no record was provided to me. This month they finally sent a collections agency for the money. What actions should I take next? Do I have grounds to dispute the collections?

Is the following situation assault?

criminal

Person A goes up to Person B and "Fake Punches" Person B (Pretends to punch but doesn't actually make contact, stopping a few inches before the face). Person A then beats up Person B as a response to the fake punch. Could Person B be charged with assault?

[California] Trying to find a lawyer who specializes in labor law

employment

I'm trying to put together a claim against my employer for unpaid overtime and other related violations of the labor code. I've found a lot of lawyers in my area that deal with labor issues but I can't figure out how to actually find one that might know what they're doing. They seem pretty much all the same. How do I narrow down the field?

Needing advice ASAP, wife trying to steal our kids

family

Hello, I'm asking for help here because I cannot speak to the attorney I'm going to hire until Wednesday. The facts: wife had two affairs with different men and is pregnant by the second. Currently "just fucking" a third, but "not in a relationship" by her words. Classy. Anyway, we've been separated since March. I kicked her out in May, after discovering the pregnancy (vasectomized, myself). Children (8, 10) have been with me primarily. Odd scheduling benefits me, so she usually has them every other weekend and for 2 days/1 night after school every other week. She's available and welcome to have them as often as she'd like, but doesn't seem to have an issue with the schedule we've kept. She only has an issue with me not sending her money on the 8 days/6 nights per month she has them. Between my not sending money (she makes more than I do, as far as I can tell) and me having a woman at the house Sunday night after almost 2 years of Fighting the inevitable split, she's pretty pissed. So pissed that on Tuesday she threatened to assault the woman if she was at my house when she arrived. She wasn't welcomed or invited to the house but showed up and smashed through the door when I wouldn't let her in. She was given a criminal trespass warning and told not to be on the property by the sheriff's Dept. After luckily leaving without being handcuffed she took my kids back to her town and called to withdraw them from their current school, which is two blocks from my house and where they've gone since kindergarten (3rd and 4th grade now). I didn't find this out until 3:25 when I went to pick them up. I had it all straightened out the next day and they resumed school as if nothing had happened. But today new issues occurred. Today was early release from school and I had my dad waiting to pick them up. 20 minutes later she showed up at my house raising hell because she wanted them. She and my dad both called me and I told my dad to let them go with her but not allow her inside or to take anything. After she left she sent texts indicating that she had the boys now and her "attorney will take care of everything". In no uncertain terms I told her she does not have the right or permission from me to remove them from their school or to make any changes to their routines or lives without my knowledge. The biggest hurdle right now is this: we're still married and there is no custody or support order for the kids. I intend to keep things how they have been, which has been simple and seemed to keep everyone happy until my wife got upset that there was a woman in my house. She's threatening alimony, taking full custody, child support, taking my home from me and every kind of hardship she can think of to threaten me with. What can I do to keep her from removing them from their school and enrolling them elsewhere? I need to keep things the way they are for my kids because there is security and stability and happiness for them the way it's been. Also if she steals them and enrolls them elsewhere I'm terrified that her lawyer (if she has one) will pull some bullshit that claims "possession is 9/10 of the law" and establish her as sole or primary custodial parent, which I have technically been since kicking her out of the house. I don't think it's fair to my kids at all, even if she pulls some shit and it only lasts until court sorts it out, to uproot them and break up their entire routine. This is Texas and Moms reign supreme in family court. I need to protect myself and my kids until I get my half-ass, biased chance in court to make things legal and binding. What can I do?

Is there anything I can do about my cousins harassing me? Police won’t do anything?

digital

So I’m 14. I have two older cousins, ximena and Roxanna. Ximena is 19 and Roxanne is 21. I haven’t seen them in like 6 or 7 years. They live out of state. A few years ago, one of them, stole pictures off my moms Facebook page and made fake accounts on Instagram using our actual names and pictures (for everyone in my house) saying all this explicit disgusting derogatory stuff. Even using random porn videos claiming it was my mom. They know my moms favorite singer and spammed them singer with the disgusting fake profiles. My mom was embarrassed and angry. My sister is 12. We knew it was them because guess what their mother told my mom about all these accounts that they Magically kept finding. Of course, when confronted they denied it and their mother pretty much told my mom off as well as ximena and said nasty things about everyone in our house. My mom disowned all 3 of them. My grandma lives with us and was shocked at the time. Fast forward to January this year. My grandma decided to message Roxanna and wish her a happy 21st birthday and told her what my family was up too. How I play volleyball now and my sister takes karate classes. There was a fake Instagram account made about me using my pictures and started messaging my friends pretending to be me. My two actual accounts were hacked and passwords were changed. My friend brought it up to me asking why I’m acting so weird on instagram, I told her I didn’t have access to that account and it wasn’t me. She blocked the account. Then the account decided to message my older half sister, Payton, on my dads side who I hardly ever see. It was asking Payton info about themselves, if I ever talk to them or anything (what the actual hell like she would even know) and how I play volleyball and not basketball anymore and that I’m a lesbian (I’m not) too afraid to come out and how I hate my mom (I don’t) and yadda yadda. Payton contacted my mom asking about the account and it’s messages and my mom told her to block the account it’s not me. It’s ximena or roxanna. It sounds exactly like them. My mom is sick of all this drama and wants them to leave us alone. My family wants nothing to do with ximena or roxanna anymore. She went to the PO station and filed a report. She mentioned what they previously did in prior years as well as currently and all they said was “they aren’t doing anything that we can prosecute them for” my mom said they are stalking and pretending to be a minor. Police said “it’s not illegal to use someone else’s name or picture online, if it bothers you that much report the accounts. They aren’t doing anything worth investigating at this time”. My mom was furious that they wouldn’t do anything. We don’t have money to afford an attorney either. I made a new Instagram account with a password app for hard to guess passwords, I didn’t make it private though. What’s the point? They will just hack it if they want to anyways and steal my stuff. My sister recently found a fake tik Tok made of me using my private tik Tok account videos that I made last month. I have less than 10 followers and they are all people I know. I’m sick of this. I want to tell them off. I want to get back at them. I don’t know how though.

Employee forced to come to work when they should be quarantined! (South Carolina)

employment

I’m a manager at a retail store and have close contact with other employees and customers. A relative I live with is positive for covid and I am taking care of them. I informed my store and they are still making me come in to work continuously. Per the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control: “For those who live in the same house as someone who has COVID-19, they should continue to quarantine until ten (10) after the date the person with COVID-19 is told they no longer need to practice isolation.” https://scdhec.gov/covid19/frequently-asked-questions-covid-19 I’m not fully vaccinated yet and I’m concerned about my coworkers and customers. I also can’t afford to lose my job. Where can I go to report this?

Is this justice?

criminal

Someone is on parole in PA, and has been charged with a new crime in a different county. The individual is transferred back to original jail and judge sentenced him to serve more time because of the new change. I don't understand how that is justice when the individual has not been convicted? Also the attorney who represented individual did not do any thing about the time served while waiting 5 weeks to be picked up by originating jurisdiction. The attorney told individual that he c would take care of it. Attorney was reminded twice but did not return calls. What to do? Also while individual is serving this time. The second jurisdiction, a small town has 4 arrest warrants it for individual... failure to show, and not losing fines. This small town magustrateis well aware of where this person is and why he cannot show up or pay on fines. We have personally called the office explaining. They don't care. Does this mean another attorney? One more thing. This local magistrate also refuses to appoint a public defrnder until individual is done with this currant sentence. Is that legal? Is it fair to the individual who might otherwise have someone who would look into the charges and evidence, perhaps, even having the charges dropped? Please help me to understand how this is happening? I will be happy to shed light any where needed. Thanks!

Dad died and wife (#5, not my mother) abandoned life estate/removed possessions before the will is probated

wills

TEXAS Hello, first off thank you for reading this post and for any response in advance. My father died about a month ago. He and his last wife had a prenup and he also had a will. The prenup says that they reject community property laws and will keep their property as separate. My father purchased and lived in the home in question before wife #5 came into the picture. Anyways, he left all of his possessions, money/interests, and home to myself and my siblings, but said she could live in the house for her natural life (life estate). After he died, she cut off all contact with us- refused to let us in the house, didn’t come to the funeral, refused to let hospice inside the house to retrieve their belongings, cleaned out their joint account, tried to write multiple checks from his individual account (basically it’s been a mess) We are very suspicious that she has been selling everything, she’s made several comments that we will never get anything inside of the house (because that’s what happened when her mother died, so she feels resentment from that) and that this is her house.. anyways, we find out she is moving out before the probate process. In fact, she’s already gone.. she told her lawyer she was abandoning her life estate and she’d be out by today at the latest. Our court date for probate is set for this week. There were multiple things in the house that were my dads property- dozens and dozens of very valuable antiques, as well as furniture that has been in our family for years. Of course if she has taken these things, we want them back and if we can’t get them back- we don’t want her to just get away with it. She has been so horrible to us. I was under the impression that no one could touch anything of my fathers estate (us&her) because the will has not been probated, our lawyer says while that’s true- we have to prove it, and is it really worth our time? Of course it’s worth our time, to us. We haven’t even been given a chance to account for his things- a very long list was left inside the house that listed his possessions but she would not let us in to get it after he died. We don’t know what to do. If anyone has advice on how to proceed, please let me know. She’s gone and we are afraid everything went with her.

My small family of 3 rents a couple rooms and the landlords are becoming abusive, wondering if I can take legal action

housing

It started off with us renting a room for 300 from a family because we needed help and they were nice. Eventually the grandma had a stroke so we now we take care of the grandma and clean the house for 300 a month. So at this point it's a small room and half a room for no rent, in return we cook 3 meals a day, clean the house everyday and keep her pills/blood pressure on track. Which is all fine. We dont mind working The problem is that the grandma has an adult daughter who also rents a room dis attached from the house. And that lady has become a monster. She slams doors constantly, screams at us through our doors, and threatens to evict us constantly even though she doesnt own the house. It's become very hostile here and everyones too scared to leave their room because shes always angry. If I record her screaming at us or something, is there a case there for abuse? Also we're live in caretakers at this point for 300$ and she doesnt let us leave the house unless shes here to watch the grandma. So we have also lost our freedom and are barely getting compensated for it

My former employer produced a forged noncompete and placed it in my personnel file.

employment

Anonymous account for obvious reasons. I’d rather not divulge my specific location (United States). My state does not allow for punitive damages (if that matters). A few years ago I went to work for a company. During salary negotiations I informed them I would not consider signing a noncompete agreement and they were fine with it. Late last year I gave my two week notice. It was an amicable separation. After resigning I requested copies of my personnel file. Among the documents, I found a noncompete agreement with my signature. The agreement is a forgery and it’s obvious. All documents related to my employment that were signed by me, were all done via electronic signature. There were a number of documents I signed when I was hired- all in one electronic signature package, all signed on the same day. The noncompete agreement was included in the documents I signed, dated for the same month and day as the other hiring documents, except the year was wrong. A document from the electronic signature company authenticating my signature and each document signed was included. And they’re all on the same day. I emailed my former employer asking about this document- when, where and how it was signed. They never responded. What are my options? Do I simply find employment in my field and wait until they try to enforce it to challenge it? Can I preemptively challenge it? Can I legally compel them to remove it or declare it void? Thank you.

Help! I moved out of an apartment at the end of April and the property management company is claiming interior smoke damage.

housing

First timer here, I'm so rattled right now, my hands are shaking. My girlfriend and I of three years moved out of our first apartment together after completing a one year lease. We took pretty good care of the place, as it isn't our property. I am a smoker, and she is not. We welcomed the birth of our first child in May, 2017...a full month after we moved in. Now, I smoked the whole time I was living there, but I made sure to smoke outside, off the property. I have neighbors who can attest to this. Not to mention our son, living with us, isn't a smoker, and it is illegal in California to smoke inside a residence with a child (IIRC). Our deposit was 2-2.5x the monthly rent due to my girlfriend's low credit score. *The property management company is claiming over $2000 in damages*, for repainting the walls, and installing new carpeting. They have sent me 4 documents including invoices, and a list of supposed damages. The invoices are from companies that are on letterhead, and the list of damages and repairs are documented on an excel type of spreadsheet "invoice" which I haven't seen used by a legit business before. To be fair, we did a lot of stovetop bacon cooking and meal prepping which could contribute to the dirt and debris and discoloration of the carpet, but trying to fvck me out of $2K when I'm barely making it makes me feel sick to my stomach. I live in California and I was under the impression that the walls needed to be repainted after a tenant moved out anyway, Do I have any recourse here? I started drafting an email response, but then realized that someone may have had a similar situation, or experience in this type of thing, and could help. TL;DR I'm not going to break the law and smoke inside my home, around my infant son, but the property management company is claiming I've done just that. *I smoked outside like a rational adult*. Please help.

[FL] Parents signed a paper that is supposedly a Roofing contract, unbeknownst to them

contract

Hi, My parents in Florida have a predatory roofing company trying to force them to have work done on their home. This all started when an employee of the roofing company visited their home and asked if my parents would like to have work done on their noticeably damaged roof. My father responded that he was interested if he did not have to pay out of pocket for the repairs. The roofing employee stated that my father should sign an agreement that allows them to talk with my parents' insurance company and see what amount their insurance would be able to cover for this project. My dad asked if this was a contract and the employee said no. Lo and behold, a few weeks later, the roofing company comes back looking to start work immediately. My parents have received a check from their insurance company to help with the repairs, though it's a few thousand dollars short of the total cost of the repair so my parents refuse the work. However, the roofing company claims that what my father signed is a contract to have the work done despite this, despite how the employee previously had stated that it was not a contractual agreement. The boss of the company has since come to their house acknowledging the employee lied but still seeks to work on my parents' roof per the "contract". The roofing company is now looking for 20% of the total cost of the work claiming that my parents breached the contract by not allowing them to work on the roof. They're threatening to sue if my parents don't allow them to work on the roof, and they have also offered my parents several fraudulent schemes to try and get more money out of their insurance company. My parents want nothing to do with a company who operates in this way... Did my dad actually sign a binding contract or is it full of BS? There is some "legalese" on it yet it's filled with typos, misspelled words, and some inconsistencies that make it impossible to understand fully. Here's part of the "agreement" he signed: [https://imgur.com/B6LOzWr](https://imgur.com/B6LOzWr) Should my parents be looking for a lawyer or telling them to pound sand?

Changing my parent’s custody

family

Don’t really know how to tl;dr this. For reference, I live in Alaska in the US. My parents divorced four years ago and agreed to a pretty much equal custody agreement. At the beginning I was bitter toward both parents, but one in particular, which was pretty obvious to anyone, to the point I was saying I never wanted them to have full custody. Presently, I’ve dealt with my feelings and am actually happier with this parent, and would like them to have custody, though I have told no one. I turned sixteen four months ago, and I’ve heard that judges will likely listen to me if I request one parent to have full custody, I just want to know if I have a decent chance. Parent A is who I would like to end up with. Parent A makes less money, but still enough to support us. Parent B is a conservative Christian, and I am a closeted atheist and also realized I’m bi. (Don’t want to mention that in case the judge is partial against that.) Worried that I would have to pick someone because of school, I told parent B I was feeling bad about potentially having to do it, they told me they don’t think they’d let me pick anyway. Both parents are remarried, but at Parent B’s my step siblings get definite better treatment than me and my sibling (Who is two years younger than me.). Parent B may play a moral side to keeping me, as they’re Christian and regularly going to church. I also stupidly told Parent B a year ago that I had watched porn, but didn’t make it sound like I was addicted. I may no longer have my phone at night (Makes sense), and they treat me like an addict. Parent B also pushes for me to have an active social life, but when I ask to go to a friends house (rare), always starts questioning me on everything we’d be doing and who they are, like they don’t trust me, causing me to shy away from trying. My sibling and I are also overweight, though not terribly obese, but Parent B started a strict diet (We researched the nutrition we were getting, and it showed we weren’t getting enough carbs for our age and activity, when we brought it up they shut us down saying they know what they’re doing.), which caused my sibling to feel guilty for eating certain things. Parent B also likes to frequently point out how I act old for my age, yet they constantly baby me. (For three years I haven’t been allowed to cook at home alone cause I accidentally cut myself once, even though I’ve been helping cook since I was three.). There’s more grievances too. It may sound like parent B is mean, or your average strict parent, but it comes from a good place. They love me, and I know that, and they’re nowhere near abusive, they just don’t always consider repercussions. I love both parents, and would never want to hurt them, but I’m happier with Parent A, and want to feel like that all the time, not half the time.

Nearly cut off internet after having to pay charges that should have been automatically covered by my lease agreement. Landlord was more than happy to fix the mistake, but I'm still stuck with the previous bills. What do I do?

housing

I live in Calgary, Canada. I've been renting an apartment for little over a year now and back in late November I had to renew my lease. I expected my work to increase my hours since they kept talking of record profits, it being constantly busy, and the holiday season coming up, but instead they did the exact opposite and cut my hours. So December was a tight squeeze, but I pulled out having paid off a fine to the city, making rent, and barely making the electric bill which had been overdue for some time. However, come when I went to check my internet bill which is usually about $10 from slight overages, I found it was sitting at $230. When I called my Internet provider, they had told me that the deal that came with my lease had ended and it would be something to discuss with my landlord, who I got in touch with and she fixed the issue immediately. However, the $230 was still left on my shoulders, causing me stress from being unable to afford food to save funds for the bill, and generally being harassed by the agents over the phone who keep hounding and berating me for being behind on payment and threatening to cut me off twice now, which is especially scary since it's my only way of keeping touch with people and essential services that support me since my cell service was cut off. My landlord *has* fixed the issue and the deal will be applied to all future bills, but having the costs of the mistake land on my shoulders has caused me intense trouble the last few weeks. I really don't want to be rude seeing how she's overall understanding and helpful, but the lease indicated that I should have been covered in those two months I was billed for. What can I do?

Australia. Breaking my lease and transferring my share into my hose mates name

housing

Hi everybody! I’m hoping someone out there can give me some info Im set to join the ADF in February next year, my house mate has known this for over a month and has known I’ve been on a waiting list since March. I gave notice to her and the landlord 40 days in advance of the date in which I will be out by, landlord thinks this is fine but needs my housemate to be on the same page. My problem is can my housemate be stubborn about it and not agree to let me off the lease which will end in October? Or is my notice enough?

I think I saw underage people on a porn site and don’t know what to do.

digital

I was watching porn the other night on a porn site that I hadn’t heard of before (not pornhub or one of the ones everyone has heard of) but it came up like the number 2 search on google. It looked like a legitimate site just not as developed as the more prominent sites are. Video after video all of the actors looked to be between the age of 15-18, it really freaked me out and I’m now super worried. I want to report the site somewhere but I also just don’t want to be involved in that kind of thing. I have no way to know whether they were underage or not but they defo looked it and it just baffles me that this kind of stuff could be posted onto a site that comes up number 2 on google. Should I do anything about this? Would law enforcement even care, I know they can’t even keep up with what’s going on over at the dark web so would they even pay attention to my report? Would I get in trouble for being on the site? I didn’t type in “underage” or anything, my search was just a usual porn search but I’m just sick to my stomach worrying rn. Also important to note I don’t stick around once I got the feeling they were underage. Please don’t come after me calling me sick or stupid stuff like that. I was just doing what millions of people do everyday having some alone time and came across what I think to be dodgy stuff.

Can i get in legal trouble for a one-time racial fued with someone online? (Australia)

criminal

So about 2 weeks ago a guy from Qatar messaged me on instagram asking me to convert to islam (im christian), i said no chance and then he started saying derogatory things about Jesus and the Bible and admittingly said racial slurs about the Quran and Allah back... I dont feel bad for what i said but i do know, even if he started it the Muslim community is much more protective about their religion than Christians and would have me hung in the middle east or probably murdered here still if the screenshots were leaked. Nothing has been said other than that one time altercation. Even though the likelihood of something happening may be low, i still get anxiety thinking about the worst outcomes for this situation. Of this say was to be taken to court, would i get prison time? (Australian laws), what would happen to me if these screenshots were say posted on facebook by this man, would my house be shot up or something? I just need some legal advice from people who know the laws a bit better than i do....

[TX] child support

family

Does service connected disability through the VA count towards income for child support- in TX?

Company cancelled a group tour I booked because of Coronavirus - will only offer a credit but not a refund

contract

I booked a group tour to Thailand for next month. Not sure if I can say who with so I’ll leave it out unless needed. I just found out that they are “suspending” all operations for trips to Europe/Asia etc. which effects my trip and there are no other similar trips to Thailand until later this fall/winter They said that because they are only suspending and not cancelling the trip they cannot offer a refund but only a credit which can be applied to future trips. Sounds like they’re playing around with wording so that they don’t need to refund me my $800 and force me into a future trip. Below is a screenshot of their contract - it sounds like they are obligated to offer a refund. Thoughts? https://imgur.com/a/9PuAz93

Waiter in France potentially being underpaid

employment

I currently work in France (on a vacance travail visa) in a fairly sketchy restaurant. Minimum wage in France is €10 an hour, but the workers here make €50 for each 7 hour shift. There are also faked timetables that they make us sign which don’t actually correspond to our hours. I’m sure it’s so that they can get away with paying less than they should, since most of the payment is in cash (under the table?) at the end of each day. I haven’t really had too much issue with this, but recently, my manager had been asking me to do 11 hour shifts (11h - 23h with an hour break) for 75€, which I find to be unacceptable. He also hints at firing me if I refuse to work these hours. I’ve also seen other servers work ‘half shifts’ where the manager tells them to go home midway through the shift during slow days (even if they’ve been there longer than half the shift). My contract says I get paid €1043 for 104 hours of work a month, but since starting to work here last month, I’ve worked much more than that (about 168 hr for €1200). I can attach a picture of the contract if it helps, although it’s all in French. With all this information, I’m sure this restaurant is violating a bunch of labor laws, but I’m not too sure what I can do about it. Most of the other people who work there are forced to because of their financial circumstances, so it’s easy for the manager to exploit them. So Reddit (French) lawyers, what can I do? Btw my French is very poor.

I'm in a sticky situation, what can I do legally?

family

North Carolina, USA. Our son is 8 months old. We aren't married. But he is abusive mentally and verbally to our son and me too. I have endless recorded evidence of this and other things. But, I have a past history of drug addiction. I've been clean for well over a year now and am deadset on never going back to that. I have a son now, I can't. I had to grow up, and I'm wayy better now. I also have a history of mental illness but it is 1000% under control. Non issue at this point. However, he says that if I try to leave him, he will use all of this against me to gain custody of my son. The son that he abuses... What can I do? *Edit* He is also a heavy alcoholic.

My uncle got stabbed and police won’t answer the phone

criminal

So my uncle got stabbed last week 2 times by the same person. He is now in critical condition in the ICU with both lungs damaged. He is also in a coma. I have been struggling to contact the police regarding this case. They either never answer the phone, or leave me on hold for long hours. I don’t really know what to do. I have never dealt with a criminal issue before so I am grateful for that, however, I don’t know how to move forward with this. What should I do?

Connecticut lease renewal, PLEASE REVIEW just one paragraph!!!!

housing

Hi, we are renewing our lease at the same monthly rate. Originally our landlord wanted a month-to-month 2 yr, to lock in the rate but to “protect them” since CT is favoring renters due to COVID, they could evict us if we lost our jobs or *any reason*. I told them I wouldn’t renew; that I wanted a traditional 2yr, same rate and they finally agreed. Our number one priority is to pay our rent and we have faithfully for 2 yrs. Well I got the[lease](https://imgur.com/gallery/qOgLlNN) today and I’m wary to sign and I can’t tell if they’re trying to pull one over. The way it’s worded; does this mean that *during* the leased period they can kick us out with 30 days notice, or after the agreed period, if we go month to month, either party can give notice? Thank you so so much!!

Can you be sued for reading a Reddit post

digital

First time posting here. So this Youtuber I watch read a story from Reddit. He made a few jokes but nothing major but now apparently the guy who wrote the story is trying to sue him. Is this legal or not

Roommate used a knife in self defense. [Georgia, US]

criminal

My 2 roommates and I share a house with 3 other people downstairs we don’t live with. One day the guys downstairs were drunk and loud, and when asked to be quiet got extremely violent saying “I’ll fuck you up, shut the fuck up” etc. My roommate who is by no means a violent person started carrying a knife after this for protection, and sure enough the downstairs rooommate kept being loud and annoying. Eventually the downstairs roommate and mine got into a fight. My roommate had his cell phone recording because he knew there would be trouble, but basically the downstairs guy threatened to fuck him up, then threw the first punches. My roommate tackled him and drew out his knife and stabbed him in the chest and side. Then got up and called the police. He has this all on video up until he called the police, but was he within his rights to do what he did?

A question about YouTube.

digital

As many of you are aware there are entire movies/shows uploaded on YouTube. Would viewing these materials be illegal?

Complex, but gifted with hard evidence

criminal

The following is a classic case of victim blaming and abuse of power: Who do I go to for help if I am a victim of a crime and need and attorney ASAP who can handle a complex case. I have been pressured by the Riverside Chief Deputy DA Kelli Catlett to believe my yahoo email evidence couldn’t be authenticated, causing the state to lose a jury trial against a predatory marriage counselor charged with two counts of sexual exploitation of a client. I still have the email on my phone and showed Ms. Catlett. She said it wasn’t good enough. Let me add, this was in the presence of Supervising Investigator Natasha Crawford, who should have corrected her to say authenticating emails is not a problem in the year 2018. Kelli Catlett and Courtney Breaux were manipulative and abusive in two separate two hour long meetings. They said they would take the case to trial, but would only do so if they could win. I know that, and understand that, especially in my powerless role of a witness. This is an EASY win. They both attacked my character, especially for wanting to communicate with them to provide the court transcripts and electronic evidence to help THEIR case against Dr. Gary E. Bell Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. They are actively working with the defense counsel Ty Martinez in their deceptive plan. Mr. Martinez had already committed fraud upon the court in a civil case, which Commissioner Kenneth Fernandez has recently discovered. They had planned to offer Dr. Bell an inappropriate lessor charge of assault and are pressuring the Department of Consumer Affairs to get on board their plan and sabotage the investigation. The purpose is to preserve Dr. Bell’s license. The details will not be discussed here, but his abuse caused lifelong irreparable damages. I have proof for miles of the despicable, unethical behavior of five attorneys. I have witnesses who are professionals and would be credible on the stand, 100’s of emails, text messages, and court documents that can prove this case. Mr. Martinez implicitly threatened me, saying I had a harassing course of conduct with him, and stated to the court that he filed a motion to dismiss the criminal case. When asked if he is accusing me of harassing him, he shook his head no. The court reporter will provide transcripts to prove what I am saying is true. The last hearing revealed so much fraud and proof that Dr. Bell and his witness perjured themselves on multiple occasions. This has taken a huge toll on me over the last few months to where the men and women I am accusing of unethical and/or fraudulent behavior are intentionally trying to push me past my breaking point so they can turn me into a defendant in an effort to cover-up their long list of wrongdoings. Finally, I have been denied the right to speak to my assigned victim advocate Brianna who had advised me to speak to the judge before he pleads guilty to assault, (which translates to attempted unwanted touching), and bring my evidence to present to the judge so he can reject the plea bargain. Please consider helping me, or refer me to someone who can. This is obviously a last ditch effort to ask for help, as my counselor started a domino effect that has destroyed everything in it’s path. I already told everyone named here that my defense for libel is the truth. The other two attorneys who have wronged me are John D Winer, founding partner of WMB&T, and Joseph C. George PhD, founding partner of Law Offices of Joseph C. George, and gifted me with evidence of breach of fiduciary duty, conflict of interest, fraud upon the court (Joseph George). They are both therapist abuse specialist attorneys who are the best in their field and also worked together to cover up their unethical behavior. They are as bad, or worse than the perpetrators they sue. .[Fraud in Riverside DA office](https://www.facebook.com/groups/282535115244870/permalink/1071866749645032/)

Stocks/legal age help

business

I'm 16 years old and graduating high school (in America if it makes a difference). I'll soon be moving out to go to college and I've been interested in dividend stocks, etc. So my problem is that I want to start investing, but I don't want a custodial account. I'd hate having to call up my parents to approve my stock purchases each time I decide to invest. I've looked into an emancipation document making me legally responsible for myself, but I haven't found anything in reference to the stock market. What can I do to not bother my parents AND begin my portfolio? (other than wait)