Title: Does mandated reporting come into play where there is sexual abuse between two minors?

Question:
There is a situation I am aware of regarding two minors (9/m) and (4/f) that involves sexual abuse. All parties involved live in Texas. The 9 year old is the 4 year old's older half-brother. They share the same father. It has come to light that the 9 year old has been touching his sister inappropriately after their dad has gone to bed when they are both at his house for visitation.

The mother got the child into counseling immediately after her child told her about the touching, and the child finally brought it up with her counselor yesterday after a few weeks in therapy.

Mom was under the impression that she would be able to immediately obtain a report from the counselor regarding the session her daughter had yesterday, but the counselor is saying they will need a formal request from her lawyer in order to obtain it. There is also some confusion regarding who should be reporting this to DFS or the police and when that will happen.

I am familiar with the responsibilities of a mandated reporter, but I'm not sure how or if the rules change when the abuse is between two minors.  Any help would be appreciated.

Edit: location

Answer:
 From a pediatrician perspective, reporting would be a good idea if only to ensure that the older child is truly alright. Sometimes we see young children copying behavior that they've seen or experienced.

I think it's best to report, but not to get the child in trouble, just to make sure everyone is really ok

Edit: if, not ofAnswer #2: Both children are under/near the age of innocence and that will determine whether this can even be considered a juvenile crime.
I think very reasonable steps have so far been taken by getting the kids into counseling to start talking about the incident(s). The clinicians can help determine if there's a predatory aspect that requires reporting or if this is just an inappropriate form of body exploration.


Title: Big company screwing customers.

Question:
 International multimillion dollar company based in Minnesota

Company is good, industrially number one, but has bad business practices. Taxes charged on some in-state orders are as much as 40% on sub-total prices and price of shipping is arbitrary for many orders. Customer service is encouraged to lie  about missing items, bad products and in company personnel know and talk openly about the fact the products sold perform under the advertised specifications.

I work for this company. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth every time I knowingly over-charge someone for inferior products.

I know the owner personally, and he's a bad person who evades taxes and looks for the profit in anything. Including people whom he treats like disposable assets in his business and personal life.

Me, I'm just an employee who doesn't want to watch a piece of trash to profit anymore by taking advantage and I just dont know where to go from here.

Willing to play a long game, not sure how long I'll be there now though as I'm 95% positive a portfolio is being built against me now.

Answer: Um.... okay. Thank you for letting us know.Answer #2: Welcome to capitalism.Answer #3: Do you have a legal question?


Title: Paid $2472.45 for a car repair. Car still has problems, would this be eligible for small claims court?

Question:
I got major car repairs in Long Beach, CA for $2472.45 and the auto shop made mistakes somehow, I had to return 2-3 times over the following months for extra work. The extra work was free but the car just now 4 months later needs another $375 repair. I've decided to try and get all my money back since I will not be driving this car since it's so unreliable after the repairs.

Would this be a good case for small claims court? What would I need to prepare? I have all the receipts and have tried talking with the auto shops owner. He says everything is fine with the car and this new repair is something different from the others.

Answer:
 > I've decided to try and get all my money back since I will not be driving this car since it's so unreliable after the repairs.

What leads you to believe you would be entitled to a full refund?


Title: [Texas] Can my child's school refuse me access if I don't want to have my ID scanned and picture taken?

Question:
My child's elementary school locks their doors after the morning bell.  To get in, you have to buzz in outside and they let you in.  Then you have to go to the office & sign in.  This used to be your drivers license, which you placed on a screen & they scanned.  Now they have a new system & it scans the barcode on the back of your license and the next step is there's a webcam to take your picture.

I have done this in the past, but am sick of it.  I don't want my info in their system to be stolen, but soon I will have to go once a week to take my child's musical instrument for his practice.  Also for conferences & teacher meetings I would be required.

Is there any way to fight this besides just not going in?  It is a public school in Texas.  I'm assuming this is just a district policy.  Can I opt-out and if so are they able to keep me out?

Answer:
 No. You cannot stop them from choosing how to identify people and keep children safe. It is a govt issued ID... and you are upset that the govt has that information..

You can not go to the school. Take your child out of music and decline to go to school functions. You do not have to go on campus. Answer #2: This is simply to confirm identity and keep accurate logs of all people visiting the school. You know, just in case something happens. You can refuse to provide ID/take your picture, and they can absolutely refuse you entry to the school. They have no idea who you are, why you're there or if you even have a child at the school.


Title: Utah legal advice on a child legally mine even though i was not the father.

Question: I recently found out i am legally the father of a child due to utah's laws on me being married at the time of conception and birth(i am not the father this happened 2 years after i was around) however browsing utahs legal site regarding this i am not sure of the documents/legal processes to go about to relieve any legal rights to the child. I am not the father nor do i want to be the father of a child of a woman i divorced about .5 months after the birth(legally, was trying for about a year). Can someone help me with obtaining the documents necessary to relieve myself of this responsibility. The other party has already said she might pursue legal repercussions if i do not, however she also said she is too busy to give me the information needed to continue.

Answer:
 This may be the "legal site" to which you refer, but if you haven't seen this particular page this link might help.

https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title78B/Chapter15/C78B-15_1800010118000101.pdf

Do a search for the word "denial" and it will toggle you through the document to the appropriate sections.  Basically, it says that a presumed father may sign a denial of paternity on a form "prescribed by the Office of Vital Records".  I can't find a reference to what that form actually is, though.  Call the Utah Office of Vital Records and they should be able to tell you.


Title: [Los Angeles] Dad served up divorce papers to my mom (green card holder) out of nowhere last week. What are the next steps?

Question:
I'm a little shaken up, to say the least. I'm in my early twenties living on the other side of my country, and just got the news from my mom yesterday. I'm blindsided, angry, and all other sorts of feelings. But right now my priority is to make sure that my mother leaves this marriage in the best place possible to start a new life for herself.

A quick rundown of my parents' situation: my father is an American citizen, my mother is a non-citizen and green card holder. They've been married and living in the US together for 20+ years; I'm one of their three children. I grew up with my dad as the primary breadwinner and my mom as a SAHM, although she worked part-time as soon as we could drive ourselves around. My mother is currently working on getting her citizenship.

As for the reason they're splitting up, I'm not entirely sure. All I know is that it's not amicable or mutual – it seems like my father has been mentally and legally preparing for this for months until he dropped the bomb on her this week. My mother, on the other hand, has her sights set on healing their relationship or peacefully parting their ways (i.e. without a divorce lawyer, which I am obviously not going to let happen).

**My questions are about next steps:** how can I help her find a good divorce lawyer? What specific things should she be fighting for (i.e. alimony, etc) with her lawyer? Is there anything I should be aware of when it comes to divorce/green cards? What other steps should we be taking before my parents officially part ways?

I've never done anything like this before. I really thank you for your help.

EDIT: Really, truly thank you for your help and advice today. I'm still disillusioned by all of this but having an idea of where to go from here (and, of course, reassuring myself that deportation is **not** going to be a thing) helps immensely. Thank you /r/legaladvice.

Answer: IANAL, but just popping in to reassure you that she isn't going to be deported because of the divorce. I got divorced from my sponsor and as long as I paid my taxes and didn't commit any crimes I was fine, they have a whole process dedicated to if divorce happens. Also if he is her sponsor (into the country/for the green card), then he has to support her for a certain amount of time, no idea what amount of time that IS, but just so she can look into it. Best of luck.Answer #2: After 20 years I doubt your mother's greencard is "Conditional" on the marriage. She probably has a unconditional greencard and the divorce won't effect that. Probably something you want to check though.


Title: How can I subpoena information from Uber

Question:
I was out of town on a business trip; my Uber driver stated that he had just dropped off some other guy from my home. We went back and forth a bit because I said this is my families home and the only people there are my wife and young son. He insured me that he had just picked up someone from the home and dropped them off.

&#x200B;

I understand now that my wife has been cheating on me for some time. Is there an easy way to request video and other route information from Uber?

Answer: For what court case do you need this 'evidence'


Title: Assaulted by supervisor at work. Company president has yet to address the incident.

Question:
This incident happened in Michigan

Where I work we have department supervisors. My supervisor is tasked to delegate work, check measurements, and make sure things are shipped on time. He has no power to fire, send home or reprimand.

One day, I was taking a fellow employee home as he needed a ride and lives close to me. His schedule is 6:00-2:30 while mine is 7:00-4:30. I informed the company president that I was taking the employee home and would not return to work until the next day. I received the OK from him in a text message and took the employee home.

The next morning I arrived at work and as I walked to the time clock to punch in, I was immediately confronted by my supervisor about my leaving early. I showed him the text message with the company president's blessing. He scoffed at it and continued to yell at me. I became upset myself and we began to argue. My supervisor then told me to go home and not bother to punch in.

This confrontation all happened  while I was off the clock(He was literally blocking the computer). I refused and informed him he did not have the right to send me home and I walked past him to punch in. As I walked to my area, he continued to scream at me making a scene in front of other employees. I again told him I would not leave unless told by the company president, as he's the only one who can fire and suspend any employee. I told him that he would have to physically remove me from the building if he wanted me to leave. He knocked over the table I was working at, grabbed me by my collar with both of his hands and said to me, "I'm going to drag you out to the parking lot and beat your ass, don't think for a minute I won't do it".

I was in disbelief that he had grabbed me like that. I told him that he better let go of me or I was going to call the police. After a minute or two he begrudgingly complied with my request and walked away. He later came around to me and apologized. The place I work at has a camera and caught the whole incident plus their were multiple witnesses.

The company president has yet to address the issue but is well aware of what happened.  I've asked to speak with him multiple times and he avoids me altogether  now. What are my legal options, if any? I'm afraid  the company president may get rid of me since my job isn't hard to fill and protect the supervisor. How should I handle this situation?

Answer:
 >How should I handle this situation?

You have the right to file a police report if there is assault.

Answer #2: Of you're asking how to deal with your internal company decisions, we dont know because that isnt legal advice.

What you can do is file a police reports  An assault happened.


Title: Would it be legally permitted to kill your child in order to stop them harming you?

Question:
In this scenario, the following things are at play:

* The child is not intentionally doing it
* You will sustain a number of moderate injuries if you do not kill them.

Answer:
 It’s never permitted to use lethal force to prevent “moderate injuries”. You need to have a reasonable and immediate fear for your life.Answer #2: *Scenario 1*: You're doing serious yardwork with a Bobcat excavator in your front yard. Walking away from the vehicle, you neglect to see your child climb into the cab and engage the drive, sending the excavator towards your house where it will cause severe property damage. You draw your concealed pistol and aim at your child *wtf are you doing put that away, it's completely unjustified in every way and this whole situation is your fault.*

**Scenario 2**: It's "bring your child to work day"- at the nuclear bomb assembly plant. Your child scampers off and because you are stupid, you allow this. Suddenly, your coworker in the assembly bay starts screaming. You run over and see your child giggling with his hand over the **Big Red Button** on a just-assembled nuclear device. For some reason this is exactly the kind of button on your child's favorite toy and you know it's a matter of seconds until that button is pressed, and 40,000 people die. You draw your concealed pistol and *this is possibly morally justified but when the dust settles you're probably going to be liable for killing your child thanks to your negligence in setting up this situation in the first place.*


Question:
Is it illegal for a mortgage lender to commit acts that lower the borrower's credit, so they can charge a higher interest rate on the mortgage loan?

Allegedly, a friend of mine had a mortgage lender perform nearly 50 credit checks on their credit over a couple of weeks while in the middle of the process of obtaining their mortgage loan.
(Events took place between Q3 2016 and Q2 2017)

Allegedly, this action lowered the credit score of my friend.

Then, my friend was quoted a rate different than what had been promised at the beginning of the promise, due to their low credit score... Which the lender generated.

According to a small amount of research I have read, this action is not "explicitly" illegal in stone and pen, and is a loophole for lenders to take advantage of FHA?

So... Are we working on a regulation to prevent this? Or is it actively legal? I've "heard" that there are some active class action lawsuits in early stages for this type of manipulation. Is anyone familiar with it?
Topic:
Real Estate law

Answer:
 > Allegedly, a friend of mine had a mortgage lender perform nearly 50 credit checks on their credit over a couple of weeks while in the middle of the process of obtaining their mortgage loan. (Events took place between Q3 2016 and Q2 2017)

Your friend is full of shit. Even if a mortgage broker farmed him out to 50 lenders who all checked his credit individually, so long as its within the same 30 day period it should not negatively affect his credit score. Answer #2: All inquiries performed in a 30 day period are supposed to count as a single inquiry so this shouldn't have lowered the score.


Title: Workplace wants to force only a certain department to take on duties drastically outside of normal duties

Question:
Ok, this is in South Dakota. Some backstory:
 I work for a casino as a table games dealer.
We get paid below minimum wage, our income in almost entirely our tips, which we split between all dealers working in a 24 hour period.
A new accountant took over recently, and took away the bonus that was given to the janitors, saying the company can't afford to give the janitors their bonus anymore.
It was previously mentioned (through hearsay) that this new accountant saw how much we as dealers made last year and said, "well what are we going to do about that". (Side note, we don't make that much, about 20,000 less than the average yearly salary for South Dakota. We just made more in tips than he did in salary, which apparently rubbed him wrong, this part is important to the story).

So here's the issue. We are having a meeting soon in which we get to "vote" whether or not we have to either give the janitors 2% of our daily tips, or we have to give up one dealing shift and take on a janitorial shift. Now I already know through the department of labor website that they can't force us to give up any of our tips to any employee who is not a regularly tipped employee, which the janitors are not. Can they force us to give up a dealing shift and take on a janitorial shift? The reason I mention that this new accountant has something against the dealers is because no other department is being forced to make this decision. Not the cashier's, nor the players club, nor the cocktails or bar staff. We are the only ones being told we might have to give up a day of our normal job.

Anything we can do about this? Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Topic:
Employment Law

Answer:
 Yes, they can, theoretically, force you to take on different duties. However, they may be forced to pay you minimum wage for that shift.

Your other recourse is to unionize and demand a contract that prevents these shenanigans.


Title: A questionable speeding stop (TX)

Question:
So I was driving north from Austin to Ft. Worth on I-35, and I was stopped by a police officer. He approached my car and was already very hostile (yelling), but I remained respectful. I gave him my insurance and ID and he took the ID back to his cruiser. When he returned, he handed me his electronic device to sign. I started reading the information rather than immediately signing the thing because I wanted to know what it said, but after about 15 seconds he told me if I didn't hurry up and sign he would take me to "big boy" jail. I told him I was just reading it, but he told me to give it back to him, and so I did. He snapped a picture of me and told me he was giving me a "failure to sign."
    I now don't have any idea where that leaves me and would really appreciate yalls help. I feel like I've been wronged and I would just like to see this resolved simply.

Answer:
 The resolution is that you go to court, plead not guilty, and tell your side of the story at trial.

And if you feel you were mistreated, you can also file a complaint against the officer.


Title: Deadbeat stepdad and a broken down car.

Question:
I have a friend who, on his 16th birthday was 'given' an old car by his stepdad. He was told the title was transferred to his name and that was that. Fast forward a couple years and the car is broken down. The engine is blown and the vehicle is sitting in their driveway. The stepdad has, at this point, abandoned the family, refusing to answer any calls. The time comes to scrap the car just to get it out of the way, and it is learned that the stepdad never actually transferred the title. Is there any way around this in terms of getting rid of the car? As far as I know it cannot be scrapped or sold without the persons whose name is on the title being present, but seeing as the stepdad cannot be contacted, or found most of the time, that seems impossible. The car is definitely in the way and needs to go. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
This is in the state of Kentucky.

Answer: How much is it worth as scrap? I'd just push it out into the street and report it to the city as abandoned.


Title: (MO) Husband in hospital transferred to another hospital. They won't tell me ANYTHING

Question:
Missouri

Posting for a relative. Thanks in advance.

Husband had a drug problem that has left him delusional. He believed his step daughter was in love with him and made inappropriate comments to that effect. The wife sent him with his family in hopes that he could get help. He apparently tried to cause a motor accident with his family and was hospitalized. Tried to go see him, but they will not give the wife any information about his condition or whereabouts. Told her to look up north.

Can the hospital legally prevent the next of kin from knowing where they patient is?
How can his wife track down her husband?

Answer: Not a lawyer but work in healthcare.  If a patient states they don’t want any information shared with anyone then the hospital is legally bound by HIPAA to respect that.  I have had patients refuse to allow spouses, parents, children, etc...to receive any information at all, refused to tell family they are in the hospital, asked to be placed under an alias to avoid individuals knowing they are in the hospital.  The patient is likely the one asking to have the information kept private and the hospital would have legal troubles if they disclosed the information.


Title: [IN]What to do with my kids?

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 And start reporting her domestic violence to the police.  She is not allowed to strike you, that is assault.Answer #2: >What action should I take?

Call a lawyer now, you will need one during the divorce and you could also ask him/her this same question.

Answer #3: Stay in the house, get a restraining order, ask for exclusive use of the home, and ask a lawyer what to do with the 2yo in all this. Don't go somewhere else. Better is to maintain the home the children are familiar with and make her go elsewhere.Answer #4: I know it's hard because it's still raw, but don't freak out. Your kids don't know whats going on except that mom and dad are fighting and everyone is stressed/anxious. You need to think of the welfare of the kids and be calm, cool and collected.

Do you have reason to believe that she would actually come back and cause harm to you are the kids? If so I would look into an emergency restraining order. However, as far as the kids are concerned they would most likely be better off staying in a stable known environment rather than uprooting them somewhere else.

I would stay put, she's the one who abandoned the house, not you. It sounds like you were the victim of domestic abuse.

Call police, get a lawyer. Answer #5: Lawyer & Police.

You are a victim of domestic abuse.


Title: Camera Speeding Ticket

Question:
Location: Ohio

I received a "civil" camera speeding ticket for going 47 in a 35 from a local city police department. The only issue is, I was not driving the car. There is a section where I can certify that I was not driving the car but requires me to tell them who was. The other thing is, I do not want to tell them who was. This camera was at the rear of the car the entire time and never saw who the driver was. It was not me, but there is no way they could positively identify anyone because of the direction the car was driven.

Could I still be forced and found guilty if I refuse to tell them who was driving the car given the fact that I was not. I am able to swear under penalty of perjury that I was not driving - because I was not. But I am not willing to tell them who was, either.

Anyone have similar experiences with this?

Answer: I’m in no way a legal expert, and my memory of drivers ed is foggy at best, but I distinctly remember the lesson on liability. Basically, if you lend your friend your vehicle, you are responsible for what that vehicle does. Whether he mows down a crowd or goes 12 over in a speed trap, if it was done in your vehicle, you are partially, if not completely responsible. With all of that being said, and keeping in mind that neither our world nor our laws exist in a vacuum, the cameras municipalities have been placing all over Ohio have been frequently and consistently ruled unconstitutional if they are unmanned by an officer as you have a right to face your accuser in a court of law. I can think of three different speed trap cameras in Cleveland that now have an office on site 24-7 to simply attest to tickets written by the camera. So that would be my first step. If there is no signature on the ticket from an officer, I would follow up with the court date and fight it. If there is a signature, I would tell them who the driver is, because friend or not, I wouldn’t want points on my license for someone else’s heavy foot. And good luck!


Title: Friend's room got rented out due to misunderstanding

Question:
My friend recently crashed his car and told his landlady/property owner that he would be sleeping at his friend's house for a few days. She misunderstood and thought he was not going to continue renting the room and rented it out to someone else. I do not know if they signed a lease or contract and don't want to ask and get his hopes up about a legal path. Did they landlady have to give 30-day notice before evicting him, even if it was a misunderstanding about cancelation?

Location: GA, USA

Answer: The 30 days is not needed if both parties (landlord and tenant) came to a agreement to end the tenancy. Did your friend leave stuff behind in the room, pay rent, continue to receive mail? Any other action that shows he didn't intend to vacate?


Title: [WA] Ex-Wife doesn’t have a job and wants awarded child care expenses?

Question:
[deleted]
Topic:
Custody Divorce and Family

Answer: If you don't have something from the courts regarding a request to modify the child support order, you have no legal duty to pay anything beyond the $600 that has already been court-mandated. If she has formally requested a modification, chances are you need a family law lawyer ASAP, because a lawyer will greatly increase the chances of whatever arguments you oppose the modification on being successful.


Title: Help

Question: Yesterday this lady called her neighbors auto insurance for an update on the auto damage claim to her car. The agents told her they were waiting on the insured party to call and make a recorded statement.  The insurance company's adjuster then mostakenly called the lady back assuming she was their insured party. The lady pretended to be the insured neighbor. Shortly after the call the lady received a text from her neighbor saying she spoke with her insurance company and all was well and that her insurance company was prepared to process the claim. Well about an hour later the lady received another call from the neighbors insurance company saying they would pay for damages but they would report her for fraud due to the lady pretending to be the insured neighbor..The lady is worried about what will happen to her now.

Answer: The insurance company will pay for damages but they will report her for fraud. If police come she should not speak to them without an attorney.


Title: Brain damage causes impulse control issues that lead to kleptomania

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 The best thing you can do is to comunicate well with your lawyer, listen to your lawyer and in case you think he/she forgets something ask him/her about that.

the worst thing you can do is talk about your case or suspect that strangers who never talked to you, your neurophsychiatrist and your neuropsychologists will no you better than your lawyer does. Here on the internet we also don't know the exact details of the case, the local judges and the prosecutor (don't mention them, everybody googles everybody these days).

IANAL


Title: [CA] I'm a manager at a restaurant. One of my employees has been getting sexually harassed at school. What can I do to protect her?

Question:
I'm a manager at a small mom-and-pop shop located in the Los Angeles/Orange County area. One of my employees currently attends a high school near the area, and after working together for nearly a year now, we've become pretty good friends.

A few months ago, she was telling me about her day at school, and she mentioned that a freshman (she's a senior) had been sexually harassing her on a pretty frequent basis. List of things he's done includes: grabbing her hand and kissing it, whispering inappropriate things into her ear (including but not limited to: "I wanna fuck you so badly", "You're looking hella thick today", "You look so sexy, it's turning me on"), touching her feet when she wore open-toed shoes, grabbing her waist from behind, and touching the inside of her thigh near her crotch.

When I heard of this, I told her to report what he's done to their instructor immediately, and she did. She then told me that he got off with nothing more than a slap on the wrist and a verbal warning. As outraged as I was, it seemed like whatever the instructor had said to him was quite effective, as she told me he had more or less left her alone for the past 2 months.

Today, she was telling me that he had touched her inappropriately again, this time asking if she felt uncomfortable as he grabbed the inside of her thigh. After she told him off for touching her inappropriately, he responded with "Damn you have some fucking weird legs". After hearing this, I'm honestly considering taking legal action against him an/or his parents. What can I legally do to protect my employee?

Answer:
 You have done what you can do which is to advise her to report every infraction to someone at her school.Answer #2: >After hearing this, I'm honestly considering taking legal action against him an/or his parents.

What are you talking about?  You have absolutely zero standard here.  You are not involved in this.  You cannot "take legal action" against anyone concerned here.

You can encourage her to talk to her parents or the school authorities.  Other than that, butt out.  This is not your business.  Stop playing white knight.  It's completely inappropriate, as is being "friends" with an employee in high school.


Title: Considering buying a business in GA. What legal provisions are the most important?

Question:
Hello. I am trying to buy an existing business with owner financing. Unfortunately, I am trying to do this with as little upfront expenses as possible. I have some good experience in legal documents, but not in purchasing businesses with this type of financing. So what I am hoping to hear about is what provisions in the document and the financing are the most important to get reviewed by a lawyer. This way I'm hoping that i can save a little on that expense. I have reviewed it already and the terms seem to be fair but another set of eyes would help, especially on the guarantee and collateral provisions in the event of default.

Any and all thoughts are appreciated. Thanks!

Answer:
 > what provisions in the document and the financing are the most important to get reviewed by a lawyer.

All of it. You don't know where a deal killer could be hiding. Trying to save a few pennies by having an attorney only read some of the documents is a recipe for disaster.

Also, make sure you are doing proper diligence of the company and its finances.


Title: Missing wedding registry gifts

Question:
My wife and I opened a wedding registry on kohls.com on March 19, 2016 for our wedding on October 8, 2016. Although we received most of the items that were marked as purchased, we still have not received several of them. We saw that these items were marked as having been purchased around the time of the wedding, and their value totals up to around $700. We live in California.

We realize that there could be some reasonable explanation for why we haven't received some or all of the items, such as returns or guests that purchased the items and haven't given them to us yet, though this seems increasingly more unlikely, as no one has mentioned anything to us after three months.

I have spent many hours with Kohl's service representatives trying to get any information about these gifts to help us understand what may have happened to them, including the names of people who bought them, when or where they were purchased, or shipping information about them so we can try and track them down. Employees in the store can't help us because the registry is managed by kohls.com and the phone customer service representatives from kohls.com can't or won't give me any information because I was not the one who purchased the items and I don't have any of the order numbers (kohls sends all of the purchase information to the buyer). I know that somewhere there must exist information linking the purchases to our registry. How else could they have marked those items as "purchased" in the first place? They have told me that the only thing I can do is of contact every person that we invited to the wedding and ask them if they bought any of these items for us. We think that this is ridiculous and consider it to be a major faux pas.

I feel like I have run out of options. Does anyone have any advice on how I might be able to figure out what happened to these gifts?

Thanks

Answer: Not legal advice, just general advice. If you don't want to ask your friends and family, I think your best bet is to just let it go. Maybe guests bought items for you and decided to keep them for themselves. Maybe they returned them and got you something else. Are these items worth the hours you've spent trying to track them down?  And what if you find out who bought them?  Are you going to ask "Hey, where's that thing you bought me?"  I think this is just one of those things you have to move on from. Answer #2: I'm not certain this is the best sub for this. Maybe a customer service related sub could tell you what to say and to say whom.


Title: I have a job completely unrelated to any kind of creativity. I created a massive document for my boss that could be sold for tens of thousands of $$$ and he is claiming ownership of it. Does he in fact own it? This is in Canada.

Answer:
 He *probably* owns it. For example, he owns it if:

1. the author [you] of the work must be in the
employment of some other person [him] under a
contract of service or apprenticeship;
2. the work must be made in the course of
employment by that person; and
3. there must be the absence of any agreement
to the contrary.

[This PDF might help](http://smart-biggar-web-com.sitepreview.ca/en/newsletters/Intellectual_Property_Magazine_Dec2010.pdf) but you don't post any information about the nature of your employment or the nature of your contract (or the nature of this work) so it's hard to speculate further.


Title: Ex-husband filled discovery on my wife

Question:
My wife and her ex husband have 2 kids and have been divorced for several years.  His is bitter and has it out for her anytime he can and he does so using the court system.  He is trying to get child support payments reduced which is why he has a discovery on her.

I was reading through it and it is requiring my wife to list me for some of these answers directly related to finance,  knowledge of my wife’s finances.

I do not want to get involved in this whatsoever but I have a feeling this guy will summon me for questioning .

Am I protected from answering anything as to not incriminate my wife?  What should be said for this or how do I tell them that I won’t talk.

This is in Maryland by the way
Topic:
Custody Divorce and Family

Answer:
 The only time a step parent's income can be considered in a child support case is if the person to whom they are married has reduced or eliminated their own income and the stepparent is now paying the bills in that household.

Discovery in these cases *does not* place an obligation upon the stepparent, but using discovery to determine the overall income for the household can be used as evidence that the biological parent is deliberately underemployed.

This may be what her ex is attempting to discover, and if her income has been reduced or eliminated during the time of your marriage then he has the right to do so.Answer #2: Unless you are saying that you are committing tax fraud what could you possibly say that would incriminate your wife? Your income isn’t relevant, so your wife could probably get an attorney to successfully defend/quash any interrogatories on that issue. But as you are not a party you cannot be forced answer interrogatories yourself anyway. If you are subpoenaed then you need to talk to an attorney and have them represent you at any deposition or in producing any documents so as to ensure you don’t get held in contempt.


Title: Under contract on new construction home - Comcast has large box outside of what I believe is the easement. How to proceed?

Question:
As title says, we went under contract on a house under construction. When we walked the lot, there was dirt everywhere, usual construction site stuff - including what I assumed was a temporary construction utility hookup. As the house progresses, this large box probably 3 feet wide by 18" deep is still there, what I would call right up against the area where the driveway will go. Call the builders realtor, he says, I don't know. I'll ask. That's a Comcast box, and it's staying where it is. That's unacceptable I say, based solely on the fact that it's a major eyesore, and completely too close to the driveway and also in what I would say is an extremely unusual location for something like this. This is a high end community, the type where they pay big attention to the aesthetics of everything.

So they say well it's up to the developer and Comcast, but we will try to help out. I tell them I'm not closing on this house with that box where it is, as that's my only leverage.

6 weeks later box is still in the same spot. I call the city planners office, and was told the easement on the ally is roughly 5 feet from edge of street into the yard, or another person told me measure 15 feet in from center of the street as an estimate, without getting a surveyor out. I measure, and from the center of the street the portion of this box closest to the house is roughly 23 feet from center of the street.

How do I proceed? What I believe is the actual easement area already has electrical utility equipment in it so no space for more equipment in that area. Additionally, there is at&t equipment further into the yard than what I believe is the easement.

If there is no space left in the easement that sounds like their problem.

My thought is get either the city planners office or an independent surveyor to find the actual boundaries, and if they can't make it work, then they need to move it to another lot. Is that legally accurate? Once I define the boundary, if they are outside, can a lawyer just pen a note to Comcast and at&t and say they have 60 days to remove the equipment from my property?

Scheduled to close roughly end of the month.

Answer:
 Everything will depend on where the easement is. Determine that first.

Your city/county may have a GIS system with an easement layer. Assuming the development has been added to the maps, you might be able to gauge where the boxes sit and if it is within the easement.

If the boxes are outside of the easement, I'd start with the city or whoever plans development.

You may have to consider that the boxes are appropriately placed. Comcast and AT&T won't likely be willing to move them.


Title: Is this enough for a restraining order or law suit?

Question:
Hey! So a cray ex of a girl I am seeing has been sending threatening texts and I would love some advice on my options!

&#x200B;

"Don't think it is over. when you least expect it. mock my words.( *Followed by a list of my address and family members and numbers)* Stay away you piece of shit and don't forget to look over your shoulder constantly, even in your sleep.Have a great night. I promise you, you have no idea who you fucked with and you are asking for it.

&#x200B;

Follow up text- Don't get too comfy in that job either. Only takes a couple phone calls.

Answer: Yes! Go to police immediately


Title: Does adding a "disclaimer" of sorts to a threat make it harder to get in trouble for it?

Question: So for example, if I yelled at someone "I'M GONNA KILL YOU (in Minecraft)!!!!!" could I use the fact that I specified I wanted to kill them in a videogame and not in real life as a defense? I don't plan to do this, but it's a bit of a trend recently on Twitter to say "I want to do a bad thing to person xyz (in Minecraft)" to prevent being banned and I'm curious if it would apply in real life.

Answer:
 You should be skeptical of any "magic words"-like theory about law.

Tests like the Brandenburg test for determining whether an utterance is an illegal threat generally take the whole context into account. If, _in context_, the recipient would reasonably believe that the speaker intended to carry out the threat violently, and if the speaker intended that interpretation, then it's probably a threat, even if the literal words appear to be innocent. On the other hand, if in context the victim should reasonably have understood the threat as hyperbole or as a rhetorical device, or otherwise should have understood that it was not serious, then it's not a threat, even if the literal words are threatening.

That also applies to Twitter: they're not required to ignore threatening language just because someone stuck "(in Minecraft)" on the end of it, and they can more or less moderate their platform as they see fit.


Title: I'm registered with a disability, but my school is denying accommodations for one of my finals -PA

Question:
I've been registered with my school's disability office for two years and I take exams at the school testing center. We have to register online for exams 72 hours before the exam time or it doesn't let us register. On Tuesday, I signed up for my two exams next week (12/12 and 12/13). I went onto my account last night to check the time of one of my exams since I had to take it earlier in the day due to the testing center closing early and noticed my exam for Tuesday wasn't showing up. I know I was close to the deadline, but the professor wasn't sure if our final would be the last day of class or during finals week.

I emailed the disability office immediately since they were closed and they responded saying that I am unable to take it at the testing center. My only options are to take it with the rest of the class without accommodations or ask my professor to allow me to take it so I can schedule it with 72 hours notice. My professor can't allow me to take it later in the week because she has a conference and will be submitting our grades the day after the exam.

Can my school legally deny me accommodations because of an error with their system? I've had to have an exam manually entered by the office in the past due to an error with their system so it's not like this hasn't happened with their system before.

Answer: Did you properly sign up and they messed up? Or you missed signing up properly by the deadline?Answer #2: Escalate with the disability office and your dean's office.


Title: Can Landlord Evict Me For Having a Baby? (Massachusetts)

Question:
I live in Massachusetts. My landlord has stated that having a child breaks the lease. The lease states:

'1. Occupants. The said premises shall be occupied by no more than 2 adults and 0 children.'

Is this illegal or could he legally do that? This sounds like discrimination to me.

Answer:
 Yeah. That is not legal.

[Link here for info](http://www.mass.gov/ago/consumer-resources/your-rights/civil-rights/housing/housing-discrimination.html)

[this one, #11](http://www.mass.gov/mcad/housingquickref.html)

[And this one](http://www.masslegalhelp.org/common-forms-of-housing-discrimination)

You are not breaking the lease. That part of the lease in not legal and cannot be enforced. Ignore him. If he tries to evict, call around to the numbers in the links, see if any attorney feels like handing his had to him. Or just go and watch the judge tell him where to get off because he is really wrong. Answer #2: In your other post I believe you said your lease is month to month. If that's the case, your landlord can terminate your lease without specifying a reason so long as he gives you sufficient notice (your lease probably specifies 30 or 60 days).


Title: HUGE layoff in CA at Fortune 500 company last week.

Question:
Buckle up folks layoffs are coming.
The company I worked for 6 years laid of approx 20% of its work force. The folks who live in Ca get paid til end of Feb with a signed NDA unsigned til mid Feb, Out of Ca folks cut off completely by Dec 31.

Lot of us are still talking to each other and one question is the violation of the WARN act here in Ca and Federally.
The WARN acts states that employees should be given notice of a MASS layoff and we were not. We were walked out like criminals.

Just curious as to what our legal stance should be if any.

Answer:
 They gave you pay in lieu of notice Answer #2: >**The folks who live in Ca get paid til end of Feb**

WARN requires 60 days of notice, but you're getting paid at least that far out. Would you feel better if they made you work those 60 days?Answer #3: Per [wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worker_Adjustment_and_Retraining_Notification_Act_of_1988), the WARN Act may not apply (relevant section below)

>The WARN Act is not activated when a covered employer:
>
>closes a temporary facility or completes a temporary project, and the employees working in the facility or temporary project were hired with the clear understanding that their employment would end with the closing of the work facility or the completion of the project; or
>
>closes a facility or operating unit because of a strike or a worker lock-out, and the closing is not intended to evade the purposes of the WARN Act.
>
>If a plant closing or a mass layoff results in fewer than 50 workers losing their jobs at a single employment site;
>
>**If 50 to 499 workers lose their jobs and that number is less than 33 percent of the employer's total, active workforce at a single employment site;**
>
>If a layoff is for 6 months or less; or
>
>If work hours are not reduced 50 percent in each month of any 6-month period.

&#x200B;


Title: [NE] My friend was at a chain deli type restaurant and the waitress dumped hot broccoli soup all over his arm.

Question: Trip to the hospital, 2nd degree burns, the manager didn't even acknowledge that there was a problem and the waitress dismissed the incident. Corporate was supposed to call him today, but he hasn't heard anything. Advice? What to do next?

Answer:
 His health insurance will probably attempt to surrogate. He can also talk to a personal injury attorney. Answer #2: Today is Saturday. Don't expect any contact until Tuesday. Nobody who has any authority to do anything works weekends or holidays. Answer #3: >What to do next?

Complain and get your next meal free?  Sue the restaurant to recover your out of pocket costs for the hospital bill?


Title: [LA,CA] Son is evicting aunt who gave down payment for the for the house.

Question: My aunt has been living with her son for 9 years. She has been paying half the mortgage and gave the down payment for the house. Recently he got married he told her you cant live here anymore. My aunt requested her money back now he is not taking the rent check and trying to evict her. This she have any legal recourse?

Answer:
 Chances are that when the aunt gave him the money as a down payment, she signed a document stating that it was a gift which did not have to be repaid. \[Edit:  This is usually required by the mortgage company\]

Your aunt has been living as a tenant, and the 1/2 mortgage that she gave him was rent.

He may evict her/terminate her tenancy using the landlord tenant laws applicable to their jurisdiction.

The aunts legal recourse lie withing the landlord/tenant laws.


Title: [WI] Realtor wants to collect fee despite not selling the house.

Question:
Hi all, this is actually for a family member of mine but I thought I'd ask here as I couldn't really give much advice when they asked my opinion.

It's fairly straightforward really. For the purposes of this story I'll call my family member Marc. Marc and his spouse have been looking to buy a house for some time now. When they began their search, they contacted an acquaintance they knew who was a realtor whom they trusted. As I understand it, Marc signed an agreement with the realtor/company setting out what fees would be owed when they purchased a house. Well after several months of showings that they were not interested in and offers that went nowhere, they decided to drop this realtor and get a new one. The new realtor found them a house, they made an offer, and the deal was closed. They've now moved into their new place and have received both a phone call and a letter (not via certified mail) from their former realtor stating they owe several thousand dollars in fees for the sale. They've been told to basically "pay up or else." Apparently the document they signed with the first realtor was valid for one year, and any purchase they made in that time required payment of a fee to their former realtor.

Marc seems to be of the mind that, while their former realtor did some work on their behalf, and they don't mind paying her something, several thousand dollars is rather excessive, and they had no idea that closing the deal with a different realtor would still require them to pay a fee to their original realtor.

I'm fairly certain there's not much to be done, since it's all in writing and signed, but I thought I'd ask you all anyway. Any thoughts?

Answer:
 Also in WI here...

I just checked the paperwork I had on my stuff, and basically it only applied if I purchased a property that my agent showed me...and then cut them out of the deal.Answer #2: Did they communicate to the original realtor that they were dropping them, or did they just stop using them? The last agent I used had procedure for firing them that would get you out of the contract.

If I were the agent, I'd be wary of suing. They depend on their reputation and a bunch of bad reviews from your relatives that truthfully explain being sued could do some real damage.


Title: Employer wants to name me as a driver on an insurance policy.

Question:
I work in real estate development in Arizona. We have a number of jobsite construction trucks that we are getting an insurance policy on. The insurance company requires us to list the drivers (name, dob and drivers license number) of each of the jobsite vehicles. The people that actually drive the trucks are construction laborers. Most of the laborers that we use are undocumented workers and don’t have the required info that the insurance company wants for the policy.

My boss asked if I would give my information to be listed as a driver on the policy. I have a clean driving record and I am a US Citizen with a drivers license. Are there any potential legal problems that I can run into if someone else is driving the vehicle and I am listed as the primary driver? I will never be driving any of the vehicles on the policy.

Answer:
 >if someone else is driving the vehicle and I am listed as the primary driver?

If you are not the primary driver of the equipment, you should not participate in telling an insurance company otherwise.
Answer #2: This sounds like insurance fraud.  I wouldn't recommend engaging in that.


Title: Friend is getting a divorce, husband threatening to take the house and kid

Question:
I have a friend who is going through a pretty messy divorce. She cheated on her husband a few years ago right after she had a baby (its 100% the husbands) and he found out. They decided to stay together and continued to buy a very nice house together and things seemed okay. About a month or so ago he told her that he wants a divorce and that he is now with someone else. She was as okay with it as someone could be and they said that they'd try to civil during the process.

The original plan was to sell the house and split custody evenly but things started turning recently after he asked to keep the house. My friend was okay with that as long as he split whatever they put into the house already. During that time her kid has started saying things like "mom is moving out." Not in a mocking way, I am sure that the husband is trying to explain that eventually him and mom wont be living together.

Most recently he approached my friend threatening to take the house without giving her anything or her having a say if they keep the house at all and he is going to have full custody of their child. He ended the conversation saying there is nothing she can do about it, his family has money and will get the best lawyer they can.

I told her to lawyer up ASAP but is there anything that she can or should be doing until she does that.

Answer: NAL but she should not leave the marital home and should get a consultation with a lawyer or 3 today.


Title: (Tennessee) Grandfather took a loan out on a car through local company, passing soon. $7500 left. What happens when he passes?

Question:
Grandfather took a loan out on a car in May of 2018. I was supposed to be the co-signer on the car but I didn’t sign anything. It’s all in his name. He’s in hospice now and will pass in a few days. I was wondering what was going to happen to the car since it doesn’t have a co-signer? It still has 6 years left on the loan.

Is there anyway to transfer the title to my name? Would it go to my grandmother or would they repossess the car?
Topic:
Wills Trusts and Estates

Answer:
 If the loan is in his name, it will be lumped in with "his estate". All assets and debts will be balanced out and then paid out in accordance with his will, or interstate inheritance laws.

If the title is in your name and isn't linked to the car, then the car is yours. If the title is in his name or is linked to the loan, it will become part of the estate and considered one of his assets and will be distributed as outlined above.


Title: My job is trying to make me a no-rehire because I'm quitting due to medical reasons.

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 At will employment means you can be terminated for any reason or no reason at all so long as that reason isn’t prohibited by some other law.  With regards to medical conditions the laws that would apply would be FMLA and the ADA.  You said you are in a probationary period so FMLA doesn’t apply.  The ADA requires that 1) you have a disability (not sure if PPD would qualify, though in general depression does) and 2) that you be able to do your job with a reasonable accommodation.  Being unable to work and calling out all the time isn’t going to be a reasonable accommodation.

Doesn’t sound like you have been at this company long, just move on and don’t list them as a reference for future employment.


Title: [US-MO] Received Legitimate bank transfer of $10,000 from friend in Korea. Attempted to wire transfer the funds to a company in the US, bank closed my account claiming fraud, and I can't get the money back.

Question:
No-nonsense story:

I opened a new US Citibank checking account a few weeks ago. A friend in Korea has a Korean Citibank account (which he has had for a long time and as done many large transactions), and he sent me $10,000 using Citibank's instant transfer service. The reason for the transfer is that we want to use his money to buy digital currencies from a US company.

After the funds arrived into my account, I initiated a wire transfer to the company. The next day when Citibank was reviewing the transfer before sending it out, they blocked my checking account on claims of fraudulent activity. I talked to the fraud group at Citibank and told them everything was fine with the incoming transfer as well as the outgoing wire transfer from my account. Here's how things progressed over the course of several days and many long phone calls with Citibank:

* First they told me the account was closed, the funds were being held, and there was no way I could get them back. I didn't believe that so I called again and talked to a different person.
* They told me I needed to get some documents to prove the transfer from my Korean friend was legitimate and voluntary, and then take the documents to a Citibank branch to be reviewed. I asked what documents I needed, and they said just anything that can prove the transfer was legit.
* Korean friend sent me some screenshots of the transfer, account history, and account info from his online banking, as well as a photo of him holding his passport with a sign note saying that he voluntarily sent me $10,000. I took this to the bank branch, they looked at it and said it was OK but they didn't have the authority to unblock the account or withdraw the funds so they would scan the documents and send them to the fraud review group.
* A day or two later, I call again and ask how I can get my money back. They say I need to prove it's not fraud, I told them to look at the documents the branch sent. They said they never received them, so I faxed the documents to them again for them to review.
* After a day or two of them reviewing, I called again, and they said the documents were declined. I asked why but they wouldn't tell me exactly. They said maybe because the screenshots were in a foreign language or otherwise. I asked what I need to provide to prove my case. They said they need a pdf of the Korean friend's bank statement as well as an affidavit signed by both me and my Korean friend detailing the transfer and its reason.

This is where I come to this sub-reddit because it seems like they're just giving me increasingly harder tasks in hopes that I'll just give up and let them keep my money. **Questions:**

* Do I really need to get an affidavit for a case like this, and if so is that something I can write myself? Or does it need to be written and endorsed by a legal professional?
* Generally, does Citibank actually have any case to hold my money like this? What is the best way to get my money? At this point I don't care about reviving the Citibank account. I only want to get the money out or have it sent back to my Korean friend.

Thank you

Answer:
 "A place to ask simple legal questions"; yours is not. It's lawyer time...Answer #2: This is "I need an attorney to help navigate" territory. Although we do have IRL attorneys here, it's unethical and absolutely not allowed for anyone, qualified or not, to answer you beyond my first sentence. Im sorry; this is far outside of the scope of what we can do to help.Answer #3: This is regulatory agency complaint time.  The banks answer to them filing a formal regulatory complaint will help the bank "find" things that were "lost".  This can be resolved by you getting the $10k or your friend getting the $10k but that's it.  They don't get to say umm fraud were keeping it.  Unlike say PayPal who is known for this.

Go to the [Consumer Financial protection bureau and file a formal complaint.](https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/)

This will motivate the bank.  They are clearly in the wrong and will take steps to fix this likely returning the money to your friend.

In the future just wire the money and stop using the banks internal mechanisms as they do things like this because they can.


Title: [California/US] Domestic Violence restraining order served for "hacking" Facebook?

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 > Is the judge going to laugh [BitchCow] out of the court room

Hell no.  You, by your own admission, stole her accounts and harassed her with evidence you took from those accounts.  You're lucky you're not facing criminal charges for those actions.  A restraining order is easy.Answer #2: Yeah...y'all made some seriously poor decisions. You need to see a lawyer.


Title: My girlfriend's ex-husband is in the military. He literally threw his new wife's 3 year old across the room and injured her. What can we do to keep him away from my girlfriend's daughter?

Question:
We are in contact with a lawyer I just wanted to know if we need to go about getting any kind of restraining order, or no contact order to keep him from coming back around.

For context he threw this little girl who is a 3 year old non-verbal autistic child so hard he broke her femur and several ribs, and she's ended up with lacerations on her liver. We don't want him to have any ability to see his daughter (who is in the custody of my girlfriend) and potentially do the same thing to her.

Answer:
 To clarify: You are asking about custody of a different child than the one thrown correct?

A lawyer is your best bet right now. They can tell you what the best options are right now. An RO might be an option. Answer #2: Call his CO and explain what happened provide documentation if you can.Answer #3: If he is in the military, contact his unit commander and tell them what is happening. This can be quicker than dealing with local law enforcement.


Title: Rental car towed from my apartment complex - Florida

Question:
My car is currently in the body shop for damages so I have a rental through the person who hit my car's insurance. My apartment complex requires and vehicle parking there to either be a resident with a sticker and if no sticker, to be parked in a visitor spot. If not, the vehicle will be towed. Last night when I got home, all the visitor spots were taken and since I had no where else to park, I parked in a normal resident spot. When I went to leave for work today I find my car is gone. I called the office and they said it was towed for parking in a resident spot without a sticker. The manager isn't in today so I can't speak with her but the towing company is asking for $255. This is outrageous since I live there and can't have a resident sticker on a rental and there were no visitor spots available.

My question is what can I do? I understand there are some states that have statues that state I can go to the towing yard, show them my drivers license and request a bill be mailed to me and I can walk away with my vehicle without paying cash on the spot. I don't know if Florida is one of those states.

Is the vehicle being towed really my fault? Am I on the hook for the towing fee or is my complex at fault since I'm a resident and the cars in my name as a rental? I do have rental insurance but I don't know if it covers this sort of thing and if it does I won't be able to find out until tomorrow.

Edit: alright I have to pay for towing - that's fine and I appreciate the response, I'm just upset and trying to make sure I didn't miss something.

My main question right now is in regards to Florida's lien law. My understanding is that in some states like AZ, they can't hold my vehicle and demand cash to release it. Instead all you need to do is invoke the law and say that they need to send a bill and that I can take my car and pay once I get the bill. I need to know how that kind of stuff works in Florida. It's hard to whip out so much money on the spot and waiting until pay day would be best.

Answer:
 > My question is what can I do?

You can go pay to get the rental car out and accept that you broke the rules. This is 100% on you.


Title: Are pinky promises legally binding?

Answer: If they meet the remainder of the requirements for an oral contract it would be binding. The pinky swearing would just be for show. It would still need an offer, an acceptance, mutuality of obligations and consideration. A pinky swear on its own would not meet the requirements for an oral contract. Answer #2: A promise, regardless of pinky usage, can be considered a verbal contract under the right conditions. Verbal contracts are absolutely legally binding. You do not, however, get to break someone's pinky for breaking the contract.


Title: [WA] The state of California DMV just stole $600 out of my banks account via legal order for delinquent registration that is not mine. How do I ensure I get my money back without getting the runaround? What other boxes do I need to tick to make sure my credit is cleared?

Question:
I just got a letter in the mail saying my account was withdrawn to cover a delinquent vehicle registration in the state of California. I have not lived there for years, and I've already sold the car I had there.

I'm out about $600 because of this because of the fine about and bank fees. I don't know if there's a hit on my credit yet because of this.

I can't call the office yet, but given my dealings with them in the past I'm expecting a runaround. Is there any sure fire way to make sure they don't jerk me around too much? Who do I go after for the bank fees?

Answer:
 Far more information is needed here.

Your credit was almost definitely hit, as this means you've got a default judgement on your record.

You need to track this back from the office that put in for the court case that led to this. No "sure fire" way of anything, someone screwed up here, or someone ignored something here.  Answer #2: when you sold the car was DMV notified and everything switched over? If not, this might be why this happened.


Title: My friend was told to kill herself repeatedly through text and social media. (Ohio, USA)

Question: She attempted suicide yesterday and is currently in the hospital. She had screenshots of messages from an "adult" women telling her she should die and had many horrible insults about her. I say "adult" because that's what it said on her FB. I've heard that there can be some sort of legal repercussions for stuff like this. I know it's a factor, but no adult should be telling a HS girl to die. What can/should I do to help?

Answer: [There was a teenager charged in 2015 with manslaughter, and was found guilty.](http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/09/09/massachusetts-teen-charged-with-encouraging-her-boyfriend-to-commit-suicide.html)


Title: Ex-wife lied on sworn statement

Question:
Alberta, Canada

We have been married for about 10 years, but split in September of last year. It was an amicable split and we had an existing agreement for parenting time that I agreed to, believing she was correct in the arguments she made. Over time I wanted to have the kids on a more equitable basis but she was unwilling to extend hours at all.

Finally I caught wind that she was planning to move the kids 6 hours away and filed a parenting order asking for week here/week there. Turns out I beat her lawyer to the courthouse by a couple hours, as she was going to file to move the kids that day.

I received her response to my claim and noticed she claims she will be working at her current job until June. This is false, she turned in her two weeks notice in February and last day of employment was March 8th. Her response was filed March 23rd.

I believe her motivation was to make herself look as good as possible for the judge, as it wouldn't look good to have her father and/or boyfriend paying for everything.  I was wondering what consequences can she face from lying in a sworn statement?
Topic:
Custody Divorce and Family

Answer: Is she currently employed?


Title: [Canada] Sexual Assault? I'm not sure

Question:
Okay, here we go.

A few months ago I began dating a nice girl. She had a habit of embellishing stories, but I ignored it. She had told me after her first (late) child, she had her tubes tied - we still used condoms, but it was nice to know I had that extra later of safety, as I'm 30 and still don't want kids. Three weeks later, her story changed - she told me she's male to female, and transitioned in her teens, and was actually the father to her child. "That's cool, you do you" I said. A bit after that, we'd run out of condoms and things got heavy - I made the mistake of having sex with her without one; she can't get pregnant, right?

When I was close, she wrapped her legs around me and somewhat forced me to finish inside of her. I was upset that my consent was not asked for this, but she can't get pregnant so I wasn't that worried.

Fast forward a few weeks, and I've discovered she may have lied about her gender; from what I can tell she has two or three living children with separate men, and collects money to raise the kids, who live with her family. I am absolutely **terrified** I've just been duped into being babydaddy #3 (or #4.) If I'm correct with all of this I will not take it sitting down. I don't know what to classify this as - sexual assault? My consent to bring children into the world was taken away from me. What can I do to protect myself?

Answer:
 pray shes not pregnant, if she is get a paternity test.

in the future dont stick your dick in crazy, your story had like 4 red flags before the part you gooped inside her


Title: Reasonable Accommodation resulting in a forced change in status from full-time employee to part-time? Is this legal?

Question: [deleted]

Answer: Your employer's contract with your union probably has some specific seniority clauses that they would be breaching with your accomodation. A reasonable accomodation in a non-union workplace might not be reasonable in a union workplace. Talk to your union rep to see what they can do.


Title: A molester moved into our neighbourhood

Question:
What should I do. I've got no evidence other than the kid(8yrold) who confessed to me that she was being molested whenever they came to their friend's house to play.

She said that their friend's father gave them money so that they'll come back.
My friend never came back their but she said that one of her friends still go their often

Answer: If a child is telling you that they are being molested you should report this to the police. Answer #2: CPS worker here, call your local Protective Services to file a claim IF this guy has his own children in the home, otherwise it is strictly a criminal matter. From this point on if you or anyone else you know send there children there knowing this concern, then a CPS report needs to be made against that family for knowingly allowing the children to be around him.


Title: Boyfriends roommate is going to burn down his house. Will he be financially liable if this happens?

Question: [removed]

Answer:
 Your boyfriend needs to make sure his insurance is up to date and that his coverage includes a grossly negligent roommate. On a joint lease, they're both fully liable to the landlord for damage either of them does, and although in theory your boyfriend can recover his damages from his roommate afterwards, the odds of ever seeing that money are low.

Since your roommate's inattention is now leading to actual damage, a conversation with the landlord may be in order. "Stop doing this or move out, or we're going to evict" is a real possibility, and your boyfriend has an opportunity to get ahead of this and propose his preferred solution to the landlord.

In the event they cannot come to a responsible adult solution, breaking the lease is purely a civil wrong. Paying damages to the landlord for breach of the lease may be preferable to dying in a fire or losing all of his personal property when his roommate burns the building down.

^(He's damn lucky that pouring water on a kitchen fire didn't set the whole kitchen ablaze. Burning grease will spatter violently if it gets wet, and will happily ignite anything flammable it lands on. The correct solution to a burning pan is usually to dump baking soda into it and slap a lid down on top, then leave it alone until it cools.)


Title: Streaming Movie Commentary

Question:
Hello All,

My Podcast does a movie commentary once a month and it's usually just a audio file they sync up with the movie. My question is, can I stream the movie but with us picture-in-picture with the movie and legally stream it like that? I was thinking of getting these on YouTube and what not but curious if it's a legal possibility.

Answer: That would (a) get taken off YouTube instantly, and (b) be a copyright violation exposing you to much civil liability. Do not do.


Title: Friend is being held back by people who think they're doing good by making things hard on sex offenders (no my friend is not a pedophile) [PA,USA]

Question:
Hi guys, I need some help to help keep a friend stay out of jail and get his life back to being on track again. I'll call him Tom for simplicity's sake.

##Backstory:

When Tom was a teenager he liked to party. Hard. Drugs, alcohol, sex with everyone he could. Around the time we started hanging out more (19-20) he started to clean things up. Stopped doing hard drugs, started getting real about life and ambitions. He has mental health issues that he was working to resolve. Unfortunately, a few weeks after his 18th birthday, he was at one of his parties and had sex with a girl who was underage. (I want to be point out here – although the crime my friend has been convicted of is a sex crime, he is *not* a pedophile. Had he been aware she was underage he would not have had sex with her. He is not attracted to children, I just wanted to be clear on that.) Three years later her father finds out and presses charges. Somehow the prosecutor was charging him with 7 different felonies, with minimum sentences adding up to 75 to life. Naturally he took a plea deal for five years of probation. He got kicked out of the first place he was living (family drama) and failed to report his move (more drama, I try to not talk about that stuff it gets on my nerves), hence violating his probation. He went to jail for several months and was on house arrest when he got out.

##The problems:

- The biggest problem is his probation officer. Even at the beginning she was unresponsive, but when he was on house arrest he would have to wait three weeks for a call to be returned to get an interview for a job, and it became clear she wouldn't respond in time to get his schedules approved. Since he was on house arrest this basically prevented him from having a job, which he was required to have as a condition of his probation. At the time I thought it was just laziness, but not that long ago I was informed that she has a roster of entirely sex offenders, and she told Tom to his face that she thinks it's her “job to put you back in jail”. The first of his problems I would like to see solved is this – he needs a different PO.
-  Obviously he has no money for a lawyer so if there is a service out there that will do specific services for a (really, really) cheap price that would be great. For example, I looked into his PO situation and there is an address where you can write a letter to ask for a new PO. (I'd like to know the risks and likelyhood of success of that specific plan, I wouldn't want to make his situation worse)
- The way he got out of jail was to put himself into a program that was designed to help the mentally ill transition to normal life, he calls it JRS. They help him with his mental health issues and getting to therapy and getting medicine and whatnot. For what they have the power to do they seem to be doing him good and genuinely care what happens to him.
- As a part of being assigned to JRS he was put into a group home as a transition. However, this place is rampant with abuse, neglect, and fraud. *This is what I have the most hope of solving*, the group home has cameras everywhere and Tom has been keeping a detailed log of the abuses, with date and timestamps. He has what he said is “several pages” of what I assume is a 3x5 notepad compiled. A few notable examples are theft of money and property, loss of medication, mental abuse (including being told to “kill yourself”), bringing minors into the common area with these offenders (some of whom are not legally allowed to be around said minors), and the biggest of which is that the people who run the place eat food paid for by the residents' government assistance programs. *In addition* to fraudulently using food stamps (SNAP) benefits, the residents are forced to “fast” for at least one day a week (they're not allowed to eat on Sunday – not just they aren't fed but any food they buy is locked up). Like I said he has a notebook with several pages of dates and times when this stuff happened. This is what I have the most hope for solving.

##TL;DRs -

- Friend goes to party and gets fucked up, fucks girl, gets fucked by law.
- friend is assigned PO with a vigilante twist
- Friend finally gets himself out of jail, only to find himself in an environment which preys on the mentally ill
- no money for a lawyer

Unrelated – to make matters even more difficult he recently discovered he's been misdiagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, the medication he is on is designed for that and hence doesn't work completely. That in addition to the living situation he's been subjected to has put him in a rather fragile mental state.

Also this is in Pennsylvania.

Answer:
 > Naturally (against my urging, and on the advice of his public defender) he took a plea deal for five years of probation.

What qualifies you to give legal advice? Five years of probation for statutory rape is a *deal*.

> The way he got out of jail was to put himself into a program that was designed to help the mentally ill transition to normal life, he calls it JRS.

If he put himself in, why can't he take himself out?

> He got kicked out of the first place he was living (family drama) and failed to report his move, hence violating his probation. He went to jail for several months and was on house arrest when he got out.

How does this equate to "getting fucked by law?"

Look, I realize you're trying to help your friend, but I'm willing to bet that you have about 45% of the story here. Your friend should be able to find a "legal aid" organization that will at least take his call. Try law schools. However, HE is the client here -- not you. Answer #2: Sorry your advice was to not plead out to 5 years probation when he was facing 75 to life? You are no legal expert my friend. Don't give legal advice


Title: Walmart Canada has taken payment for an order they cancelled.

Question:
So, I wanted to buy a ps4 pro+farcry 5 cause they had a deal online. In their "legal" section it specifies that payment will not be taken until the item has been delivered.

 It has NOT been delivered, and they even sent me an email stating that the order was cancelled without any reason. I checked my bank account, and the money has been withdrawn.

 Did Walmart just screw me? And if so, what can I do to fix this? I've tried calling them, but it is past their phone lines hours of business.

Answer:
 Call your bank and dispute the charge.

For the record it's generally better to use credit cards than debit cards or bank accounts to buy things because you have better buyer protections in the case of fraudulent or errant charges.Answer #2: Actually, it says your card will be charged when the order is shipped, not when it's delivered, but obviously your order was never shipped so it shouldn't have been charged at all. Dispute the charge with your bank.


Title: My mom filed a lawsuit for an assault charge, but I have been abused in the past and reported it, and nothing came out of that.

Question:
Hello, I am 17 years old, 3 months away from 18, from Pennsylvania, I am getting a lawsuit against me from my mom on an assault charge, I am scared because it's on the 29th, and I just want to leave the state honestly, and forget my family, I am planned to graduate on the 6th of June and I am scared. I do have a small form of autism, it doesnt affect me in the slightest bit, but it exists. I did assault my mom, but I'm still concerned and confused as why they reported this and not the abuse on me, CPS 2 months prior, (March.) Took photos of what the nurse at my School quoted 3 major bruises, and it seems like the next day the case was dropped automatically. I'm suprised state police can also tell kids that 1 meal a day for a child is ok, and that police can tell parents to take the child's bed, and that school has blatantly stated that CPS tells parents and them that a couple of crackers a day is ok, I have food, many choices, but when I'm told to go out for 12 hour periods because dealing with school and home is so stressful. It just seems like adults have much more rights then children these days, and can legitimately beat them to a pulp but as long as they aren't 9 they are ok. If anyone can help me with this I would be so happy.
Topic:
Juvenile and Youth Law

Answer: Show up to court and bring your documentation. The abuse you allege is a totally separate matter that you would need to handle outside the hearing.


Title: 2 year old suffered burn from Kindle Fire

Question:
Yesterday, my 2 year old daughter was burned by her Amazon Kindle Fire 8 HD kids edition charging cable.

She went to take it off the charger and was shocked and burned. My husband went to check the charger right afterward and it was extremely hot, like burning hot. I ran her finger under cold water, but it took quite a while for the pain to subside.

The next morning, she showed me her blister. The blister popped and she’s been complaining about it hurting when she touches anything. I contacted amazon customer service and they asked me to wait until someone contacts me before I take action. I feel like they aren’t taking this very serious.
This product was designed for children and there have been previous recalls on earlier editions, so I would have hoped this would be a nonissue.
Someone did reach out and asked me if I sought medical treatment and asked for photos. I sent a photo of her blister and said that I haven’t seen a doctor yet.

Any advice on how to proceed from here? I’m upset. My daughter could have been injured worse or the sparking could have started a fire.

Answer: I can't imagine letting a two year old plug and unplug electronics.Answer #2: Take your child to a doctor now.  Why are you waiting?  A popped blister opens her up to infections and you should have it documented.  If it's not a big enough deal to take her to a doctor, what are you looking for here?


Title: [CA] Limited Conservator/mom punishes me by turning off power, water, food budget

Question:
To start I am high functioning autistic and live at home under limited conservatorship. It's a very stressful environment to begin with, but my conservator is my mom and she yells a lot. I have to walk on eggshells to avoid angering her, and for good reason.

Her standard threat is to shut off everything. Not just cellphone or Internet, but also power, water, and gas to my studio...as well as forbidding me to have or spend money. So I, long story short, have to be perfectly quiet, obedient and absolutely submissive, or I lose access to being able to groom myself, bathe, wake up on time, or even have food to eat.

The worst part is she yells at me for literally anything. Even talking or making noise. So I don't know what to do. It's obviously my fault she is threatening me. It has to be. What should I do?

Answer:
 In the court proceeding to appoint her as your Conservator were you given independent counsel? Was there an attorney you talked to that didn't represent anyone in the proceeding other than you, and whose job it was to make sure your interests were properly considered?

Generally there will be such an attorney in guardianship or conservator cases. If there was, you should get in touch with that attorney again and fill them in on what is happening. They'll be the one in the best position to ask the court to take proper steps to remedy the situation.


Title: Roommate situation

Question: [deleted]

Answer: It sounds like she could claim tenants rights if she wanted to. If she said she's planning to come pick her stuff up, you're better off letting that happen and not antagonizing her.


Title: What will happen if I stand outside a middle school with THC spray and spray the children in the face with sprayable marijuana?

Question: State is California.

Answer: You would get arrested for assault/battery, thrown in jail for a long time, and that is only if they manage to get to you before you get mauled to death.Answer #2: You'll probably go to jail if a parent doesn't send you to the hospital first.


Title: My CC machine stopped working so i purchased SquareUp Box to charge the clients. They're "Extorting" me now

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 It sounds like they're going to give you the money you swiped so far, but just not continuing doing business with you.  It's shitty, but having a risky business isn't a protected class, they can choose to not do business with you if they want.

I use square for my business.  It says 7-10 days, but it's usually closer to 7 days, often times less than that, even.  I don't follow it closely but it tends to be like 4 days or so.  So just wait, if it's been like 2 weeks, start raising some hell with them.  Call them and get them to hurry up with your money.
Answer #2: Their terms & conditions are on their website. Sounds like you failed to read them.


Title: Fight over decease grandmother's apartment

Question:
Exactly what it says and my apologizes in advanced, thoughts are scattered after a heated dispute. My mother and I were living under my grandmother's apartment since 2016. My mother was kicked out of her previous two apartments before graciously "deciding" on returning to my Gma who was poor in health. I on the other hand left my previous apartment after an issue with my roommate and girlfriend (they were sleeping together) I became a drunk on suicidal behavior fornsome time while she did her own thing. Yes, she helped care for my Gma to an extent and my family expected me to help out more than my mother but how can I when I know the struggle of power anything becomes? Fast forward,  2017 of December shes out of a job, forced resign. I eventually become out of a job too.

She helped me with college bills, then eventually I get a new job and help her back out. Grandmother passes and she feels her calling is in Arizona, with her first love. Apparently that doesn't work out and also she had life saving surgery from some gallbladder infection the doctors say would have killed her within a few months. During that time I get stuck with Bills, rent, paying her cable bills(multiple) and dealing with anger that she pawned off some of my grandmother's jewelry. She comes back. I come home late(4ish) from work and see a mess in a hallway, immediately that doesn't fly with me. Her mess. Begin moving the stuff to the living room, and she gets up questions why am I doing that, immediately she responds back "this is my apartment" slowly becoming more agitated. I yell back its not hers.

Her name isn't on the lease and neither is mine. She says she it doesn't matter cause her old job documented that she took "fmla" for my Gma and she helped her so it's her apartment. Starts hitting me. Threatens to call the cop on me so I encourage it as well as doing the same for security. Its listed as "Verbal Dispute" if I had a wide range of days off and no driving lessons then I would have written assault and took the risk of us both getting arrested as the cop stated. All she does is emotional damage. She didn't talk to the family nor my grandmother for years until it became convenient. Sorry if this sounds like venting I just need to know how to deal with this.

Revenant information: This is a New York City Housing apartment.
I'm 24
Shes mid 40s
I paid last two months of rent and change the cable from my grandmother's name to mine.
I'll add anything if you guys need me to. I didn't mind giving up the apartment but I am now not willing to push myself back for a woman who doesn't take responsibility for herself, her future and her actions.

Answer:
 You can apply to take over the lease in accordance with the NYCHA procedures, found [here ](https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/nycha/downloads/pdf/RESIDENTS.POLICIESPROCEDURES.OCCUPANCYSUCCESSION.pdf) as long as you have always been on authorized resident, meet the income requirements, etc.  However, if you don’t plan on living with your mother, NYCHA will most likely not allow you to stay in a 2 bedroom apartment.

Edited to add:  this apartment is not “insanely cheap.”   It is subsidized by the taxpayers as a social safety net.   You’re not getting a great deal, you are receiving public assistance.  If you don’t need public assistance, there are thousands of families on waitlists, living in shelters, waiting for NYCHA housing to become available.


Title: Our landlord has only targeted my family for not following contract

Question: We are being evicted for not following the part of the contract that states that we can only store cars in are garage and not other items. Even though about 90% of the people here have boxes and boxes of items and no cars stored in their garage. If everyone else who lives at these town homes has signed the same contract then why is he only targeting us? I feel like he should enforce the rules for everyone and not pickout people he feels that he doesn't like for whatever reason. I'm not sure about MN laws and how lease contracts work. It seems like a bunch of silly writing that the landlord uses to either blackmail or cherry pick people who he wants to evict. He has done nothing but make our life miserable such as firing the old repair guy and not fixing anything, putting a lock on our water spout for using it to wash vehicles, complaining about how ugly our homes decorating is, ect. Feels like constant harassment.

Answer:
 Other people's actions do not allow you to violate your contact. Your lease is not 'silly writing.' It is a contact you agreed to and subsequently violated.

Unless your lease provides for a car wash station, he is not obligated to allow you to use his spigot.


Title: Craigslist buyer wants to sue me

Question:
Hello all!

Was selling and IPad mini for 50 bucks that I didn't even use for two years. It was almost as good as new with the packaging and the charger. Didn't have any malfunctions or scratches etc.

One dude wanted to buy and meet up. After logging in and downloading some apps, inspecting about an hour he said it was great and bought it.

About three hours later he said the iPad malfunctioned and the screen went black. After all these years using it, I had no problem like this at all. Asked him what was he doing and why it happened he said it was out of nowhere for no reason. I told him to hard reset it and then he told me it wasn't responding and wanted his money back.

After me explaining to him that for four years I had no problem with it and it should be his doing but he responded "No, you sold me this broken device and I want my money back." I told him that we could take it to the nearest apple store to have it looked and if it turns out that something I did caused this malfunction I would take it back and return his money.

After this he said the screen came back but he was irritated by this and I should take it back regardless. I suggested the same thing again. (At this point I'm thinking he sold the screen or some other part and installed a an off-brand fake one. Where I live people do this to make small money out of these situations and scam people over.)

Apparently he didn't like the idea of going to the apple store to have it looked (either the device is perfectly fine (which I know it is) or he swapped the parts  and still trying to scam me.) and just said that he was trying to play some game but the device wasn't launching it. I asked him if the other apps were working he responded "yes but this game is not."

Told him that it wasn't my premise, fault or the device's problem that caused it and I will not be OK with giving the money back. Told him My advert on Craigslist explained everything about the device and he should have done his research. He pleaded that he was short on money and I shouldn't do this to him.

After this he started to threaten me with going to the police, coming to my faculty to get my personal information and sue me with his "lawyer uncle" and when we meet face to face again, I will be very sorry for selling it to him.

TL;DR: Guy buys my perfectly fine iPad. Lies about being broken. Then says it can't run "Temple Run" so I should give him his money back. When I refuse he threatens to go to police and sue me and possibly beat me up.

Should I be concerned? What should I do at this point?

Answer: A lot of people threaten to sue but never go through with it. I would keep screen shots of your conversations and sale and wait til you are served. Otherwise there is nothing you need to do.


Title: [PA] 8 months pregnant. Husband walked out at 7 months. Can I use my maiden name for baby?

Question:
I’m giving a backstory... if you want to just answer the legal question see below.  I’m just explaining why I’m asking the question.

Husband abandoned me and baby.  Basically did a 180 of who he was and walked away.  No one would have ever guess he would walk away since he was crazy about me and so excited for the baby (It’s our first).

He stopped being a husband, stayed out til 1-5am without txting or calling or answering any of my txts and calls.  He refused to see me.  I lost 10 lbs, so I’ve only gained 10 lbs during the pregnancy.  He refused to care or even ask how this is affecting me.  He just says he needs space.  Turns out his drunk or stoned every single day (he is not a drinking and he has never been stoned more than twice a year).  I have begged him almost everyday or work on this marriage to no avail.

During this past 1.5 months, I have learned about all the lies he tells me and those around him almost like he is a con man.  Everyone in my family is completely shocked.

At this point I consider him a sperm donor.

QUESTION:
No legal documents have been filed.  I have been living at my moms for almost a month.  So we are pretty much separated.  He is not allowed at the hospital for the birth.  My legal last name is the same as my husbands.  Can I name the babys surname my maiden name?  Do I have to show legal separation in any form? Do I have to show my birth certificate?

Answer: You can name that baby whatever you want. Name it George Optimus Prime Washington if you want.Answer #2: No. You can name him or her any last name you choose. Each state has its own stipulations, but typically there are few limitations to what name your baby, including a different last name. You are handed a birth certificate and will be asked to fill it out with whatever name you choose. It also has no bearing on your ability to get child support, paternity is established via DNA testing. Do bear in mind, if you plan to let your child have a relationship with their father, they one day may wonder why they have a different name. Names can also be changed later down the road, say if you reconcile with the father. Be sure to let the hospital know you are "VIP" or "no contact" so the father can't call or visit or get information about you. Good luck, sorry he was such an ass. Answer #3: You can generally use whatever last name you want, also you won’t even need a DNA test for support as you are still married and were not separated at the time of conception, there is a presumption that the child is your husbands.Answer #4: I'm sorry this happened to you. Name your baby whatever name you wish, and I hope that 2018 is a better year for you.