Title: We're moving out at the end of the month, and the landlord is threatening to charge us because she chose to cancel a showing yesterday (6/19) because the place hasn't been professionally cleaned yet. Can she do that? (California)

Question:
Here's our situation--our lease ends at the end of this month. We spent all of the last 2 days moving out. Our landlord knew we were moving out this month, but no exact timelines had been communicated with her. She texted us yesterday morning telling us the place needs to be clean for a showing, and we need to have our dogs somewhere else during the showing that evening. We let her know that we're moved out, but the earliest the cleaners we've hired can come is this Saturday. She asked to if we could get the cleaners to come earlier, and we let her know that wasn't an option, as we booked the earliest day they had open.

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This morning, we got an email from her telling us that "she may have to charge us for the canceled showing" last night. Apparently, she decided to cancel the showing because it hadn't been professionally cleaned yet. There is no trash in the house, just a little bit of dust and dog hair in areas that were previously covered by furniture.

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Obviously, the place is still technically ours until the end of the month. We're not trying to block her or do anything to interfere with her showings. The canceled showing was completely her choice (if one existed at all). Our lease also explicitly states that we receive 24 hours notice before she enters the premises, and we weren't provided any. We've had problems with her before (stove had a gas leak, PGE confirmed it and turned off the gas, she refused to replace the stove, told us to get hot plates, and also told us we weren't allowed to call PGE again).  It feels a lot like she's trying to find excuses to keep as much of our security deposit as possible, likely as a way to buffer the cost of buying a new stove or repairing the current one before new tenants move in.

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The place will be professionally cleaned and spotless by the end of the month, when our lease ends and we return the keys to her. In the meantime, does she have any legal recourse for trying to charge us for "canceled showings" because the place isn't spotless yet?

Answer:
 I cannot imagine that your lease says you can be fined for a canceled showing due to not having a professional cleaning during the term of your lease. What is a showing even worth? Ignore her for now.

Don't forget to take pictures and do a walkthrough with her. If she deducts this from your security deposit, you can contest it in small claims court, though depending on the amount it may not be worth it. Remember she has 21 days to return your deposit and/or an itemized list of deductions. Good luck.


Title: Parental Child Abductions (understanding request)

Question:
Oklahoma City Ok
My ex boyfriend and I have two children together. We have a current parenting plan through court that gives me my oldest daughter the first 3 weekends of the month, but resides with him. Our youngest does not have an existing parenting plan and resides with me. We have court on this upcoming Thursday to modify the existing parenting plan to include both children, hopefully 50/50. I was stuck in agreeing to the original agreement because I didn't have money for an attorney and didn't have a license.

We agreed to meet in a designated "safe place" which is a fire station, at 6pm on Friday and Sunday for pick up and drop off. I got to the fire station at 5:50 and waited to pick up my daughter. He never showed. I called the deputy, who informed me it was a civil issue, but he drove by his house and he wasn't home. I waited until 8:55.

I called my attorney and left a voicemail.

My question: is parental child abduction in my favor here? Because he hasn't contacted me, can I file a missing child's report? I don't know what to do.

I've left 3 voicemails and left an email for him.

Answer: IANAL, bu you can file a missing person's report basically as soon as you are aware of a person being missing and your daughter is not where she is supposed to be and you do not know where she is, ergo she is missing. So, yeah go ahead and file a report. It's not going to look bad on you for doing so.


Title: Is it against the law for an adult to swim alone in a privately owned pool in South Carolina?

Answer:
 ...

...is it...the adult's pool?Answer #2: I sense that there is something illegal about the way you'd be doing that that you're keeping from us.Answer #3: You didn't feel a need to provide any context whatsoever?


Title: If my child has gotten his ged at age 18, is he still allowed to go back to school and get his high school diploma if he wants?

Answer:
 In the state of PA, (check your state) they must accept you until the age of 21 for public education if you have not completed high school.

My 19 year old niece came to live with us last fall, having dropped out her junior year and without a GED. Because she could graduate prior to age 21, she was allowed to re-enroll. If she had completed her GED, this would not be an option.

You can "finish" high school until you are 21...but a GED is considered "finishing high school" and you cant go back just because you want to.


Title: (IL, Lake County area.) My younger brother has physically abused us for years, and my father has done little to help stop this. I am in danger every moment he is in the house, and I go to sleep in fear of the next day. I need to know my options.

Question:
For reference here, this is the family situation

**Me**, 18, almost 19, Male, and am a 5th year high school student. I'm often the person who has to face the abuser head on.

**Youngest brother**, 15, abuser in this situation.

**Oldest brother**, 26, has a job as a teacher and has recently become suicidal. He lives with us, with hopes to move out.

**Father**, 62, holds a job working for the city of Rockford.

**Mother**, 65, mentally ill, lives in the house being a bum, does nothing to help at all.

Now that we have that laid out, let me get into the situation. Starting around mid 2015 (Really rough guess on my part, it could possibly be even earlier) my youngest brother would cause trouble or fights while at our house. This started as just simple confrontations about his habits, slowly building over the years into what has now become full on brawls or fights.

___________________________________________________________________________________

**I know for a fact:**

He has broken into stores, stealing their goods.

He drinks often.

He smokes dope and cigarettes daily.

He has broken into cars.

He has stolen cars.

He has stolen our own car and disappeared for days.

He has sold stolen goods/alcohol to other underage kids.

He has gotten into very serious brawls on the streets.

He has dented our cars, and one night slashed our tires and broken a window.

He sells drugs to pay his debts.

Stolen from our own house, ranging from my fathers silver coin collection, to my older brothers class rings, even including my mothers jewelry

**Things I can not confirm but have a suspicion of:**

He has done Meth, Heroin, or other similar hard drugs.

He has pimped out his girlfriend and other girls.

He has either seriously injured someone or horribly disabled someone through beatings.

He has racked up debts with our local drug dealers.

He owns or at least has access to deadly weapons. This can be from actually owning a gun to his close friends owning one and being able to borrow it.

___________________________________________________________________________________

My father in this situation has told me over and over that he is doing everything he can to help the situation, but I can only feel that he is a hypocrite. We may sit down on day A and I'll discuss with him my complaints about his lack of action, and then he'll go into his newest plan to stop my brothers actions. But come day B, with the newest confrontation with my brother, my dad will just give him what he wants, whether that be driving him to a drug deal or taking him to a drug dealers house, all the way to buying him cigarettes.

My father always tells me that he understands that everything above is a problem, but he never actually does anything besides talk. He may yell or raise his voice against my brother, but never anything but that. He will one day say "No friends over for the next month", only for the next day for him to say "Okay, they can be over, but only for today" leading to them coming over every day...

I have scars from fights from over a year ago, I have called the police countless times, I have gone to therapy, both of my brothers have gone to psychologists, one for depression the other for his crazy antics, and just today with his bravest move yet, my younger brother hosted a party at our house while me and my father and older brother went out to see a baseball game.

*You would think that would be the breaking point, but no, my father upon seeing this, drives the group of people to their next destination.*

I go to bed to the sounds of screaming and death threats, and wake up to my younger brother punching his wall after waking up hung over and going through withdrawal. Every, single, day.

The police have not helped at all. They will bring him to a mental hospital, but he comes back later that day mad and enraged, usually leading to me having to fight him again, the thing that originally brought the cops to our house. When my father comes home, he promises things will be alright tomorrow, and that he will make it all better with his new plan/idea. I'll go to bed that night sore, and tired, often with either bruises, cuts, or scrapes. I'm scared that with my brother getting older, he is soon going to start overpowering me. I have been able to fend him off due to my larger size, but every month he gets stronger. He works out, and spends all day out on the streets running around, and he has seemingly endless stamina, something I don't possess.

The rules of this sub say to keep it short, so I feel like this has gone on long enough, I have skipped out on countless details, and this is about as simple as I can make it while showing the gravity of my situation.

So, my question: What are my options to get this kid behind bars or away for a period of time longer than a year, allowing me to finish high school and get out of here somehow.

**Tl;dr:** Brother poses a massive threat to me and my family. He has threatened, hurt, abused, and pushed us around. He has destroyed property, and is all around a criminal. Police have not been much help.

What are my options?

Answer:
 You can continue to call the police.

You can also just move out since you're a fully grown adult human. Answer #2: You need to keep calling the police.

You should also call CPS and report that a child is exposing himself to drugs an alcohol and is not being properly supervised, and likely needs immediate mental health intervention because he is a danger to himself and others. If you have proof he is involved in underage sex trafficking (as indicated by your "pimping" comment) you should report that as well. They would likely be very, very interested that he's regularly going through withdrawals and hurting himself.

Edit: your brother seems to have very, very serious psychological and drug issues, and your parents are enabling him. You need to recognize this, and you need to move out as soon as you can. Answer #3: Call CPS. Your brother is unsafe.
Answer #4: It can take multiple attempts sometimes to get the police to take the action desired. Please keep calling. Get yourself out and safe.

You said you're still in high school, do they know about any of this? It doesn't sound like your brother is enrolled in school. Get them involved.

Lake County has other resources and organizations that you can try reaching out to for assistance. Maybe you know some of these already.

* [Lake County System of Care for Families] (https://www.lakecountyil.gov/4099/Lake-County-System-of-Care-for-Families)
* [A Safe Place](https://asafeplaceforhelp.org/)
* [OMNI Youth Services](http://www.omniyouth.org/)


Title: [USA, CA] My ex moved out but didn't pay rent, however her account info was still connected to our payment site so I used it to pay for her portion of the rent

Question: So, after a long, mentally and emotionally brutal 4 months of living with my ex, she finally moved out in mid July, however her portion of the rent was unpaid. Since I have been in charge of paying the rent using the online service provided for us to submit payments, I went ahead and used her saved account to pay the prorated amount she owed (($669/31 days)*17 days = $367). Apparently this caused her to overdraft her account and incur a $35 fee from her bank. Following this, her father has been messaging me on facebook, telling me to pay the $35 to her or he will file a police report. I'm not sure if I did something against the law, however I know next to nothing about the laws surrounding this sort of incedent. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, and thank you in advance.

Answer:
 > I'm not sure if I did something against the law

You did. Answer #2: You definitely broke the law. It would have been no different if you stole that much money out of her wallet. Except that you possibly committed an additional crime by illegally accessing her account online. I would repay them immediately and cross your fingers you don't hear from the police about this. Don't talk to the police AT ALL without a lawyer.


Title: Boss threatening disciplinaries for parking legally on road instead of company car park.

Question:
I work for a large company (UK) and as a result, there are a lot of cars. Our main car park is always full so the company bought some land and created another one about a 5 minutes walk away. Despite this people continued to park  (legally) on the road near the office.

We are now being threatened with disciplinaries and firing if we continue, does he have any legal justification for this? What rights do we have?

Answer: I would post this in /r/LegalAdviceUK since the US and UK have such different employment laws.


Title: County says I owe for Medical Assistance. I don’t have medical assistance.

Question: I got a letter from my county benefits office (I’m in PA) that says I owe for medical assistance coverage for the months of June, July, and August of 2018. The total costs is $1415 and change. The letter stated that because I received pay from my employer(where I’ve been employed for 7 years), I owe them the money cost for those three months. The problem is, I don’t have medical assistance. I’ve never used it. I’ve had insurance through the marketplace since the year ACA became law. I have been paying medical insurance premiums through a national insurance carrier for years. I’ve never received EOB for MA. I’ve never received coverage info, a statement or any list of procedure coverages, nothing. I’ve received nothing to indicate that I have MA coverage. I’m going to contact my county’s assistance office tomorrow. Could I be a victim of fraud here? I’m truly blown away by this.

Answer: It's possible, it could also be error. When you contact them, be calm and rational. Don't accuse anybody of anything. Simply state what you put here. They will likely need some time to research so don't except an immediate answer.


Title: Quick question, I am going to an inpatient mental health facility for treatment for an eating disorder. Will that follow me around at all, such as affecting my ability to by a firearm?

Question:
I live in Georgia, USA
Topic:
Background Checks and Expungements

Answer:
 You won't be able to carry a gun for 5 years.

[Ga. Code Ann. § 16-11-129.](http://www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/possession-of-a-firearm-by-the-mentally-ill.aspx)


Title: Friend is taking care of dying neighbor who lives with her and daughter is attempting to take everything from her.

Question:
I'm at work so this will be short

But, my friend takes care of a man in California who is dying from multiple things, he's on his death bed right now and she asked me if she should call his sister out of respect and I said yes.

The second she called and told her, the sister called the hospital and tried to get her kicked out. Now she is afraid the sister would take everyrhing of his from her after death when during the entire time staying with her (6 years) she made no effort to be with him and he has told my friend that he wants her to have everything including his money after he dies because she's been so helpful.

Unfortunately he never signed a will, only gave her power of attorney.

What can she do to protect his assets and prevent the sister from taking everything?

Answer:
 >What can she do to protect his assets and prevent the sister from taking everything?

Nothing, because she has no authority. For the record, these facts suggest your friend is neither charitable nor really concerned about the man and his health.

>and he has told my friend that he wants her to have everything including his money after he dies because she's been so helpful.

This makes her look like a money grubbing fool. Answer #2: >he has told my friend that he wants her to have everything including his money after he dies because she's been so helpful.

That isn't what he wants.  He's had 6 years to make his wishes totally transparent, legally binding, and known.  If he didn't do that, we're stuck assuming that he wants the laws of his state to decide who gets what.  Now, that means that his next of kin is very likely going to get everything.  The guy didn't bother signing a will and he's made his decision.


Title: Landlord forcing us to turn up heat higher than normal

Question:
Question!

Rent a first floor apartment in a Massachusetts suburb. The house isn't super well insulated so the landlord wants us to turn the heat up. Way up.

Normally we keep it at 67-69,  so basically normal room temperature. But to avoid frozen pipes for the upstairs apartment, our landlord wants us to have it at 75. He also came into our apartment tonight and put on an electric space heater next to one of the walls and then left - a HUGE no-no since I have a dog and do not want a space heater on while no one is home to keep an eye on it.

There's nothing written into the lease about heat temperatures or requirements, only that "tenant pays heat and electric."

So do I have any ground to say I either A) don't want to heat my apartment this much, or B) want to get reimbursed for the additional cost heating my apartment to our landlord's request? I'd keep the heat up in the 70s but not if I'm going to be paying $50 extra for the month.

Answer:
 As long as there's nothing in your lease detailing this situation, you're totally free to negotiate this.  Asking for reimbursement is totally reasonable.

Depending on how your lease is written, liability for damaged pipes would probably be on him, not you, so you should be okay turning the heat back down should he refuse.

Before you play hardball, though, remember: a burst pipe fucks everybody's day up.  If he knows which pipes are likely to freeze, probably best to pay attention.  If you are going to push back, you'd best have renter's insurance.Answer #2: Unplug the space heater and keep the apartment at whatever you want. 67-69 is plenty to keep the pipes from freezing, and as long as there are no additional heating requirements, your landlord can't force any new terms on you. Notify your landlord that you don't want him entering your home without permission, i.e. to put in a space heater or adjust the heat.

If he wants the upstairs apartment heated, he should turn on the heat up there.


Title: How is hentai even legal in the United States, especially on Pornhub?

Question: How is hentai even legal in the United States, especially on Pornhub?

Answer: OP, please define what you think "hentai" is. Because your question implies you think there is something about it that *ought* to be illegal, and it isn't clear what.


Title: Is it illegal to sell cigarettes?

Question: I'm in Arizona. I have a pack of unwanted sealed cigarettes and i don't smoke. I bought them over a year ago as a mystery shop assignment and it's just been laying around unopened. Would it be illegal if i could sell them someplace like a smoke shop?

Answer:
 Store won't touch them. States require duty tax be paid (that's the "T" in "BATFE") and a shitload of paperwork for a transaction, so not store is going to buy them off of you. Bootlegging cigarettes is still common in many states.

Find a coworker that smokes and toss them his way.


Title: The dealer I bought my vehicle from has called me and said the financing they offered is no longer available.

Question: Like the title says, I purchased a vehicle on April 3rd. About a week ago my dealer asked me to send my pay stubs again, which I did. Today, the dealer emailed me and said that since the tips I receive in cash do not show up on the pay stubs, the number that he estimated for my income was no longer valid. I’ve had the vehicle for three weeks so this is stressing me out quite a bit. He said there’s another financing option available but I’m not sure what the numbers would be for that. Is there anything I can do to make this situation any better?

Answer:
 The contract you signed was contingent on obtaining financing. They have 30 days to find financing under the terms you agreed to, before they either need to unwind the sale and demand return, or you agree to different financing. They can not make you use the different financing, but they do not yet have to allow you to keep the car and carry the loan themselves until they find a finance company.

I would suggest you contact credit unions and see if you can obtain financing for the vehicle on your own; they generally have better rates than banks and finance companies that dealerships might find.


Title: Car Accident

Question:
Hi
I live in Virginia First off.
I'm a college student and a couple months back I was clipped by a semi that kept going and ended up hitting a jersey wall doing close to 35.

Long story short, the officer didn't believe me and the car apparently didn't look like a semi had hit it so he wrote me a reckless(failure to maintain control) ticket.

With the money I got from the car I hired a lawyer and he said the pictures could be persuasive to a judge, what should I do?

I'm a self sustaining student and don't have anyone to rely on for money(for personal reasons I don't want to rely on my family).

Please any help would be beneficial

Side note: The officer also said, "either tell me the truth or I'll leave you outside in the cold", is this legal as well?

edit: side note
Topic:
Traffic and Parking

Answer:
 > With the money I got from the car I hired a lawyer and he said the pictures could be persuasive to a judge, what should I do?

We can't possibly give you any better advice than your attorney can.  Listen to him.


Title: My wife, a Missouri public school teacher, is having her pay withheld without reason and both the union and MO dept of education say they cannot help. Is it time to file a claim and hire a labor attorney?

Question:
Public school teacher in St. Louis, MO having summer pay withheld without being given a reason. Both union and MO dept of edu have said they cannot do anything. Is my next step hiring a labor lawyer? This is especially upsetting because when teachers get summer pay it is because they enrolled in it and had the money for those checks held in escrow from their checks throughout the school year. So the money is already there! They paid her her first check of the summer but now have stopped and said they do not know when they will pay her and are not giving us a reason. As far as we can tell she is the only employee having her pay withheld. We're already using savings to pay rent and bills and can't go on much longer.

EDIT: After reiterating to them the laws against this and leaving messages with the superintendent, my wife was cut a paper check today for the entire amount of her summer pay (not what she'd signed up for, but just as good I suppose). This is not the first time they have messed up her pay this year so we were just ready to be super proactive about it. Luckily we didn't have to go any further. Thanks for everyone's advice!

Answer:
 > Public school teacher in St. Louis, MO having summer pay withheld without being given a reason.

What do you mean withheld?  Are they saying she'll never get it?  Is it just late?  When you asked Payroll/HR what did they say?


Title: [Indiana, USA] Stupidly stole something really expensive

Question: [deleted]

Answer: Contact an attorney. They can give you the best advice.


Title: Employer forcing employees to utilize social media

Question: My girlfriend is being hassled by her boss to utilize her social media to raise awareness for their company and therefore boost sales. She was shamed in their company meeting today for not complying. Is this illegal practice? Obviously its ridiculous to expect employees to peddle sales and merchandise on their personal accounts. Does she have grounds for getting around this other than just deleting her accounts?

Answer: No, this isn't illegal. She can refuse to do it, but they can fire her for refusing.


Title: City offered a job at a specific starting salary. I accepted job offer and quit current job. Then after I left current job and before start date of new job the city HR says they offered me the wrong salary and I need to accept a lower salary if I want the job. Is this even legal?

Question: This is a job with public works at the city I live in. A govt job. The pay range was listed on their own website job posting. I put my minimum salary required right in the middle range of what they had listed as pay range. Over the next 6 months I take the test, get choose for an interview and eventually am offered the job. HR calls and tells me I am being offered a job at the pay rate I had put as my minimum requirement and XXXX is what my bi-weekly pay will be. She asked if I am ok with this before they send official offer. I agree and am emailed official offer at this pay rate. I accept by signing and returning the offer. Then go through the process of drug test, background check, fingerprints, employment and education verification, etc... I pass all requirements and am given my city employee badge and a start date. I give 2 week notice at current job. The last day of work at current job and 1 week before I am supposed to start the new job with the city I get a phone call from the city HR. She says she’s sorry but the salary offered to me was incorrect and listed wrong on the city’s website job posting (over 7 months ago) and the salary offered to me was too high. She tells me what the salary really is (about $300-400/month less). And they are taking back the original offer and I need to accept the new offer if I want the job. I have already left my job and I’m supposed to start new job next week.  I have a house, wife and kids so I need the job but this is now a significant pay cut from my job that I left. Can not go back to old job because they already replaced me and I have already trained my replacement at work over the 2 week notice I had given. I have to take the job at the city no matter what, but do I legally have to accept it at the lower pay?

Answer:
 IANAL, but did you get the salary offer in writing? Because otherwise...Answer #2: Is it a union position? If so, chat with them before you start to see if you can start and then fight the issueAnswer #3: I believe the answer is yes, but that you'll want to look for a new job. Hopefully someone knows otherwiseAnswer #4: It is probably legal unless you signed an employment contractAnswer #5: This *might* constitute *promissory estoppel* because you made arrangements contingent on that offer.  You have suffered damages as a result.  This is very fact dependent and really has to do with what the language in your offer looks like.

I would speak first with any union that might be involved and then find an employment attorney for a consultation.Answer #6: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/promissory_estoppel.asp


Title: Mentally disabled with PTSD and dealing with a new housing company that took over my apartment

Question:
I've been diagnosed mentally disabled with PTSD as a main diagnosis (among a couple other things but I wont get into it) since 2012. I moved into my apartment in December 2013. I moved in and got a service dog (provided all the proper papers for a n emotional support animal). We were also allowed to have cats at the time so I accumulated 2 cats. I've been here for 6 years with my now 9 year old son. This place is subsidized housing if that's relevant. NOT section 8. Those are different things, very easily confused. I had to wait 4 years to get into these apartments and HUD pays a large portion of my rent for me so I end up having an easier time affording it as I have a fixed income.
Anyway, we have this new company now, who started in January. When they started, they obviously gave me a new lease to sign with them. Everything was in order so I signed it with no problem. But then they kept giving me a new (1 year?!) lease every month or so with more rules on them, getting crazier every time.
The newest lease sent me into an all-out panic attack. It said that I'm no longer allowed to have my pets. I was expected to sign a paper saying that the company was allowed to take custody of ALL MY PETS IF I HAD MORE THAN 1 IN THE HOUSE. (Again, I've had these pets for 6 years and 1 is a 14 year old support animal)
Another rule was that if we wanted an air conditioner we had to pay them a $75 fee to the company. This makes NO SENSE because I pay my own electric bill directly. But if I want cool air, gotta pay a fee.
They also wanted authority to "view my payments to my electric company" to make sure I was keeping up with my electric bills. I guess this was a tactic to use against people they wanted to kick out. My electric bill is always astronomically high and sometimes I am late and have a disconnect notice that I have to work out a payment plan for. If they were able to view that, they would use that against me and evict me. It's not always easy to keep up with northeastern winter electric bills when your home is all electric heat, SORRY.
Theres lots more but I dont want to write a novel.
I just think this is totally wrong and I'm going to talk to my counselor about it when I see her next week because there is no way I'm going to sign any of this until I can work it out with someone.
Please tell me I'm not crazy.
I'm sorry my writing is so frantic, I'm not the best with words at all and im very stressed out obviously .

Answer: Don't sign any new leases. You already signed a lease good until next January. That is your agreement. Do not sign anything new. Do not agree to anything new. You can discuss a new lease when your current lease is up.


Title: Cocaine addict disappeared with 5 year old - FLORIDA

Question:
We recently found out that my brother's ex is addicted to cocaine. We tried to help her. He rented her a room and agreed to pay for rehab and we offered her familial support. On Saturday, he tried calling her and couldn't get her, so he called the woman who he rented the room from who told him that she's been gone since 1pm with my 5 year old nephew. Everyone has tried calling her every hours since and we got through a few times but each time she told a different lie about her whereabouts. First, it was to get my nephew a haircut, then it was at her friend's house, then it was helping her sister move. My brother called her sister and she's not moving so we think the ex is on a drug binge.

I have a recording of her admitting that she was taking coke with her ex and based on the timeline, she's been taking it at for at least 9 months. We also have video of her smoking coke with prostitutes. Also, according to her ex and some very suspicious posts on Facebook, she's been selling herself to support her habit, as well. She's been turning off her wifi but she turns it back on occasionally to post to Facebook. The last photo she posted was yesterday and it was of her looking high out of her mind posing on a Ferrari in Miami.

We called the police and tried to report my nephew missing but according to them, he's not missing because he's with his mom and even if she's on drugs and selling herself, there's nothing we can do without an address. We're terrified for the safety of my nephew and we have no idea what to do. Please steer me in the right direction if you can. Thank you all in advance.

**TL;DR - My brother's coke addicted ex has disappeared with his 5 yo son and police are unable to report him missing because he's with his mother. What can we do?**

Answer:
 My first question is why he left a child with a drug a addict?

But the police are right. He decided she was a safe and appropriate care giver when he left the child in her care. So it is really hard to say that now the child is unsafe. The police and CPS are not going to be able to help find them. He can hire a private investigator


Title: ON - Copyright claim on my song

Question:
Hi guys,

I recently released my debut EP (hip-hop) and posted my songs on multiple websites, including Youtube.

The main single off my EP uses a beat I got from a producer online  who explicitly states that the beat is free to use as long as I give credit (which I did). However, my song recently received a copyright claim from a random artist who rapped over the same beat and called it his song.

I'm hoping to dispute the claim but I'm not sure where I stand. If the beatmaker says the beat is free to use and I'm not monetizing my EP in any way would I be in the clear to dispute? (Ontario, Canada)

Answer:
 NAL, not in Canada, and I don't rap. But if the person who owns the copyright to the beat says it is free to use then it's free to use. In the USA, derivations can be their own copyrighted work, and I would suspect Canada is similar.

Regardless, it sounds like you've got a policy question about Youtube.ca more than a legal one, so bets are off since they don't need to utilize the law as their policies.


Title: Got married changed name in Florida Social Security office. Ran into problems a month later, please help!

Question:
My wife and I recently got married and headed over to the social security office in our city to change her name. She decided that she "hates" her middle name and thus requested it to be changed to her mothers first name. Normally, they don't ask you questions about a maiden name change if you have your marriage license on you.

Long story short the name got changed and about a month later, which is today, we headed into the DMV to update her license to a newer version with her new name on it. They told us at the DMV that the name was changed without a petition of the court indicating a lawful name change. We headed to the clerk court and they stated that we either need to change the name back via the Social Security office route or we can pay 500 dollars for the name change. How can I get this fixed? Why did the social security office allow us the get the name changed if it is unlawful? What course of action should I take?

Thank you for reading my long post.

TL; DR: Wife and I got married, tried to change her middle name to something unrelated, social security did it, DMV told us we messed up and sent us to the clerk court, now we either pay money to fix it, or change her name back.
Topic:
Other Civil Matters

Answer:
 It is entirely possible to change your name by usage in many states (not sure FL is one of them), but it is incredibly difficult to get documentation of it that is acceptable to the government. A marriage certificate does not provide enough evidence for her particular name change as there is likely no obvious link between the old name and the new name.

> What course of action should I take?

As you were told:

> We headed to the clerk court and they stated that we either need to change the name back via the Social Security office route or we can pay 500 dollars for the name change.

FL will not issue a license with a name change without legal documentation, unfortunately.

> Why did the social security office allow us the get the name changed if it is unlawful?

Because somebody didn't ask enough questions.


Title: USPS/postal law (Austin, TX)

Question:
If I am NOT a US mail carrier, NOR a rural route carrier, must I remove "US Mail" insignia/marks from a privately/owned vehicle? https://ibb.co/gXNGVG

No ticket or anything, but wanting to prevent future issues..

Ninja edit: I'd prefer not to have to ask the postmaster for (hopefully obvious reasons)

Answer: Its illegal to impersonate a public servant but technically postal workers are not public servants. That said.... I wouldn't be surprised if a cop pulled you over and gave you a hard time about it.


Title: asapds.org : scam website?

Question:
asapds.org

i was hired and is a reshipping job for 2500 a month. i am considering dropping the job, not sure how. can someone help on how i should stop contacting or accept packages and see if the website is legit?

i'm from **california san diego**

Answer: Yup, it's a scam.


Title: My old high school has banned political and religious speech outside of relevant classes. Is this illegal?

Question:
#**EDIT: THE UPDATE THREAD CAN BE FOUND [HERE](https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/570ft7/update_high_school_bans_political_speech/).**
EDIT: This is in upstate New York. I can't edit the title. Sorry

Relevant classes being History/Government, etc. I graduated last year and I just found out.
Topic:
Constitution

Answer: For a private school, no. For a public school, it may be legal depending on the reason for the ban.


Title: (IL) There is a huge "No Photographs" sign in the lobby of a state government building. Is it legal to take a picture of it?

Question:
The building in question is a Illinois DMV building used to renew licenses and registrations and such. Its in a strip mall that I assume is private property but the building is leased by the government.

It's a very large obnoxious sign that says, "No Photographs or Cell Phones" positioned in the lobby up front when you walk in the door. Is the Secretary of State allowed to prohibit photographs in the DMV? Why would they do this?

Topic:
Constitution

Answer:
 It's *probably* not a law that you can't, but it can be policy and you can be asked to leave / removed for trespassing if you choose to violate their policy. Lots of places have similar policies.Answer #2: > Is the Secretary of State allowed to prohibit photographs in the DMV?

Those in control of a space have wide latitude to decide what gets done in the space.  It's perfectly fine for someone in control of a space to ban photographs.  If there's a legal prohibition, the sign will likely quote statute.

> Why would they do this?

Lots of reasons.  They don't want their tests copied, to prevent cheating.  They don't want the driver's license machines photographed, to prevent counterfeiting.  They want to stem the absolute ridiculous waste of time that comes from people trying to take selfies for every second of every day.


Title: I bought a car from a "friend" and found out I'm in a scam involving another person.

Question: A friend of mine (let's call him one) lost an employee at his mechanic shop and asked begged me to come work with him for a few months and he would pay me an extremely generous wage. My second week there, a friend of one (let's call the friend two) stopped by the shop with a very nice car that needed a new transmission and motor and asked one if he wanted to buy it for 3500 dollars. One said yes and put down 1000 dollars and told two he would pay him the rest the following day, but I didnt know about any of this until that night when one called me and asked me if I wanted to buy the car for 4500 dollars. He told me he bought it for 4k and was making 500 which I was more than okay with so I agreed as I was looking for a new winter project. To make a long story short, I paid one 5k to cover some extra parts it also needed, and expected the ownership the next day like he told me. 87 days later and I still dont have the owner ship. One says he lost it, or he doesn't time to get it and pretty much every excuse in the world. After finally getting fed up I went to service ontario and bought a used vehicle package which told me twos name so I could find out where he lives. I went to his house and asked him about the car and he said that he only has 1000 dollars of the money and is still owed 2500 dollars, and one hasn't been answering his calls what so ever. One couldn't give me the ownership because two never gave it to him yet even though I gave one the money for the car. So my question is what in the world do i do?

Answer:
 Well one sounds like a business owner grasp8ng to stay afload.

You might want to go to the police to report fraud but I don't know for sure if it is and if they would believe it is.

You can also sue one for the money you paid him. Don't think about two you don't have anything to do with him.


Title: Creepy YouTube channels, bordering child abuse; illegal?

Question: Today on my "Recommended Live", for reasons that completely escape me, a weird ass YouTube thumbnail showed up. It was a little girl clearly in distress. Immediately I recalled an article about fucked up videos that would show up in kids yotube recommended channels because the tags and this appeared to be one. 100s and 100s of videos about these two little girls being scared by their dad "for fun" and "pretend" but it's pretty fucking authentic and frankly, obviously some disgusting fetish shit. I feel a little powerless about this but it's really upsetting to know those channels are out there and these kids are potentially in danger. I worked with abused kids and it reminds me a lot of them. Are channels like this illegal? Is it possible to find some way to track down where they live and call CPS or something?

Answer: It happened with those DaddyOFive and MommyOFive videos. They're facing legal action and CPS action. If you know where they live, you can report them. I can't offer advice on how to find them other than to watch the videos and look for clues.


Title: What legal rights does a tourist have when visiting the US?

Question:
I was just reading an article on /r/technology about a new proposal by the Department of Homeland Security. What they're suggesting is that international tourists would have to surrender the passwords to their social media accounts in order to gain entrance to the US.

I'm -- obviously -- not a lawyer, but my understanding of the 5th Amendment and self-incrimination is that a US citizen cannot be made to give up the PIN to a combination lock, or a password to an account. You **can** be made to surrender a key to a physical lock, but not made to give up knowledge basically.

So **if** this DOHS proposal were to hypothetically be applied to US citizens traveling from state to state, this would be a huge violation of our 5th Amendment rights, right?

This made me wonder about the legal rights of tourists visiting the US. Are they granted to same freedoms and protections a citizen are granted? If so, when does the visitor come under the protection of the Constitution? I assume not until DOHS / Border Protection / Whoever says, "OK welcome to the US"?

Note; /r/legaladvice told me to post here instead.

Answer:
 Once you are in the country you have the same rights as anyone else. But, you have no right to enter the country to begin with. You don't have to give your password, and you don't have to be let in.

Also, the password thing is still being litigated -- courts have been divided if it is a 5th Amendment violation or notAnswer #2: You don't have to do anything, including revealing any passwords.

But US border security doesn't have to let any non-citizens enter the country.

So...


Title: Boyfriend's Father Screwed Him Over Financially

Question:
Hiya /r/legaladvice!

So I'll get right down to it. My[21] boyfriend's[22] dad has alwaaays been super sketchy when it comes to money. When we were living in an apartment together a few years ago, I remember his dad coming over frequently asking to borrow money. And not like 20$ or 50$ or anything. He asked for $900 one time after my bf had already loaned him ~$200, and he had to decline because...We were teenagers that just moved out on our own and we didn't have that kind of money to spare, but he continued to ask regardless.

The first loan was repaid pretty quickly, but a following loan didn't get repaid for several months afterwards. Because of that, I ended up having to cover most of the bills for that period because he was financially unstable because of his father.

Sooo fast forward a few years to right now. My bf moved in with a friend, and I moved back to my house to save money while I'm going to school. My bf is on his dad's family plan for the cell phone bill. Apparently his dad opened the account in my bfs name (with his consent...) because he wasn't allowed to open it in his own name. I was never told why, but I can imagine. Anyways, my bf gave him ~$70 on time for the bill every month.

(Also quick note, bf doesn't have a card to avoid spending on needless stuff. That's why he gave the money to his dad for him to use his card for the payments.)

Well my boyfriend lost service a while ago and checked online to see what was up. (And this is where I nearly flipped my pancakes.) There was an overdue amount owed of over $3500.

$3500.

My boyfriend is having enough problems right now between his car repeatedly quitting on him and his now unemployed roommate not covering his share of rent. It makes me so mad to know that his dad could do that to him while all of this is going on. According to my bf, his dad told him he'd give him the money, but that was over a month ago.

Is there anything we can do to ensure his father pays for it or is he s.o.l? He's so down on life right now. I wish I could help him, but I really can't. Also are there any options for white males to get financial aid in Texas? I think he said he's 1/8 native American if that matters at all too... I'm so tired of seeing his life go downhill because of bad situations. I'm 100% convinced now that he has the worst luck of anyone I've ever met.

I really want to help him :/ What are our options?

Answer:
 It looks like your boyfriend will be legally obligated to pay that bill. He can try to get that money back from the father through small claims court. Answer #2: "Financial Aid" is not a thing outside of schools.

There is state assistance, which your bf may or may not qualify for, but it will not cover paying off a debt like this.

There are loans, which your bf may or may not qualify for, which would allow him to pay off the amount in monthly installments plus interest.

Otherwise, there is no assistance for paying off expenses that you racked up.  You have to do it yourself.  You may be able to work out a payment plan with the carrier OR sue the father for the amount in small claims court, but he is certainly on the hook.

And I hate to be harsh, but this is not "bad luck".  This is "bad decisions".  You should never, EVER allow someone else to open an account in your name.  If you do, YOU should always handle or oversee the payments on this account to make sure they are made timely.  Having a credit card JUST to pay bills like this (and as an emergency line in case of an unexpected bill) and paying it off each month is a really good idea as it builds credit, which is a very good thing to do.

You should look into financial education classes for both of you.  Many civic centers hold them for cheap or free, and they will help both of you understand how to make good financial decisions and what financial avenues are available to you for future financing situations.


Title: Can I break my lease if the landlord changes?

Question:
I recently moved into a new place and signed a contract with a landlord named Alex. He then lost his rights to the property and its now owned by his cousin. The new landlords are giving us a hard time and we want to break our one year lease early without damaging our credit.

Is it possible to do this? A lawyer friend said since we only signed the contact with the last landlord, it becomes invalid with the new one. We have not signed anything with the new one yet. please help.

Answer:
 > A lawyer friend said since we only signed the contact with the last landlord, it becomes invalid with the new one.

I find it difficult to believe a lawyer told you that.


Title: Can I gift my inheritance (Crosspost from /r/personalfinance)

Question:
My paternal Grandmother died last year and my cousin, her nephew, has been handling the arrangements. She lived in Council Bluffs, Iowa and he is in Omaha, across the river. According to Iowa Law, my sister and I get the inheritance (our father is dead) tax free. It's about $40k. We (my sister and I) wish to make a purchase with the money (a headstone long overdue for our dad), and then split the money evenly between her, me, and the cousin, since he had been taking care of the grandmother, his aunt, for years and it seems only right. Can we gift him a third of the inheritance (~$14K) after receiving it, or is it then subject to taxes? Is it also subject to the gift tax? If so, for which state? I live in TN. would it be for TN, or NE? Would it work out if me and my sis each took 20K, then gave him 7k individually?

Thanks!

Answer: I just want to say how refreshing it is to read this type of insurance question.    So often they are about how families are being torn apart by an inheritance.


Title: How to identify stalker of 3 years?

Question:
Hi Reddit, sorry in advance if I am posting in the wrong subreddit but I am at a loss.

I have been dealing with an online stalker for 3 years now and I just don't know what to do. He's been careful about it from the start, using hundreds of encrypted e-mail addresses and Twitch usernames to harass me. I have no identifying information on him other than just a guess what his username was on other websites, but no idea of his name, age, location, or anything. I've hired a private investigator before to help which was a waste of money, and got a lawyer friend of mine to try and help scare him to no avail because no identity. What do I do in this position? I am in a state that I don't disclose online because of fear of him finding me, and I have no idea where he is except that he's in the US. He sends massive amounts of e-mails a day just begging for me to talk to him. He also threatened suicide recently. Is there anything that I can do to identify him, get him to leave me alone? Can I report his suicide threats and then have him identified? I have been living in fear for too long but no one has been able to help me and I am afraid this will continue until I just never use the internet again.
Topic:
Criminal Law

Answer:
 Is he threatening you? If not, just ignore him. Don’t respond or acknowledge him in any way.

If he kills himself the problem takes care of itself.


Title: US Passport - Not What I Requested

Question:
Location: United States

Edit 1.1:
No I did not pay some sort of Processing Agency. The $210 figure comes from $140 then $25 processing fee, taxes, and the shipping of my passport to be fixed, and paying $6 to pick my passport up when it was shipped back.

I'm well aware of this
https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/news/visa-pages-no-longer-issued.html

My understanding when getting a new passport I'm still able to recieve a 52 page.  I don't know if there is a computer that says "Hey its their first passport" and puts it in a 27 page but something isn't write.

I've also had a few other people tell me this is normal and just to accept the fact that I even received a passport.  It's not winning if you don't receive what you ordered. I get better customer service through Microsoft.

Some background, I've been planning on getting a US Passport for six ish years, now was just the timing.  I also have a mentor who has ran into major passport issues. I.E running out of pages in Hongkong and having to add in pages on the go. So I was advised to purchase the 52 page book.  Here is where things start going down hill fast.

**May 15th:** I filled out the* DS-11* online, saved a pdf copy and printed it out.
I chose the Passport and Card option along with the *52 page* option. So far so good.

After a minor picture issue( I had glasses apparently your doctors signature along with your prescription wasn't a good enough reason to wear glasses in the picture) everything was good.

**June 24th:** the passport card arrived and everything looked great.

**June 26th:** I received my passport, opened it and it looked great, however it seemed thin only *27 pages*. So I looked up online just to make sure that the large book has *52 pages*.  Sure enough it does and they sent me the wrong book.

I called the US Passport number and was told to fill out a *ds5504* form.  Along with that I was told to attach a sheet of paper stating why I was sending back my passport as I wasn't changing any of the information.  The person on the line was even kind enough to assist me with filling it out.

**June 28th:** Mailed out my passport, the ds5504 form, and the reason paper on . So the wait begins.

**July 19th:** I'm notified that they can not process my request since none of my information changed.  (Great so no one read the paper I included??)  So I stopped everything I was doing and called the same number again.

Talked to an agent they asked if I had filled out a ds5504 I said yes and I attached a reason for sending the passport back with my signature.

Upon hearing that he said well you've recieved the incorrect email and someone didn't look at it properly. I'll take this to my supervisor and see what we can do.

I advised him that since I had received the email that my passport was probably shipped back to me that day.

After hearing back from his supervisor, the reason given was that I had selected the* small passport in the form*.  Also since they had looked at my application twice they could no longer do it.

[I then asked the agent what I should do with my proof of selecting the *52 page* book](https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0HUGL_cF0wgbld6T0pKanNRcU0).  He said he didn't know. Maybe mail it in and they would maybe change it. (Yes he literally said this).
I asked him how they can make a mistake so bad and he didn't know what to say.

**July 19th Evening:** I called the complaint office, re-told my whole story and she wrote everything down, the passport office which I was dealing with and the other issues.  Said someone would call me in a few days.  I asked her if she know how an issue like this could happen.  Essentially her reply was "I only work in the call center and I've not really been involved with the other part."
I said that was fine.

I suspect that there's either an internal error when you select Passport book & Card that the computer automatically selects the smaller 27 page book.  The other possibility is that it's all entered via human and someone doesn't want to be in trouble for fucking up.

**July 22nd:**  Everything was all good was waiting on a call from the passport agency.  Well 3 different people here pick up the mail.  What was in the post office, none other than my passport. Plus we had pay to pick the passport up. If I had been with, I would have just left the passport there to go back to the agency.
So now my passport cost is in the $210 range and I don't have what I ordered.

[Here is a snipet of the ds-11 form I sent in](https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0HUGL_cF0wgbld6T0pKanNRcU0)

So minus the extra money I'd like to have the original passport book I ordered.  Not only that, but I'd like for the agency to man up and say "we fucked up".

**Any Advice?**

Answer: Did you pay the $82 fee for the 52 page passport?


Title: [GA] No water at my house. We have a shared well. Landlord whom owns the well has a disconnected phone line. What are my options?

Question: [deleted]

Answer: Both [Nolo](http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/georgia-tenant-rights.html) and [Georgia Legal Aid](http://www.georgialegalaid.org/resource/repairs-to-rented-property-answers-to-common)  say you have the right to repair and deduct, meaning you can make responable repairs and deduct the costs from your rent if your landlord fails to do so.  Nolo also has links to the Georige state website that has further information on this.Answer #2: Did you try priming the pump? There's videos online that can show you how. It may have just run from overuse and need a little help.


Title: (California): Tree (owned by public agency Caltrans) fell on my house 3 months ago.

Question:
I'm in San Mateo County, and in late January, a large eucalyptus tree fell onto my home, rendering it completely unlivable. I was at home at the time, as was my elderly father and my dog. No one was physically injured, but it was an emergency situation: the tree fell right across my roof, bursting gas pipes, in the middle of one of the worst storms we've had this season.

I was sitting on my couch when it happened (around 1:00PM in the afternoon) and heard a loud boom and then the ceiling collapsed to the floor right next to me. Emergency respondents showed up (Fire dept, police) and my home was red-tagged. I have not been able to live in it since the incident. (I own my home, FYI.) Caltrans (a public state government agency of California [California Department of Transportation]) owns the land behind my home, on which this particular eucalyptus tree (and many, many others) was growing. They were called to the scene to begin the tree-removal process.

I have homeowners insurance, and I am incredibly fortunate that they are taking good care of my family and me; we are living in a fully furnished apartment until my home repairs are complete. Insurance has been completely cooperative and is not nickel and diming me at all; I believe they will recoup all of their losses from Caltrans once my claim is settled.

HOWEVER, I would like to know what (if any) recourse I have with Caltrans. There continue to be eucalyptus trees behind my property, and my neighbors and I are afraid of another tree falling. Eucalyptus trees are NOT native to the area, and as such were not well situated to withstand the combination of the drought + massive storms that California has been experiencing. Several other trees have fallen in my area, though not on anyone's home, thank goodness. So I guess my ask is this:

1. I want Caltrans to send an arborist to inspect (and possibly remove or make safe) any and all trees behind my property. (There is a LARGE hill behind my house, on which the trees are all growing, hence why I'm still super nervous about these trees.) Do I have a case to insist they do this?

2. This accident has completely upended my life; I'm a full-time working mom of a six year old; I take care of my elderly father, and I have a dog. My commute to/from work is an hour each way. I had an incredibly busy life prior to the tree falling, and now with handling all of the paperwork and craziness of getting my house fixed all by myself, my life is chaotic, at best. Do you think I have any case for a monetary claim from Caltrans just for the sheer emotional and mental trauma I've been experiencing?

Answer:
 1.  Talk to your insurance company about this; they don't want more claims either.  Maybe their attorney can send a letter.

2.  No.  You can almost never recover for emotional distress absent physical injury.


Title: neighbor undercut my fence (dug trench under it), now washing out

Question: this is OH usa, We have a 6 foot privacy fence around our backyard (because of a pool) that has been there for just under 25 years. 22 of those years were perfect. However In the last 3 years there has been a problem brewing. 3 years ago some new people moved into the house nextdoor on the downhill side (2-3% slope) and for one reason or another the neighbor decided to dig a 6" trench along his side of our fence for about half of the fence length. I believe he did this for drainage not that is matters. This was only brought to our attention in the last year because the dirt (on our side) is starting to wash away with rains, it has gotten to the point that the fence is almost 1 foot above ground level in some spots now and it has a noticeable lean (about 2-3" or of level at the top). My main concern is the fence, it is not as stable as it should be, the concrete post anchors are out of the ground 3-4" when they used be under ground 6-8" and gets worse with every rain storm. Second concern although not as big of deal, is we had some landscaping along the fence that was and is being washed out ( mulch and a handful of perennials) maybe $200 worth of materials/flowers. 3rd concern is we are on Decent terms with this neighbor outside of this issue, I really don't want this to change if I can help it. However the problem is the neighbor is elderly (probably doesn't matter) and he refuses to own up to the fact that him digging a trench along the fence is the root of the problem. It is however much much deeper/worse from the rain and years. I can't fix the problem by filling it in with dirt because it just spills into his yard and eventually "washes away", unless he would also fill in the trench. I also really need the ground to be level to the bottom of the fence to keep my dog in the yard, as it is now a person could crawl under the fence. I also feel that it is not my responsability to pay for the repairs when this is caused by the trench. The other half of the fence where there is no trench is perfect. Also the fence is 1-2" inside of my property, and was serveyed/passed inspection when it was built. So I guess my question is what would you guys do, keeping in mind I don't want to end up enemies when all is said and done?

Answer:
 In my state it is illegal to remove soil if it would cause erosion to someone else’s property. If you don’t want to ask a lawyer to see if it’s illegal in your state ask a real estate agent.Answer #2: How about bricks or large rocks under the fence, mostly on your side?

I’d say if it’s too big of a deal to fix on your own, then at some point you’ll have to talk to the neighbor and hash it out.


Title: [Maine] Question about piracy

Question: [deleted]

Answer: I see nothing in your post about attacking or robbing anyone while operating a ship at sea. Therefore, unless you have significant omissions in what you said, you have not committed piracy.


Title: I just had surgery and my roommate attacked me this morning over qtips

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 > I texted my landlord

What? The landlord isn't you dad and isn't the police. Landlords do not settle tenant squabbles or enforce the law.

If you are in fear of your safety call the police immediately. If you are in fear of your safety try to exit the premises if you can.


Title: Ex fling going after me for child support and the kid isn't mine!

Question: I'm a traveler and moved from GA to CA. Dated a chick for 4 months. She cheated on me so I broke it off. Started dating my lady I've been with for almost three years now. Traveling and vending for a straight year and a half. Find out ex put my name on birth certificate. I'm mixed, half black/ white, brown hair/ eyes. Baby has blond hair and blue eyes. I know the father, baby looks just like him, he got paternity test, found out its his! Child support is still coming after me for payments! What do I do?

Answer:
 You should hire an attorney and contest paternity. Did you miss a court date? Or is she collecting public assistance and put you down as the father? Answer #2: Run to get a lawyer to contest the child support and order a paternity test. RUN. Doing this quickly is the best life decision you can make right now. After a certain time the state doesn’t care if you are the parent or not, they care about the kid getting money from someone, and they’ll force you to pay even if you prove the kid isn’t yours. RUN to a lawyer!Answer #3: Unless you were married to her, no one can "put you on" the birth certificate.  She, or social services, can start a paternity action against you, saying you are the father. If you do not contest it, a judge will declare you the father DNA or no DNA. You don't want that to happen.

Get a lawyer, and straighten this mess out. Even an expensive lawyer costs less than 18 years of child support.Answer #4: Dispute it through court system.


Title: A lot of deaths in my family and an unclaimed inheritance (CALI/TEXAS).

Question:
Ok, please bear with me, I haven't got the lingo for this at all. There's been a lot of deaths in my family on my maternal side in the last couple years. The order of deaths were: My grandfather (Texas), my great grandmother(Cali), my mother(Texas) and then my stepfather(Texas) all within the span of 2 years. I was not adopted by my stepfather but have three half-siblings from him and another full-blooded sibling from my deceased mother and my own father. There are 5 children in total.

Around 2 years ago, after my grandfather and great grandmother's deaths, it was discovered that my great grandmother had a house no one knew about and it was sold. This went to her but she was dead so the next up was my grandfather, who had already died before her, so it went to his three still living children (aunt, uncle, mother). Somehow my mother managed to find out about this before anyone else and told no one at any point. She had retained a lawyer in California to begin the process of receiving her part of the money. She then died and 6 months later my stepfather died and suddenly we were all informed about this inheritance.

Now, my questions. Initially I was told I was included to receive this money, along with my four other siblings, and, as the eldest child, I was in contact with a probate lawyer in California. He then discovered my mother had retained legal counsel elsewhere and sent me to that lawyer. This lawyer informed me that I and my full-brother were unlikely to receive any money as my mother's estate passed to my stepfather and I was not one of his children. So I passed the matter on to the eldest of his children and just let the matter go.

In the meantime, nearly a year ago, my aunt and uncle have received their share (roughly 70,000 usd each). My sister has started to contact me about this more frequently as she is having some sort of issues and, to be frank, I Am not sure what to do next. I keep trying to contact the California lawyers with no luck and I have no idea where this money currently is at all. What are the next steps here? Do we retain a lawyer in Texas? Are there lawyers that will work on this...I don't know the phrase, for money we can pay once the inheritance money is free? My sister had contacted one company and was told they required a $4,000 retainer to do anything at all, and we simply do not have this money. What will happen to the inheritance money while we are trying to fix this? I am sorry if the post is a mess, I just don't know what to do here at all.

Thanks in advance.

edited for detail

Answer:
 It sounds like you should speak with *your own* probate attorney to sort these issues out.

Were you going to get money because your mom was going to give it to you, or because someone involved bequeathed you money in their will?

If it was just your mom's plan and she was unable to execute that plan before her death, you may, unfortunately, be out of luck.  If someone left you money in their will, there is a question of survivorship clauses in the string of wills to be sorted out.

In either of those cases, it probably requires a probate attorney to sort things out.


Title: My car was keyed and the woman was arrested...

Question:
A few weeks ago my car got keyed in a road rage incident in Chandler, AZ...long story short I got her license plate number and she was pulled over shortly after it happened....she was arrested and charged with criminal damage.

It will cost me a little over 1500 dollars to get the damage fixed.

I have a copy of the police report, but it does not contain her insurance information (they never took down her car insurance information because it technically wasn't a car accident). When I called the police department they told me that this wasn't something that her insurance would deal with and to call the court.
I called Chandler court and they told me to call the police department and get her insurance information.  I feel like no one has the answers i'm looking for. I'm sure that she has a court date coming up for the existing charges...
Do I have to take her to small claims court on my own?

All I want is for this crazy lady to pay for the damages what can I do?
Topic:
Criminal Law

Answer: Yes, you have to sue her yourself.  You can call your own insurance company for some assistance, but you'll still have to pay your own deductible and sue her for that


Title: I (F28) live in an apartment complex and tonight my ESA dog bit someone, please help!

Question:
I (F28) have a boxer dog and I live in an apartment complex. She is registered as an emotional support animal but I know that probably doesn't help anything legally, but it actually means something to me. I have struggle with lifelong depression and my dog is only thing I have keeping me from ending my own life.

Tonight on our walk around the complex, an older man walked by us on the path. My dog was fine until he said something and reached down to pet her, and she growled and jumped up and him and bit his hand.

The guy began to walk away from his complex saying, "Your dog got me, your dog got me!" and I was apologizing profusely saying "I'm so sorry, sir, how is your hand?" I didn't see any blood or anything, but the guy never commented on the state of his hand and didn't show me the injury. He walked back towards his apartment and started to climb the stairs and shouted at me from afar, "You dog has all his shots right?" to which I replied, "Yes, sir, she does. I'm so sorry, are you okay?" But he waved me off and went inside his apartment.

I am freaking the hell out. What can this guy do against me? Are they going to put my dog down?

Answer:
 You do not register ESAs.

he can complain to your landlord and/or animal control about the bite. That may be enough to evict you.


Title: [NY] STBX wife is on drugs.

Question:
Going through high conflict custody battle, first major hearing is next month. Wife has severe BPD but thus far all her accusations have fallen flat on their faces.

Wife has supervised visitation and supervised phone contact. She called tonight and was clearly on drugs. Even our daughter knew. There's an ATM withdrawl and a charge from the liquor store on her bank statement but I'm not legally privileged to that information. A friend of hers also posted to Facebook (week ago) with my wife looking pretty drunk and a bottle of wine in the background, then a picture of her passed out shortly thereafter. What can I expect to happen if I subpoena those records and bring them to court presented as such?

She's supposedly been sober for 10 years. This is a big deal from a mental health perspective.

What can I do? It drives me crazy to see her get away with the shit she has been getting away with and it's taking every ounce of power I have to not succumb to the pure terror I have of her being behind any closed doors alone with our daughter until she's had some serious mental health therapy.

My lawyer has asked me not to engage in any accusations against her because my case has been flawless and presents extremely well, but he doesn't see the shit that I see. My wife is highly manipulative and seriously fucking dangerous.

Answer: Do whatever your attorney says. No one here will tell you any different. Your attorney has all the facts and we have little knowledge but one phone call and your beliefs.


Title: How does the Castle Doctrine (in applicable states) apply should police forcibly enter your home without showing a warrant?

Answer:
 'Castle doctrine' would not apply here. For one, you would have no reason to fear for your life. For two, presumably the police would identify themselves as police officers regardless of whether or not they had a warrant.

Now, if a bunch of cops dressed in all black with bandanas covering their face and AK-47's pointed forward busted down your door at 3am, did not announce themselves as cops, and told you they were going to kill you and caused you to fear for your life, then you *might* have a defense.


Title: [NV] - Landlord replacing broken fully featured fridge with smaller bare bones unit.

Question:
Location: Las Vegas, NV

I'm renting a really nice upscale house. I moved in and first week the fridge broke down. Instead of replacing the circuit board the landlord decided to replace the unit. The current unit is a side by side unit with ice maker, chilled water, etc and is 24 cubic feet. They intend to replace it with a no frills bare bones 18 cubic feet fridge. So I'll be losing the ice maker, filtered water, and 6 cubic feet of fridge space.

It is the standard [Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors](http://thepropertygrouplasvegas.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/GLVAR-lease.pdf) lease contract. The fridge is checked marked in the inventory list. The lease under additional terms has "Tenant responsible to change water filter under sink and fridge." Otherwise the lease is silent on these issues. I didn't have the foresight to specify that any appliances will be replaced with substantially identical models in negotiating the lease. I didn't think it would be an issue at all renting a nicer place.

I looked on the NRS statutes and it seems pretty silent on it. I can't find anything specific to Clark County or Las Vegas either. My guess is I'm out of luck and have no choice in the matter other than buying/renting my own if I want those features again.

What's everyone's thoughts?

Answer: If all you're guaranteed in the lease is a fridge, and you have a fridge, they've met their obligation.  There's no obligation to replace a broken one with a similar unit as long as it meets the basic terms as laid out in the lease.


Title: My cousin works at the courthouse where I was sentenced and disclosed the results of my hearing to my mother with whom I do not speak to or want anything to do with. Is this a HIPAA violation? Can anything be done about this?

Question: My mom and I have an extremely toxic relationship and I did not intend on disclosing any information to her. I feel violated and her scathing text message saying I have a “wasted life” was not exactly the cherry on top of finding out about my sentencing and losing a promotion I worked so hard for. Any advice on how to move forward with this is more than appreciated.

Answer:
 > finding out about my sentencing

A conviction and sentence in a criminal trial is generally public record.

It's possible your cousin violated a court policy, depending on what her role at the courthouse is and how she obtained the information.

As noted, HIPAA covers protected healthcare information;  it's not relevant to most court proceedings.

Your cousin sounds like a nasty gossip, but has probably committed no legal wrong.


Title: Can the owner of a dash cam be compelled by the other side to provide incriminating evidence in the case of an accident?

Question: I am considering buying a dash cam for my new automobile.  If I were in an accident that was my fault, could the other side force me to provide my own dash cam footage?  Big "what if" situation, but I was hoping someone knows.

Answer:
 Yes, they absolutely could compel you to preserve it as evidence and provide it to them with a judge's orders.  That goes for both civil and criminal charges.

Dashcams are not a "get out of jail free card".  They are functionally no different than a store's surveillance cameras that are designed to catch bad guys but might occasionally catch an employee doing something wrong.  Answer #2: Note that most, if not all dash cameras overwrite previous recordings as the memory card fills up. I have a dash camera and I would never let the other driver know that I am using one. I'd prefer for them to be caught in a lie.Answer #3: As a general principle, all relevant evidence is supposed to be available to both sides. One side should not be permitted to submit evidence that supports their position but willfully withhold evidence which hurts it. That is not consistent with the purpose of a court which is to determine the truth and serve justice.


Title: Restaurant job wants to fire me to "prove a point", am I helpless? (New York State)

Question:
Hey everyone,

I've worked at a restaurant in upstate NY for a year and almost 2 months ago I gave them notice that I was going to be moving to a different state in August (therefore ending my employment with them).

I've been a very loyal employee during my time there. I even quit my second job because they were making it difficult to be scheduled for both. I'm always on time and have called in for shifts exactly two times through out my year long period there.

Other employees there are generally not as reliable and there has been a huge issue with people doing no-call no-shows, showing up late, calling in sick, etc.. Today I had to call in for the first time in months due to food poisoning, and apparently they are considering firing me immediately to essentially prove a point to the other employees.

I have literally one and a half weeks left until I move (the schedule with my shifts is already established) and I very much need the money from working those shifts to survive. I understand that they're thinking I only have a week left so it won't matter if they just fire me, but being able to buy food is kind of at the top of my list of necessities.

Anyways, I know NYS is an at-will employment state so there may be nothing I can do, but I was hoping to find some kind of legal information that can protect me from getting fired for this. They are violating a couple policies in the employee handbook, which I can use to defend myself, but I was curious if there would be any legal backing as well.

Thank you.

Answer:
 I don't think you have any recourse unless you're in NYC which you apparently are not.

They also could have instantly fired you when you gave 2-3 months notice. In the future think carefully about how much notice to give, because usually 0 days are required, though 2 weeks is a professional courtesy.


Title: Moving company destroyed $1000 bar top, not willing to pay full amount.

Question:
I had a REALLY heavy dry bar (\~500-600lbs) that was part of a move from our house to an apartment. The granite top (\~200lbs) was destroyed in the move and costs **$1000 to replace**. The moving company is only willing to pay **$180** because that's all that we were "entitled to" with the insurance we had through the moving company. Here are some reasons why I think we may be an exception and be legally entitled to more:

&#x200B;

1) I told the movers that the granite top came off and that they should move them separately. I was busy packing the rest of the house and didn't watch them pack it, but as I later found out, they had wrapped it all together as one 550lb item instead of one 200lb item and one 350lb item. If the movers had wrapped them separately like I had asked, none of this would have happened.

&#x200B;

2) The drop happened when they were unloading on a ramp that didn't have hooks attached to the truck. It was raining that day so it was extra slippery, and the combined weight of two movers and 550lbs of a bar caused the ramp to bow in the middle, making the ramp slip off the truck while they were on it (which caused them to drop the bar). I'm not sure if [this OSHA regulation](https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1926/1926.451) applies because it's not construction, but if either of the movers had been under a 500lb bar falling on them, they could have been seriously injured. If the truck ramp had hooks or was attached to the truck, none of this would have happened.

&#x200B;

3) I declined insurance in part because the mover said he had no prior incidents. If he had had any prior incidents (he may not, but just another avenue to explore), I could make a case that I would have purchased the full insurance had I not been lied to about the risks.

&#x200B;

At this point, I've received a letter acknowledging and apologizing for the mistake, but only offering $180 as compensation. I had sent them a quote from home depot showing how much it would cost to replace (which is $1000).

&#x200B;

I'm preparing an email to send to them rejecting their $180 claim offer and urging them to settle for $1000 (though honestly anything above $750 would be worth it to save me the hassle and fees of small claims court or having a lawyer draft something professionally).

&#x200B;

Thank you for your time.

Answer:
 Sounds like you opted for the minimum insurance, which is 60 cents per pound. You are lucky this item is relatively heavy, so you will get a chunk of money for it. You have no case to be able to recover any more than that as you did not opt for the "full coverage" insurance.Answer #2: If you declined the additional insurance coverage, the moving company's liability is $0.60/pound, or $120 for a 200 lb damaged item.

Absent gross negligence on the part of the moving company, I don't think you have a claim to the $1000 you are asking for.

If you file a small claims court case against the moving company and lose, the moving company may ask the court for you to pay their cost of defending the case.


Title: MICHIGAN: I rear-ended someone yesterday. Very minor. Other driver got my contact info and then took off as soon as I mentioned calling police for a report. I now have the driver’s “son” attempting to contact me. And I going to get ripped off or otherwise be in trouble?

Question:
I will try my best to be specific and brief.

There are probably some more details, so if I’m omitting anything important, please let me know and I’ll fill in the missing parts.

TLDR: I rear-ended a lady who gave me some jibber jabber and then bolted after she got my contact info and I suggested we call police for a report. What do?

I am in Michigan

I was traveling down a road in my city, and came to a stop at an intersection. There was a car fully stopped in front of me.

I had thought I saw traffic begin to move forward, and I let my foot off the gas at the same time I looked down. Traffic was not moving forward, and I bumped the car in front of me. The collision was incredibly minor.

After the collision, the driver and I drove about 1/4 a mile down the road to a parking lot. The first thing I asked her was if she was ok. She indicated that she was totally fine. Her bumper was badly damaged, but she indicated that the damage had been there already, and our collision did not cause it. There was no damage to my vehicle.

The woman spoke in a very thick accent, but indicated that she called her son. I assumed she was feeling overwhelmed, and maybe nervous about me due to past experiences (she was a middle aged woman who looked and sounded like a Mexican immigrant and I am 35 year old white man) and I thought she meant that she wanted her son to come translate and be sure everything was on the up and up.

I gave her my name, phone number, and wrote down for her my car year and make and my license plate number. When I asked her for her information in return, she said she didn’t want to do that and that she needed to wait for her son.

I told her that next we need to exchange insurance into, and call the police to make a report, and at this, she really changed her tone. She immediately said something along the lines of, “No, don’t call police. I don’t like police. It’s nothing.” She went on and on about her son, her husband in the hospital, and other weird details, many of which I could not understand due to her accent.

At this point I was really feeling suspicious, but I cannot say exactly why. I just got the feeling that she was being dishonest and evasive, but I cannot say if she was a just a woman nervous about her immigration status, or maybe a criminal warrant or something along those lines… or maybe it’s more nefarious and I’m about to be intimidated / scammed out of money.

Anyway, she left very fast after I mentioned police. Her claiming we were waiting for her son to come immediately changed to her son not coming because he was busy - which is weird because she didn’t call anyone while we were together. She just said something like “everything is ok, I’ll have him call you if he needs to talk to you.” Clearly she way spooked.

I did not get any info about her or her vehicle other than it was a white Buick.

I have called my insurance company to make them aware and my agent advised me to have the person call their office if they contact me.

Just a few minutes ago, I got a voicemail from the son. I have not yet called back. But of note is that this number called me 5 times in five minutes last night (my ringer was off) and called a few times this morning, including around 7.30 am. Never leaving a voicemail until now. That might not mean anything but I’m on high-alert for anything suspicious right now, and that’s very odd phone behavior to me (but maybe it’s just cultural differences?).

So that’s everything. QUESTIONS:

SHOULD I ENGAGE THIS PERSON BY CALLING HIM BACK?

IF THIS IS SOME KIND OF SCAM: HOW DOES IT WORK? (I’d assume it would be a simple “Mom broke her neck, and you owe us $5000.” type of thing)

SHOULD I MAKE A POLICE REPORT?

ANYTHING ELSE I SHOULD BE DOING / WATCHING OUT FOR?

A couple of side notes:

1. If it matters, I am a (very very very minor) public figure in my town. I do regular gigs around town, my face is on promotional posters, and if you were to google me or maybe even ask around, I would be incredibly easy to find.
2. If you were to look at my post history, you might see that I smoke marijuana and drink alcohol. In this case I was not under the influence of any substances.

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING.

Answer:
 In short, you probably should have gotten a police report immediately after she left the scene, as when she refused to provide contact information and fled she committed a hit-and-run. Call your local police station's non-emergency line and make a report if you still can.

As far as engaging her son goes, this doesn't sound like a scam as much as it potentially sounds like an undocumented immigrant or just a wanted criminal being afraid of police contact and likely threatening you to shut up. As long as you get a police report and keep your insurance in the loop, you should be fine.

In the future, I would adhere to the following checklist when getting into an auto collision:

1. Make sure you and the other driver are fine

2. If possible, move your cars safely offroad

3. Get their license plate immediately (photo)

4. Call police for accident report

5. Exchange insurance


Title: Hi, what can I get in trouble for if cops come into my house?

Question:
I live with my girlfriend in her parents' house.  We live in TX but we use MJ for medical purpose (not OK in TX).  A contractor (we're assuming) recently came in and now my gf's parents are going to be filing a police report because several thousand dollars worth of jewelry is missing.  If a cop comes to search for their missing jewelry and sees our vaporizer etc, will we end up in trouble?  What should we do/say to avoid this fate?

Let me be unequivocally clear that their jewelry is not with us.  These people took me in, have given rent-free housing for two years, feed me, clothe me, basically just take care of everything and there is no way I would ever bite this hand.

>thanks for the responses that were in good faith. we appreciate it. we know that not having the stuff is the ideal thing, but that ship has sailed and we were looking for the most safe path forward. thank you!

Answer:
 > If a cop comes to search for their missing jewelry and sees our vaporizer etc, will we end up in trouble?

Likely.

> What should we do/say to avoid this fate?

Not be in possession of illegal narcotics or paraphernalia.Answer #2: Not having illegal things in the presence of the police is a good idea.


Title: Can a judge make mandatory vaccinations a stipulation for getting custody of a child?

Question:
My psychotic mother is trying to get custody of my 7 year old nephew. Although all 5 of her own children are vaccinated, and although she has been a nurse for over 25 years, she has jumped on the anti-vax bandwagon and says she won’t be getting my nephew any vaccinations (such as dtap booster, flu shot, hep A). My other sister is also suing for custody, but if she fails, could it be requested the judge make vaccinating my nephew a requirement for our mother gaining custody?

We are in Iowa, United States

Answer: I have never seen a judge support an anti vaxxers agenda. I have seen parents lose custody for not vaccinating.Answer #2: It would be your best bet to work with your sister's lawyer and show evidence of why your mom is not fit to get custody. The lawyer would also probably know (or know someone who would know) about the possibility of mandating vaccines and putting in some kind of system to make sure that they're actually done if your mom gets custody.Answer #3: Technically vaccine status can be a religious right and theres nothing that can be done about that as far as I'm aware as it's technically protected. But if you want your sister to get custody I'd suggest bringing that up to your sister's lawyer, and seeing what they think.


Title: friend asking me to lie to investigators?

Question:
I had a previous question here regarding a friend that drove my car drunk and go a dui, her third one now. btw I wanted to thank everyone for giving input.

https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/4088lt/my_friend_is_asking_me_to_lie_for_her_to_the/

Well she wont stop bugging me asking me to say that I was the one driving (which I wasn't). There were at least 4 cops there, not to mention another witness at the gated community we were at (she started arguing with the gate worker and he called the police)... This is her 3rd dui, who are they going to believe?? There's no way I am going to be charged with perjury or something by lying about this. Oh and she's telling the lawyer and everyone that I was really the one driving... so he thinks her story is true. If I give my true statement to the lawyers will they stop bugging me?

Just to clarify I was not arrested or charged with anything that night, I was in the car though. Anyway she's saying that she has an "anonymous witness" that will say I was driving, which is totally a lie she doesn't remember a thing, she's saying that if I don't just tell the investigator that I was driving they'll have me appear in court and get a warrant for my arrest?? Honestly I don't know anything about the law but how legitimate does any of that sound.

Should I just go down to the police station and give my statement? She wants me to talk to her lawyer specifically which I honestly don't feel good about speaking to. I'd rather talk to the police themselves and tell them what happened.
Oh and I have all the texts of her telling me countless times to lie about this

I'm just confused and not sure what to do

Topic:
Criminal Law

Answer:
 When I speak to a witness and that witness says the exact opposite of what I am hoping the witness will say, I never speak to that witness again and I tell my client that I won't call that witness to the stand.

And don't let anyone, drunk or sober, drive your car.  :)


Title: Apartment package thieves

Question:
I live in an apartment in Canada. Today I had a package delivered for me at 2:15PM (left in the mail room, which is behind 2 locked doors). It wasn’t there when I got home at 7PM, I even spoke with the delivery driver personally on the phone so I know it was there. This is actually the second instance of this happening. I’ve written a letter to building management asking for a review of the security footage when it happened (there’s a camera that faces the mail room). Given how lazy they are, I have a feeling they’ll tell me to kick rocks or come up with an excuse to not do anything.

Any advice on what to do? Or am I just SOL?

Answer:
 You can make a theft complaint to the police. The management company has no obligation to give YOU the camera footage, but have to cooperate if the police get a warrant.

On a more practical level, you can have your packages shipped elsewhere (work, a friend, a PO box, etc) since this is happening on a regular basis.


Title: Is requiring a PSA as part of community service a first amendment violation?

Question: I live in a small town that recently passed an ordinance imposing a creative set of community service penalties for violating COVID-19 hunker down orders, including requiring first-time offenders to record PSAs about the virus. This is making waves locally. Someone raised the issue of the first amendment protection against compulsion of speech. I am skeptical of this argument since the offender would be made to read a script on behalf of the jurisdiction, not on their own personal behalf, which seems like no more a compulsion of speech than putting up flyers or erecting signage as part of community service would be. Thoughts?

Answer: Surely there are alternatives, for instance 50 hours of community service or do the video, that way it's their choice to read the messageAnswer #2: I don't see a problem with this. It is not presented as their own words, akin to an actor. And if they *choose* to refuse, a traditional scentence is carried out. As in, they are not punished because they refused to speak, the punishment is from the original infraction.


Title: pornography websites.

Question: I have just moved to the USA for about 1 week and I heard that the law on the internet is more strict . So i want to ask that is watching pornography( normal porn , hentai , bla bla ...) with the exception of CP is legal or not ? If then how do i know the website is legal ? ( USA , Washington state )

Answer:
 Yes, pornography is legal.

CP is not legal, obviously.Answer #2: I think someone was lying to you. Porn is alive and well in the United States (praise be unto the First Amendment). You can fap yourself raw to most any porn you want (in the privacy of your own home).Answer #3: Who told you the internet in the USA is more strict? You're in for a very nice surprise.


Title: Considering legal action against my employer for misappropriating funds from a federal program by manipulating me into spending 75% of my work week on tasks outside of the grants purview, please advise

Question:
This is a very sensitive situation, your discretion is appreciated:

I work for a private higher education university. I was originally hired for a position that was paid for by the Federal Work Study Program (we'll call this Role #1). My entire salary was paid for by the program funds. However, my employer abused my ignorance of my rights, and by the end of the first 4 months of my employment I was spending 75% of my time and energy on projects (We'll call this Role #2) that were not part of the program. I did not receive additional compensation for the various other roles I was playing, and I was barely able to devote any time to the responsibilities associated with the federal program.

I worked in this position for 16 months, with nearly 12 months including the additional projects and responsibilities. I despised the new responsibilities, largely due to the fact that I received about 1 hour of training prior to being thrown into the proverbial deep end. My mental and physical health suffered during the year I was being used to manage the additional responsibilities, but I never complained because I wanted to be seen as a team player; I was told during my original interview process that I would be considered for a much better position (We'll call this Role #3) if I proved myself in the first couple of months. No contract was ever made, but at one point during my initial interview my supervisor gave me a verbal promise that I could transition into a Role #3 after a few months as long as I proved myself. Three months after my initial hire, Role #3 was open and I had certainly proved myself (I was already fulfilling most of the responsibilities of Role #3 since it was vacant), but my boss opted to pass over me. During this time, my coworker who was in Role #2 quit, and it was at this point that she gave me all of the responsibilities of Role #2.

**To recap:**

* I was hired for Role #1, a position funded by the FWS Program
* From the very start of my employment I conducted responsibilities of Role #3
* After I was officially passed over for transition into Role #3, my coworker quit and I was given all of the responsibilities of Role #2
* I spent nearly 12 months managing the responsibilities of both Role #1 and #2 while never receiving additional compensation

Fortunately, I was eventually able to get out of that arrangement. I have now spent the last 7 months in a new role in a different office on campus.

Can anyone please walk me through what my options may be here? Do I have a case to seek damages? Do you think my employer would settle outside of court to avoid the government learning about their misappropriation? Or am I missing something here entirely?

Any advice will be seriously appreciated! And please let me know if you have any questions or need clarification on anything.

**Location**
United States

**EDIT**
Thanks for the responses. I am learning that, while my employer may be in the wrong, it is the government that may have a case and not me. Thanks for the patience needed to walk me through this.

Answer:
 > Can anyone please walk me through what my options may be here? Do I have a case to seek damages?

Likely not.  Absent an employment contract, your employer sets your duties.

The government might have a case, if your employers did not fulfill the requirements of the grant and/or lied about their actions.  But you don't have the right to sue for that.


Title: Hypothetical

Question:
 Can a Business ask someone with a service dog to leave because they don’t allow animals?
Question:Would this be legal if the reason they don’t allow animals is because of an employee’s animal allergy or a customer’s animal allergy? Although I’m thinking of this situation happening in California, would the legality be different in other states?

Answer: Not if it is a certified service dog.  Lately there have been a lot of support dogs being used.  I don't know about those.