Title: [California] Uncle's house was audited and found to owe IRS $30,000 due to tenants in granny flat claiming they pay more rent than they are truly charged. What can he do?

Question:
My girlfriend's uncle owns his two story home in San Diego. He rents out his granny flat in the back of the house for $700 to his relatives, about six or seven people in a one bedroom shack. He never had the heart to kick them out. He was recently told by the IRS that he owes $30,000 in unclaimed income. He put down in his taxes that we rents his unit for $700 a month. The math he and this agent did I guess makes it so that three of the people living there claimed on their taxes that they each pay $800 in rent a month. This of course is all just a speculation.

His wife's wages are being garnished and she's on disability for the time being. If his wages start getting garnished they will lose the house.

Is there a way to find out where this income should have come from?

Answer:
 We're not getting the right story here. Renters don't report their rent paid on their tax returns because it's not any sort of expense that can be deducted. There is no way that the IRS would have that information. Answer #2: I don't think you have the full story. They don't start garnishing your wages overnight. Your uncle should have equity in this house and had ample time to consult a professional, get his questions answered and try to cut a deal with the IRS if he even really owes this money. Fortunately he can still do all of these things. He should call the IRS

Also make sure he isn't being scammed but if wages are being garnished it's unlikely


Title: Child Support Fraud?

Question:
I dont have any children at all (Virgin) and i got a letter from my state tax return saying "Past Amount Claimed - 5,850.00 (NON-TANF)" Im 100% sure im a virgin too. is someone committing fraud with my social security number? I also called the number and it said my case number/SSN wasnt on any of their records. Please help, i dont wanna pay for some chump's kids.

Location: Phoenix, AZ

Answer:
 Call your state directly (602-252-4045) and try to work this out. Could be a mistake, could be a scam, could be something else. Don't call a number on a letter and give them personal info. (If the number on the letter is 602-252-4045 then call back.)

Also put a freeze on your credit with the credit reporting agencies.


Title: 20 years old, Texas, signed a lease for an an apartment for my next year of college and ended up getting suspended.

Question:
I understand I'm pretty fucked as it is, but I am wondering what kind of trouble I will be in with the law here as I have to break this lease and my parents are pretty much cutting me off for this.  I have about 1,100 dollars to my name and they did not co-sign the lease.  I cannot afford to pay $725 of rent a month and assuming the landlord will most likely take legal action against me, what is going to happen?

1.) Have not moved in yet, move in is August 3rd rent is due the 6th.

2.) Attempting to find sublet, but that is looking bleak.

Any help? I just want to know what is going to happen to me.

Answer: You won't be in any trouble with the law. Breaking a lease is not a crime. You can be held responsible for rent. Read your lease carefully to see if you can break it for example by paying 2 months rent. You can be evicted, have a judgement entered against you, and your credit will be damaged.


Title: My Neighbour is a Crazy Elitist Bitch! Looking for advice.

Question:
Some Background: We moved into our place in January it’s the upper unit of a house we rent from a very close friend (with the possibility of us buying it in the future). We are friends with the tenant downstairs and we recently welcomed two close friends from Australia to sublet our spare room. So yes, our house is full and pretty lively. We also have two small amazing dogs which are well behaved and known well to all the neighbours. We have NEVER had any issue with any other neighbours and have a great relationship with all of them. All of them also have issues with this woman.

We began having issues with the neighbour almost immediately. My fiancé was playing music during the day on a weekday and she came over and flipped out and told him to turn it down. He did a bit but was pretty put off by being told to turn music down at 1pm on a Wednesday. This happened again a few weeks later and she threatened to call the cops. This was at 4:45pm on a Saturday for 15min. Two of my friends witnessed her screaming at me that they were “property owners” and “didn’t have to put up with this”. “This” being my fiancé playing some music at a reasonable hour for a brief period.

ANYWAYS it has now come to this:
-	Called the police on us for a backyard BBQ (my parents, sisters, her husband and kids and some friends). The cops laughed and thought it was unfounded but still took my info.
-	Repeatedly has told us to turn our music off while we are outside during the day listening to it at a reasonable level
-	Called the police AGAIN for loud music before 10pm and “talking outside” while having dinner.  Cop was super understanding and may come back for a beer sometime. Knows the woman is a bit much.
-	Made a bylaw complaint about our dogs barking after 10 and being left outside (We go to bed at 10 and the dogs are not outside without one of us watching them). this put me over the edge

So after the dog thing I was done. Went to her house to sort this out. I went over with the intent to be non-confrontational. It did not end that way. She was immediately defensive and aggressive towards me, denied complaining to the police and called told me they were property owners and not renters and that we’re all white trash (I swear I’m not lol). I then told her she was a classist bitch and left.

She apparently called the cops AGAIN then while me an my fiancé were at dinner saying she herd us talking about damaging her property (which we weren’t we were just making fun of her and planning a “white trash neighbourhood bbq” loudly). This cop gave me his card, but basically said his hands are tied as she isn’t doing anything technically wrong. But told me we could contact him for any advice.

I have been contacted by a few neighbours (one was with me when the cop came to my door last night) who have told me it’s not just us and she has been doing these things to all the neighbourhood for some time. She is using bylaws to self police a very sweet neighbourhood and we are all at a loss. At this point we don’t know how to fight it, it’s ruining our ability to enjoy our own properties reasonably. I want to be able to have bbq’s and dinners outside on my lawn. The area we entertain isn’t even backing onto her property. She’s an elitist mentally sick woman and I don’t know what to do to turn it around. Is there anything LEGAL that we can do to end this? I don’t want to start a war because it won’t end well for us, as much as I want to make her life a living hell I also wouldn’t put it past her to find someway to get us arrested. HELP!

PS. She owns a duplex, and has a young son and husband that look like they have PTSD. Also two small dogs I rarely see outside. She also obsessively leaf blows (for hours) regularly and early on weekends driving all the neighbours crazy. I have seen a couple of them yelling at her to stop over the last couple month.

TL;DR Our elitist mentally sick neighbour is terrorizing our neighbourhood with unfounded police and bylaw complaints. Is there anything we can do legally to make her cease and desist or turn it around on her?

Answer: Live your lives like normal, if she threatens to call the police just let her as long as your not breaking any laws.  If she gets to the point of being threatening call them yourself if she does anything.  Might be good to get cameras up as well to cover yourself.


Title: Ex-girlfriend threatening me after 5 years

Question: A couple days ago my old hs ex\-girlfriend \(who I haven't contacted since I graduated\) messaged me on facebook threatening to sue me for violating her 5 years ago \(ie. grabbing her butt, hugging her, etc\). We've never done anything sexual and it was all touch. I don't know what its worth but I still have old messages and letters of when we were together as proof. Although it was consent at the time we were both 16 and minors, I'm worried that this will affect my career. What should I do?

Answer:
 >What should I do?

Block her and cut off all contact. Don't talk about this to anyone. If the police try to ask questions, don't answer them without a lawyer present.Answer #2: Save all the messages you have (make backups too), but otherwise do not contact her in any way. If you are sued, hire a lawyer and go to court. I highly doubt she will actually do anything, however.Answer #3: I can't imagine what she would be suing for but if she does and you get served a summons don't ignore it. I would ignore and block her though if I were you.


Title: [UK] My ex-fiancé broke up with me after we bought a house together and is being difficult

Question:
Hi!

Me and my then fiancé bought a house together, we split a few months in and she moved in to her dads.

I told her today that I can't come up with the funds to buy her out any time soon and unfortunately there isn't anything I can do about it.

She said that she was going to force me to sell the house, which I then informed her that she couldn't force me to sell the house as we are both on the mortgage it is our house and she is required to have full permission from both parties if she wishes to sell.

She then proceeded to tell me that she was going to move back in, which I said was fine however she said that she was going to be moving in with her new boyfriend, I tried to explain to her that I wasn't okay with this and that any lodgers or people moving in would be required to be confirmed by both proprietors however she seemed to think that I was wrong.

I would appreciate some guidance as to exactly what my options are here, I really don't want to sell, this is my home and I want to stay here.

What can I do?
Topic:
Real Estate law

Answer:
 You can't buy her out and don't want to sell but also want to prevent her from using the property? Good luck trying to veto her moving in with her boyfriend. She has every right to live with her domestic partner in her own home. You are entitled to be compensated for his utilities use and rent.Answer #2: She can absolutely force a sale without your permission if she gets a court order. If you can't afford to refinance, your only option is to sell the house.
You can't refuse to sell, refuse to buy her out and refuse to let her live there (with whomever she chooses.)


Title: I bought a digital download, can I return it?

Question:
Hey guys, I recently got into flight simulation and bought a digital download aircraft model from a company called PMDG (https://www.precisionmanuals.com/), it was their 737NGX pack and cost me $69.99, I downloaded the product and initially was quite impressed with how detailed the plane looked, however I soon realised all of the buttons were sticking and not working properly, and also caused the simulator I was using to crash... A LOT! So my question is am I able to "return" the product and ask for a refund, I say "return" as it is a digital download. On their website it says they do not offer refunds, but $70 for me is a large financial investment for something that I think is garbage, what is my LEGAL standpoint on getting a refund even if the company says they don't give them?

Thanks in advance, Also I am from the United Kingdom, England specifically if that makes a difference, I also payed through paypal

Answer: None.  This is a customer service issue and not a legal one.  You could leave an honest review of your purchase and maybe they'll work something out with you.


Title: (USA/FL) Someone wanders into my yard despite beware of dog signs and complains that my dog bit them before driving away - am I liable?

Question:
Around three o'clock heard my German Shepard aggressively barking outside. When I went to see what was wrong there was a teenage girl standing in my yard with the gate closed asking if my home was the location of a birthday party for a girl named Michelle. Her father was parked along the street and their car was running. My dog was barking and running around the yard, I told them no and tried to call my dog back in the house while trying to reason with two people who where at the wrong address in the first place.

She then yelled at me to collect my dog and then said that he had bit her. I went to get him, slowly as to avoid startling a very confused dog and because he associates running with play time. She leaves my yard and is still talking about being bit - mentioning to her father that my dog had bitten her on the foot. Before they leave she also mentioned that she was only scared of being bit. I did not get a chance to see if my dog bit the area in question, if the skin was broken, or if any blood was drawn. The incident transpired in less than five minutes, but I still was worried.

My yard only has one entrance facing the road via a latched gate and I have several beware of dog signs posted around the property. My dog has never expressed any aggressive behavior towards strangers before and is trained to only act bark when he in my yard as well as on command. I do live in a State and county with very strict dog laws. I have written down a timeline of the events just in case a report is filed. and My dog is up to date on all of his shots and I have the paper work from all of the obedience classes he has attended. I did not invite them into the yard nor gave them any indication that they where allowed on my property in the first place.

As far as I know the police have not been contacted by either the girl or her father. When I called to ask about the incident, I was told by a police dispatcher that unless they filed charges my dog is not liable and if charges are brought up they will start an impartial investigation.

If they do decide to press charges what are my legal options? Do they have any case against my animal? What are my basic options?

[Bonus picture of baby Baldur and the beware of dog sign](http://imgur.com/aY81pyP). To avoid confusion this is an old picture, I just wanted some measure of proof.

* Edits because I can not spell.
Topic:
Other Civil Matters

Answer:
 Florida is weird in that it's dog bite statute only provides protection to dog owners if the signs say "Bad Dog." Although i don't know if case law says that includes beware of dog signs. http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0700-0799/0767/Sections/0767.04.html

You could also argue that the girl was trespassing which would make it harder to stick you with liability.Answer #2: IANAL but I am a redditor so therefore qualified to say that Baldur was a seriously adorable puppyAnswer #3: Honestly chances are, she thought she was gonna be bitten but she didn't.

Even if it was the only place she could've been bitten from what i could see on the picture is her shoes, so i highly doubt she was harm in any way unless she was wearing sandals.

And as a precaution for next time that happens, i'd get another sign saying prohibit trespassing just to be on the safe sideAnswer #4: Regardless of any other legal considerations, make sure you have documentation that your dog is up-to-date on its rabies shots.


Title: I ordered a “US Military” Jacket online...Stolen valor?

Question:
I ordered a jacket from the wish app about a month ago, and am wearing it for the first time today.
I noticed it has “US ARMY” on the left side, with a made up insignia, and a, what I presume to be “Corporal” rank on the right sleeve.
A co worker noticed and asked if I was in the military, to which I replied no.
A second co worker said it was stolen valor.
Is there anything truly wrong with this? Thanks.

Answer: It's only illegal if you profit from it, i.e. people give you money, discounts or goods and servicesAnswer #2: Nothing illegal. Answer #3: There aren't really any legal implications of stolen valor. As a vet, I only see a problem with people using an article of a uniform to get discounts on purchases or just to have the "thank you for your service" compliment when it is unmerited. I don't think you were trying to gain some attention from wearing the article, so I'm not upset by it.


Title: [Oh] shot paintballs at people and received a citation, what can I expect?

Question:
Ok for starters I know I'm an ass and everything. With that said me and 4 friends were driving around a college town at about 1:00 at night, we shot at a few moving cars and a few groups of college kids. On top of the college area, we shot just cars and houses in another nearby area. The police told us 3 people had called in complaints about us. ( were pretty sure it was just the college area calling in).
      When their lights flashed we pulled over quickly, we complied with the officers request, me and one friend confessed on the third time they asked who shot, and we were in general being compliant and the police left seemingly happy saying goodnight and everything.(they were easygoing so I don't think anybody got seriously injured).
        Anyways my friend and I got a misdemeanor citation form that said we were disturbing the peace, (wit:shooting pedestrians with a paintballs gun.) So what I would like to know is what a likely outcome to this could be/ how important would it be to get a local lawyer before my first court date/ is there anyway too keep it off my permanent record (only other punishment I would definitely want to avoid is jail time), and if it's possible what are some options I have for keeping it off my permanent record?
        Thanks and sorry if I gave too much/too little information, let me know if it's the latter
Topic:
Criminal Law

Answer:
 What exactly (statute number) are you charged with?

Some municipal courts in Ohio have diversion programs, others don't.  So what court you go to will matter. Without knowing the exact charge, you are looking at restitution (could be thousands for painting cars and houses), possibility of jail time if it is not a minor misdemeanor (probably isn't), and fines.


Title: Dad owes 75k+ in child support, and the govt is forcefully taking it out of his check, he now wants to take it in a ‘private sector’

Question:
Long story short, my dad has managed to not pay child support for many years and racked up that debt.

My mom has raised me and my brother on a low minimum wage and has worked her ass off in order to keep us fed.
Dad has been M.I.A and not supportive majority of our lives and since he pretty much ruined my mothers life and took everything she had, she’s pretty adamant on getting back every penny as it seems that he’s only paying off what he owes.

Bc the government is taking it out forcibly, he’s had problems getting a passport and is now trying to convince my family to take this into a private sector and not have the government involved. (he’s been paying child support for entire year straight at 1k a month)

we want to compromise with him but is there anyway to make sure that he pays the amount he owes without the government having to be involved?

we live in new jersey

Answer: First, why are you involved in this discussion at all? Second, why on earth would your mother compromise with someone who acted for seemingly 75+ months in absolute bad faith? Were I in her position I absolutely wouldn't "take this into a private sector" because your mom is broke and can't afford private enforcement of the debt. Why else wouldn't I dump government involvement? Because it's working.Answer #2: If it’s being garnished it’s unlikely your mother will have any say in changing that anyway. I wouldn’t fight or agree to it either way. He is being held accountable for his actions finally and he could have paid all along but made the choice not to. It isn’t your or your mother’s responsibility to make his punishment easier for him.


Title: Enforcibility of "Do not top off" sticker (NJ)

Question:
I'm in New Jersey, so I don't pump my own gas. Based on what I've read, topping off your gas tank once it clicks is bad for the car if it goes in, which it usually doesn't and is just a waste of money

I tell attendants, "Do not top it off." To which they will smile and nod and then 75% of the time do it anyway. "Force of habit," and "Ehhh no English," are the most common responses I get when I demand to know why.

So my tank fill up this morning, which came to $17.02 was topped off thirteen clicks to get it to $18 during which time I loudly ordered, "Stop!" which was ignored.

I've had two friends who asked for $10 worth of gas and had the attendant fill the tank and then demand payment. When the police arrived, both times, they said if they didn't request the full fill, they were only responsible for $10.

I found stickers that go on the gas tank clearly stating in bright red letters, "DO NOT TOP OFF". If I verbalize this at the beginning of my purchase and have the sticker clearly displayed, do I have legal grounds to refuse to pay for gas beyond the initial automatic click?

Answer: I'm glad I live in a state where we're allowed to pump our own gas.Answer #2: I come to Reddit to validate my priorities are straight. This is one of those validation threads.


Title: [MA] My parents are kicking me out of the house for religious reasons, and want to keep my $6,000 vehicle.

Question:
I’m 22 and was living at home with my parents while commuting to my last year of university.

During this past week, there was a situation in which I was shunned by the religion of my parents, and so they are planning on kicking me out of the house as they do not consider me family anymore if I don’t share their religious views.

I have a vehicle worth about $6,000 which I fully paid for with my working money. However, after I purchased the used vehicle, I put my father’s name on the title instead of mine because our car insurance company suggested that if I am living there, it would be cheaper to have the vehicle under his name and save a few hundred a year on insurance. Then, once I moved out after finishing college, I was planning to transfer the vehicle to my name and carry on with life.

Now this has occurred and my father wants to sell my vehicle, which is under his name, and keep the $6,000 as a fee for me forsaking them by not following their religion.

I have the original bill of sale which was written out to me, since I handed the previous owner my cash to purchase the vehicle. I then went to the RMV the next week and transferred it to my father’s name.

Do I have any options of keeping the vehicle or getting some of the money back? I’m currently in a desperate situation in which I am in severe college debt, and now to be kicked out and lose my vehicle is going to be extremely overwhelming.

Any help is much appreciated- thank you.

Answer:
 If the car is in his name, it's his car.

You can sue him in court for the value of it or what you paid into it.


Title: Missouri ex post facto laws coca cola containing cocaine.

Question: So someone I know has come upon 2 bottles of coca cola dating back to when coca cola still contained small amounts of cocaine through inheritance. If he were to attempt to sell the coca cola would ex post facto laws prevent him from a schedule one dealing charge? Or would he be fine since he obtained them legally through inheritance, and they are from a time before cocaine was illegal.

Answer:
 Assuming these bottles are considered a schedule 1 substance (I have no idea if this is true, literally haven't the foggiest) then ex post facto doctrines won't protect you from selling them *today*. Ex post facto exists because it is unfair to punish people for an action that wasn't against the rules when they did it. Since drug regulations exist *today* and selling cocaine is illegal *today* your friend's sale of a controlled substance would find no protection.

The relevant act, and the act that triggers criminal liability, is the sale of a controlled substance. The act is not the acquisition through inheritance or the production of the drink decades ago. Since that act would occur at some point in the future, ex post facto won't protect him.

That said, it seems like a stretch that this drink would be a controlled substance for the purpose of criminal regulation in your state. Someone with more practical knowledge of your criminal law will have to chime in to see if those laws even apply in the first instance.Answer #2: Missouri has extremely tough drug laws.

After 1903, the amount of cocaine in the formula was hardly a trace. Could it still be a problem in Missouri? Potentially. And if the bottles are from before 1903, it doesn’t seem that anyone knows the amount of cocaine in the formula.Answer #3: These are most likely replica bottles.  The sold a ton of these in the 60s and 70s.Answer #4: According to the Coca-Cola Company, there has *never* been any cocaine in their products.

That's a pretty authoritative source, even if widely disputed. So would it be illegal to sell the old bottles if you believed that the Coca-Cola Company was truthful?


Title: Is violating a person constitution right consider a crime?

Answer:
 As a private individual or business, pretty much the only constitutional right you _can_ violate is the one recognized under the 13th Amendment. Enslaving people is, in fact, a crime - probably multiple crimes, depending on how you go about it.Answer #2: It depends on who is violating those rights.  Someone acting "under color of law" to deprive someone of constitutional rights is committing a crime under 18 U.S.C. §§ 242.  This generally applies to police officers, but in theory it can apply to anyone who is granted authority by a government agency.

Can just a random person commit a crime by violating someone's rights?  No.  It's hard to see what rights they could violate anyway, since most constitutional rights take the form of things the \*government\* can't do to you.Answer #3: Elaborate.


Title: My father, a physician is being sued by a litigious person (multiple previous suits), and that person has left a false yelp review for his practice, with majorly inflammatory language (accusations of molestation, etc). Is there anything we can do?

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 Contact Yelp and have the review flagged as false.  They can take down reviews like that (and might charge you to do so).

Contact a lawyer to help defend against the case.  If you settle outside of court, I'd demand the review be retracted.

If this person has multiple previous suits in particular against your father, and none of them had merit, you should seek to have him be classified as a vexatious litigator, which would prevent him from filing another suit.


Title: Wisconsin. Had a cop pull my girlfriend over for failing to register her license plate. Left in an emergency without issuing anything?

Question: More details besides the title : He took both our licenses and was processing them, plus her (expired) insurance. We see him come running and chuck our stuff back in the car. He said he had to go. We tried calling the non emergency number and didn't get anyone to pick up. We also saw 2 other cop cars speed past.  Eventually we left. Are we going to get in trouble for leaving? Can we expect to get tickets in the mail now?

Answer: Sounds like he let you go without issuing any citations.  You are lucky.


Title: Family member accidentally brought cooking knife into a courthouse.

Question:
A family member (54 year old female) of mine was going into the local courthouse to attend a hearing of her son. She had plans to go to an event afterwards where she needed a cooking knife to cut a cake. So she put the knife in her purse and forgot that it was there. Upon entering courthouse they scan her purse and see the knife.

Now they are calling her to come into court today which I'm guessing is a preliminary hearing? I'm going with her to help her understand everything.

This seems ridiculous for them to be following through with this. Any legal advice?

Answer:
 Your family member now needs a lawyer. Bringing a weapon to court is a fairly serious offence. "Ridiculous" or not, she's looking at a fair bit of jail time if she's convicted.

You may want to consider that this "I had a knife in my purse because I was going to need it later" story is … not terribly plausible. Even if it's true, it's a shaky defence. A lawyer is her best shot at avoiding incriminating herself or talking the courts into finding that she knew she was armed.


Title: How to deal with crazy neighbor(NC) who continues to harass us and has made threats about our dog

Question:
My girlfriend bought this house about 4 months ago and we have this neighbor (North Carolina) who is finding anything and everything wrong and is constantly harassing me and my girlfriend.  It doesn't matter what we do, she will write a complaint and submit it to whoever she can.

It all started when we were burning some brush and this bitch calls the firedepartment on us.  We were doing everything correctly, had a burn permit, water hose, attending the fire, etc.  The FD drove by but didnt even stop because you could clearly tell it wasnt a nuisance or illegal.  After this didnt work, this bitch comes flying down our driveway wearing a airfilter mask and starts cussing us out and saying really nasty things and complaining that we were contaminating her air space.

We also added french drains to the house and they now direct water towards the downhill of our property.  This ladies house is 100ft+ past the exit drain and yesterday we came home to find a letter placed on our doorstep with a copy of an email she sent to the county erosion committy complaining that because we redirected the downspouts it was going to cause problems with her property.  She also included some bullshit pamplet about county laws and in this pamphlet there is a segment about "What if my neighbor performs work on their house and it now drains into my property"  and basically the answer to her complaint is found in this segment that she clearly did not read and it says "It is not illegal for one property to drain onto another. If a neighbor redirects their downspouts onto your property, you should perform maintenance on your property to correct any drainage issues."  On top of all this, my girlfriends father is on the NC Soil and Erosion board and he wrote the laws that pertain to this situation, he had a very good laugh over it.

We also have a dog that we keep in a kennel on the other side of the house from where her property is and this morning we found a letter in our mailbox unaddress and no stamp (illegal!?).  The letter was complaining about the dog barking and making threats and saying we are going to have to get rid of the dog.  We have asked all the other neighbors and they said he doesn't bark at all. We are afraid she is going to do something while we are work and hurt our dog.

We are already planning on putting a privacy fence up so we cant see her house and she cant see ours but she will probably have something to say over that.  We do not want this lady even stepping foot on our property but it all this happens while we are at work so there isnt much we can do while away.  What can we do to get this lady to stop or what actions can we take to make sure she cant continue to harass us?

TL;DR Crazy neighbor continues to harass us over everything we do when it is all perfectly legal.  What can be done?
Topic:
Other Civil Matters

Answer:
 Put up a security camera. If she comes onto your property repeatedly send a registered letter asking her to stop. If this fails, see about a restraining order.

In the meantime, if you are worried she may harm your dog, have a security camera trained on the dog run and make sure the dog run is very secure. You can purchase cheap cameras that connect to the Internet via your router and allow you to monitor your property via a mobile device. Answer #2: You cannot take away her right to complain to authorities. The authorities can ignore her. But she has done nothing wrong, just annoying. Answer #3: Are you willing to keep your dog inside the house while you aren't home?Answer #4: Keep the dog inside.  Even if you have to keep it in the bathroom or another small room.  Baby gates work wonderful to segment the house.

Do not leave your dog out all day unless you have a 6' or higher privacy fence.Answer #5: The dog should live inside your house.  That would solve your most serious problem.  Why have a dog if you're just going to keep it outside all the time?Answer #6: I know you're angry, and you have every right to be... but you may want to stop referring to your neighbour as a "bitch".
I understand, she certainly sounds like a whole heap of fun.  But, thinking it, and writing it out here, may eventually creep in to your daily life and you may say something like that to her face. Which might not turn out all that well for you... just a thought.


Title: 1099 misc and wage theft advice needed from a Car Wash I work at In San Antonio.

Question: I was given a 1099 misc form by our Car Wash manager; however, according to the IRS, SBA, and other information I should have been an employee and not an Independent Contractor. Now I informed them about this and they are trying to tell me that I am being misinformed. In addition the manager accidentally sent an email to us intended for the Owner of the car wash. The email contained a spreadsheet of our hours and wages he was reporting to the owner. The manager was reporting that our wage was 11.50 but was actually paying us less at 8.00 an hour. To me this appears that he was pocketing the rest. If you take the difference, times it by 5 employees and 20 months of working that adds up quick. What can I do about this situation.

Answer:
 I cannot imagine any scenario where an hourly employee of a car wash could be properly classified as a 1099.Answer #2: The rule of thumb is that if you have to be there at a certain time and have to stay until a certain time, you're not an independent contractor.

You are definitely not being misinformed, they're lying to you.  They're doing 1099 because they're saving a ton of money. For example, you don't have to pay payroll tax for independent contractors, instead the contractor pays that share.  Which means if you're making $8/hr, you may actually be making an equivalent to less than minimum wage.

You need to contact someone at the [Texas Workforce Commission](http://www.twc.state.tx.us/).  This is pretty much exactly what they're there for.


Title: About the sub: should stand-alone "get a lawyer" comments continue?

Question:
I read this sub for the stories. iAnal and also am not a lawyer (sorry for the infringement, Apple ;).

Because I'm not a lawyer I have commented on one story only (from memory), just recently. I generally feel that the sub should be populated by replies from lawyers or people with specific legal experience. I'm not such a person, hence am primarily in lurk-mode.

In the past month or so I have noticed an increase in the instance of comments that solely say "get a lawyer." I am not referring to comments that have other substance and include this sentiment.

It is my opinion that this is a redundant statement, that would be best discouraged from the sub - but those comments often get upvotes. It mildly irritates me, and I recognise that others (possibly most other people) may not share the view.

So - am I am outlier on this? Or can we can the "get a lawyer" stand-alones?

Remember that important legal precedent - if I have a rhyme, you must cosign!

My location is Sydney Australia, locationbot - thanks for the reminder :D

Answer:
 >It is my opinion that this is a redundant statement

Then your option is to down vote it. That is really the best thing to do if you feel a comment is not helpful. Answer #2: No. I am a lawyer. Some questions are easily answered (like how to get a ticket reduced for no points). Others are debatable, like land locked homes or whether you need to return an item sent to you in error. Other issues are so complicated, like med-mal, or the consequences so dire, like life altering, that telling OP to get a lawyer is the best advice. That is what most OPs are here for.Answer #3: When the OP says:

>I <inadvertantly admit to multiple felonies> and now the police want to talk to me

or

> I <complicated civil issue I don't understand> and I'm going to <act (or take no action) in a manner that will result in a terrible judgement against me>

That OP needs a lawyer.

If someone has a question about the nuance of a specific law in an unfamiliar place, or a big picture framework issue, this is a great place to get advice.

However, sometimes OP is about to step into a world of shit and needs to talk specifics with a real-life, dedicated lawyer to have any chance of keeping their ass out of the fire.


Title: [USA-OR] Is it legal to lock employees on-site?

Question:
I'm curious about the legality behind [this question I found on Workplace.SE](http://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/79085/can-my-employer-fully-lock-me-into-the-premises-against-my-will):

> My company currently employs me on a rotating shift pattern; days, nights and afternoons. On the day and afternoon shift there is always a team leader or supervisor present with keys to the padlocked gates in the carpark.

> Our manager has recently ordered senior staff to keep the gates locked outside of office hours due to security risks etc which is understandable. However, when I am working a week of nights, we (me and the 2 other employees on site) do not have access to leave the site after midnight when the gates are locked.

> Essentially, there are 3 of us locked inside the premises with no access to get out of the gates if anything happened (fire, accident) and thus no access for emergency services to gain access either. The other 2 shifts have a chargehand as part of their team with a set of keys each. My shift does not for some reason.

> Can my employer legally lock me and the 2 others inside the premises like this?

> The building itself is not locked, we can go outside but we cannot leave site for whatever reason, whether it be to go for break elsewhere or to escape the premises in an emergency.

While the question itself is in UK, I am more-so curious about the legality within the US if hypothetically something similar popped up here.

Answer: That sounds like a question for the local fire marshal. If their actions prevent emergency services from access or prohibit a person from escaping a fire then it would probably run afoul of some codes/ordinances.


Title: Dog ownership laws - who owns it?

Question:
Vague language to stay anonymous. I need to know whether I’d need to escalate this situation and contact a lawyer to go on record or whether the situation itself is enough to hold up.

The situation:

Three years ago I started fostering a dog for a friend who was moving out of the country. 8 months into the fostering period we realised the cost of quarantine and travel and other factors meant that the dog would no longer be able to bring his dog to the new country he’d moved to 8 months prior. So they asked me if I would take on the dog permanently. I accepted.
I have the written record of my friend giving up ownership to me via message, but there was no paperwork or prior vet registration to change the ownership of. There was no monetary exchange. I was reimbursed ~150$ for necessary vet fees during the time of fostering. This dog came with no paperwork, no vaccination information, no microchip. I got her microchipped a week into fostering her and registered to me then and after she was given up to us I had her fully vaccinated.

The problem:

Two and a half years later with minimum contact, friend is beginning to say that they want the dog back. I don’t want to give it up. They’re now claiming to have paperwork relating to their ownership of the dog years ago when I was told before there was none.

Is this enough to claim the dog back? Who has the legal custody/possession of the dog? Are there any legal avenues I can go down to ensure they cannot claim the dog as theirs? So far the threats are pretty empty but this dog is now a family remembers emotional support animal (not registered but has done wonders for their mental health). TIA reddit.

TLDR; Was given ownership of a dog 2.5 years ago, now old owner wants dog back. Whose dog is it?

Answer:
 If you have written record of the previous owner giving you the dog, it's yours. Especially after 2.5 years of looking after it, having it microchipped in your name and paying all of its costs.

A dog is like any other property. You can gift it to someone. It doesn't matter the other person has the original receipts etc if you can prove it was gifted to you.Answer #2: You could consider offering them a care taker fee of 2.5 years. 15$ a night + medical costs that $13,687.5+ per average fee's. I'm sure they will decide its you who owns the dog after you send them the bill.Answer #3: If your friend is international, I would be skeptical if they would bring actual legal action against you.  Ultimately after 2.5 years the most they could possibly expect is the value of the dog...but, they would be opening themselves up to having to reimburse you for 2.5 years of dog food, vet care, and any other expenses.

&#x200B;

They might end up owing you money, minus the value of a rescue dog.

&#x200B;

I would also think they won't be willing to pay legal fees up front for such a thing...since they are international I would think most law offices would want cash up front, and it would be for far more than a dog is worth.

&#x200B;

If you are served with any sort of legal papers, respond.  But I would highly doubt any court would award replevin in a case like this (international complaint, dog with foster parent for multiple years, text messages awarding the dog as a gift, etc).  Seems pretty cut and dried, to me.


Title: Apartment Landlord Changing "Flat Fee" Electricity (Oregon)

Question:
Moved into a unit a almost two months ago where our leasing agreement states: "Monthly Electricity $25". They recently had some issues with electricity and now want to meter all the units and have us sign up with the local electric company (and remove the flat fee).

Other info:

* There is a flat utility fee of $55:

> "The Utility Charge paid by Tenant, indicated in Section 1.4 of this Agreement, is a  at rate per month. This is applied towards the cost to the Landlord of the following: Water, Sewer, Garbage, Hot Water (if central hot water), Public Service Charges and Electricity for common areas. "

* It states:

> "Tenant will be responsible for payment of the following utilities when present in Unit: Heat, Electricity, Gas, Phone, Cable, Hot Water (if Unit has individual hot water heaters). "

* The $25 flat electricity:

> "An Electric Charge paid by Tenant is applied towards the cost to the Landlord of electricity for the Unit and common areas."

Are they breaking the terms of the lease changing us away from a flat fee?  It was a big draw for me to have a flat fee as I love these old historic buildings but the cost to heat/cool them is outrageous.

Answer: They're required to honor the terms in the lease for the duration of the lease. So, until your lease is up, the landlord is required to continue charging you the $55 + $25.


Title: URGENT! CANADA

Question:
Here's a situation.

* Female and male are both 18 years old
* Female sends male naked pictures of herself
* Female never sent naked pictures to anyone else
* Female finds these naked pictures online
* Police ask Male if he posted them
* Male denies everything

* Female insists that male is the only one who has these pictures

Can male be charged and arrested?
Even if he denies everything

Answer: The problem with "I've been hacked!" as a defense is that no one gives two shits about the pictures except for the pair of people involved.


Title: Should I bother fighting my ticket? [Tennessee]

Question: I got pulled over early Thanksgiving morning for “failing to yield to an emergency vehicle”. The trooper had someone pulled over on the right and I didn’t feel like it would be safe to switch lanes with all the people in the other lanes on the highway in the dark, so I slowed down and avoided the trooper instead. She decided to jump in her car and chase after me. When I pulled over, she cited me $300+. I have never been pulled over before then, let alone ticketed. I am 24 and have been driving for 5 years. I am a very careful driver and I’m really upset about this whole situation. Worse than the fine, it will apparently put 6 points against my license. Not to mention mess with my insurance rates. Tennessee law directs drivers to slow down and proceed with caution  if they cannot safely switch lanes. Should I attempt to fight it?

Answer: NAL If the law states to be careful and slow if not able to safely switch lanes, then the ticket should not have been given out. Fight it and get them to use the dash cam to see how unsafe the lane switch would have been. That should guarentee you winning.Answer #2: Yes never pay without fighting it. The may throw it out or lower it to a non moving violation.


Title: [KY] Signed a lease for $700 a month, agency says clerical error.

Question: [deleted]

Answer: If it's signed by both parties, then your rent is $700 a month. Tell them no, you don't feel like paying more. Make sure you hang on to a copy that is signed by both parties.


Title: Can employer withhold paycheck without written documentation?

Question:
I recently moved to California for a new job. My company paid me $1000 as relocation compensation. After 2 months of work, I have found this is not the job for me and put in my 2 week notice. Boss tells me that we agreed that the $1000 compensation is attached to a 1 year commitment to the company, and therefore they are going to withhold my paycheck. I do not recall agreeing to this 1 year commitment and asked to see written documentation. Boss says he doesn’t think that he has it in writing, but it was “definitely made clear and agreed upon” when initially offering me the job.

Can my company withhold my paycheck when there is no written documentation of this supposed 1 year contract? I appreciate any help.
Topic:
Employment Law

Answer: No they can not withhold your paycheck. They also can not hold you to something that you did not agree to, although that is a common practice. If they withhold your paycheck file a wage claim.


Title: Crosspost on removing academic articles from JSTOR.

Question:
Four of the academic articles I wrote before leaving academia are still on JSTOR. I'd like them removed--is this possible? I don't think I signed away copyright ownership to the journals, so can I use a DMCA takedown notice? Can they republish and save my articles without my permission/approval? If so, what laws allow this?

Update: Location is, um, Federal I guess.

Answer:
 >  I don't think I signed away

You usually must sign an agreement to let others publish your works. If you did sign an agreement and you falsely claim a copyright violation you can be made to pay damages. So you better find out for sure if you had an agreement.


Title: Girlfriend hired “professional” photographer to take boudoir pictures. Their website, hosted in the public cloud, has multiple security flaws and exposes very personal pictures of 6,000+ of their customers including full names.

Question:
My girlfriend really wanted some boudoir pictures and hired an agency. They have good references and the price seemed reasonable. After the photo shoot and during the order review process, she noticed that there was no authentication needed and simply changing the order number, a sequential int32, would show other people’s photo orders (yes that’s nerdy and I think women who know their tech are sexy). So we dug a little deeper and discovered that they upload all pictures to an Amazon S3 bucket that is wide open for public access. This is the same negligence that allowed the massive Verizon breach a while ago. So effectively we can download terabytes worth of personal pictures incl. full names of thousands of their clients. It is easy to find people with unique names and it’s also easy to cross reference with their Facebook page and who thanked them. Boudoir pictures are probably as personal as it gets and could be used to black mail or mock people. It appears that the photo review page was implemented by someone who does not know what he or she is doing and the fact that both the order review page does not require authentication neither the s3 bucket shows the level of unsophistication.

What can and what shall we do? We want other customers to know that their pictures have likely been accessible on the internet for a long time and we want to make sure the agency takes this serious and properly secured my property (We checked the TOS, the pictures that we paid for belong us).

Answer:
 It's likely a breach of contract but not illegal per se. I'd notify the photographer and leave a Google and Yelp review. They really may not know.Answer #2: Oh wow. Oh no. That is super negligent of them to have such little security, but probably not illegal. If they're this clueless they might not even know how bad it is or that its possible to do what your gf did.

I would inform them of the security threats and leave a few reviews on yelp, etc. You only need one jealous ex/stalker for this kind of situation to go south.


Title: Stuck in a mobile home I no longer want to live in. Management won't let me rent it. Options?

Question:
My wife and I are trying to sell our mobile home in Las Vegas, NV. We own the home but not the land, it sits in a managed senior park. In the past the management has been known to buy these homes from people who want to leave, but we were told they no longer do that. We have the unit up for sale, but the realtor has not shown it or called us with any interested buyers since it went on the market 3 weeks ago. I am an over the road trucker, I stay here on average 3 days a month, and my wife has started coming with me, so we definitely don't need the place anymore. I am also falling behind on keeping the place looking presentable (maybe part of why there's no interest, but our price is very low compared to others in the area).

Anyway, my legal question is, can I sign the place over to the management and walk away, or would that destroy my credit? It's in pretty rough shape as it is, but I don't want to make it significantly worse.

Another option I was considering was getting a short term renter in our place, as that would help with the space rent, but the management said we can't do that. That was very disheartening. We were technically renters while we paid the place off for 5 years, but I guess rent to own deals are different?

Thanks in advance, hope we can figure something out soon.

Answer:
 It all depends on what your contract with the managment company says. Your cannot force them to take it nor can you rent it if that isn't permitted. You can sell it. Start doing your own leg work to sell it. Answer #2: Go to a mobile home dealer and offer the salesmen a cut if they get it off your hands.
Their entire world is filled with A) meeting tons of people who want to buy a cheap mobile home, but have no place to put it, and B) making quick money whenever possible.


Title: My friend is planning to sublease shipping containers to tenants for residential use on an industrial zoned property.

Question: His landlord knows what he's doing. The tenants will also know that it's an industrial space and will sign a contract saying so. What are his liabilities? Anyway to limit them?

Answer:
 Sounds like a shit idea.  I'm sure it wouldn't be up to code.  And the property likely isn't zoned for residential space.

Have him pay an attorney for their opinion as to the local laws and legality of this.Answer #2: Your friend is planning on being a slum lord? He's likely about one rather valid complaint from a pissed off tenant away from being in a world of hurt.  He's got to appreciate that his ability to demand timely payment of rent or really to meaningfully use the legal system to protect himself is almost zero.  Substantially any dispute he gets into will invite a counter suit by a tenant seeking damages associated with the unsuitable housing.  There aren't really any ways to limit this, since the arrangement is just illegal.

What is his plan for toilet facilities, insulation, heating / air conditioning, and running water for each unit?


Title: [MO] pumping in the workplace and forced into fmla

Question:
A few things I have to explain about my workplace  first.  It's an In bound call center environment for a fortune 500 company. We get a 30 min lunch and two 15 mins breaks during an 8 hour shift, these breaks off the phone are prescheduled for us and we have to abide by the time frame as perfectly  as possible to make a high average of adherence. Adherence  is usually 15 mins that you can deviate off of your preset schedule (for emergency bathroom breaks and what not, but if your suck on a phone call and don't get to your break In time it cuts into your adherence). The less time your on the phone, the less minutes  of adherence you have.

My son is now 5 months old and I returned  to work after 6 weeks of unpaid maternity leave. (I was 2 weeks short of a year that would have qualified me for fmla and short term disability.) I informed my work of my decision to pump at work and would need to extend  my breaks. This was met with hostility and confusion as to why i would want to still breastfeed when I should be working. I was as new to pumping as someone could be and no matter what I did I need about 40-45 mins to accomplish walking to the room, setting  up, pumping  for 20 mins, washing my pumping  parts, Bathroom break and head back to do it all over again in 2 hours. So the first few days I went back to hr to adjust the time I needed as I figured this routine out. So they agreed that I could have two 35 mins breaks to accomplish all this, I asked for the 45 mins and they told me no, that they could not accommodate that. During my breaks I do not waste time. I practicality run to the pumping  room ( that's full of bugs with a moldy sink and a horrid smell.)

After about a month of doing this I start to get my commission checks again. They are 300-500 less than I would  normally  get because  I'm pumping. Less time on the phone = less comission. At the same time they are draining all of my benefit time; sick, personal, and vacation to try to pay me for the time  that I'm pumping.  So if I'm sick or the kids are sick and I call in, they have all right to fire me. My question is how is this legal? They are bending the laws that are supposed to be there to protect mothers.

Answer:
 > My question is how is this legal?

They shouldn't be using your FMLA time to accommodate a pumping schedule.  They just have to allow reasonable break time.  Generally, 20-30 minutes of additional breaking is viewed as sufficient to meet those requirements.  If they're actually charging you FMLA time, that's incorrect.  If your payroll person is just a dummy who doesn't know how to code breaks correctly, then there's no issue.  I'd get that sorted out before you jump to any conclusions.

As for the commission, you have no claim.  Commissions are for sales made.  If you don't make sales, you don't get commission.  No issue with that.  Answer #2: I forgot to mention  they are now coding my breaks as fmla even  though I never signed anything, and when asked about it they told me it just looks better In their system  like that and if I needed actual fmla we could have that  conversation if it happens Answer #3: I was in customer service/ phone lines for a very large national health insurance company. I would have been required to take leave to accommodate pumping when I returned to work-- it wasn't going to come from FMLA. My coworkers DID have to take leave and wound up pumping in the bathroom because they killed almost half of their "breaks" getting to the pumping room. A hint from a friend? Buy a double set of pump parts and stash them in a lunch kit in the fridge, if you have access to one. It keeps them from getting too yucky, then you just clean/wash them at home. Edited: a word


Title: Started to file a false hit and run auto claim, but I'm chickening out

Question:
Hi there /r/legaladvice,

A few days ago, I let my boyfriend borrow my car (which I do frequently, he is usually a very good driver) and he accidentally backed into a trash truck and damaged my back bumper and taillight pretty badly. The truck was fine and the guy driving it said not to worry about reporting it to insurance. He also suggested making a hit and run claim to my insurance so that they would pay for the damages.

I didn't really want to get insurance involved at all, but my boyfriend wanted me to look into filing a hit and run claim so that he wouldn't have to pay as much for repairs. I called up my insurance company and told them a somewhat believable story about my bumper being hit by someone while I was parked on the street at work. I told them that I hadn't discovered the damage until I had gotten off work hours after I had parked there.

They told me that in order to complete the claim I had to file a police report within 24 hours of reporting it to them. The thing is, I really don't want to go through with all of this. I'm uncomfortable with lying in general and I would rather just deal with the repairs on my own. I spoke to my boyfriend already and he will still pay for the bumper to get fixed no matter what.

My question is, since I'm not going to go through with this claim and since I never filed a police report, can I still get in trouble with my insurance company? If I just don't follow up on the claim will they drop any inquiries into it? Or could there be negative repercussions for me even though they won't be paying for anything?

Thank you so much for your help.

Answer:
 1. Absolutely do not file a false police report.

2. Absolutely do not continue with trying to commit insurance fraud. Some insurance professionals hang out around here and will suggest the best course of action for you in this regard.

3. Dump your boyfriend.


Title: (Ex) Boyfriend “stole” my car

Question:
I allowed this person to use my car to move to a new town and look for work.

Now he is saying things aren’t working out in that town and he wants to take off to yet another town.

I want to give him until the end of the year to figure his sh** out, but the relationship is over. Knowing how vindictive he is I’m almost positive getting my car back is going to be a nightmare. (I was well aware of this from the beginning)

My question is, can I report my car stolen when the time comes?

I am in CA and not sure what state my car will end up in.

Thanks in advance

Answer:
 No, your car is not stolen. You lent it out and haven't even asked for it to be returned. You'd be committing a crime by reporting it stolen. Don't do that.

Try asking him to return it first, allowing him a reasonable amount of time to do it. If he refuses, you could try to report it to the police but they might tell you it's a civil matter. If that's the case, you'd have to sue him.


Title: I made a gif of a former friend and now hes threatening to sue me

Question:
So this is in Ontario, Canada. We are both under 18.

 A friend and I had a falling out about a year ago. I thought we were on decent terms at this point.

So I make gifs a lot and one of these gifs was from a video a friend of his sent me. I made this into a gif and sent it to a few friends on discord. I decided to send it to him because I thought he would get a kick out of it. And at the time he did. Fast forward to today, we got into an argument and about 10 minutes after the argument he claimed that he could sue me because I didn't get his consent to send the video of him to anyone. I honestly can't tell if this is a serious threat because we were in a very heated argument before this and I'm just wondering if he can in fact sue me.

&#x200B;

tl:dr Old friend of mine claims he can sue me for distributing a gif I made of him. When I made the gif he had no problem with it and thought it was funny. This friend has also done similar things with videos of me.

Answer: Ignore him.  There's a lot of information missing like, where was the video filmed, who filmed, etc etc.  But in order for him to sue you, he needs to prove this gif actually caused some kind of damage.


Title: New apartment vents secondhand smoke into our unit; can we break our lease?

Question:
Hi r/legaladvice,

Earlier this month, my wife and I moved to Austin, TX from Las Vegas, NV. Our plan was to initially stay with a friend while we went apartment hunting. After a few weeks of looking, we found an apartment in our price range that seemed reasonably nice, but the landlord insisted on only showing us the model unit. We asked several times to view the actual open apartment, but were repeatedly told that they were cleaning and preparing it for us. We (stupidly) trusted that things would work out and signed the lease because we were short on time and funds. We then flew back out to Vegas, packed up the rest of our belongings, and drove back down to move in (which was expensive).

When we walked into the apartment, we immediately noticed that the apartment smelled like tobacco, weed, and pet urine. Neither of us have ever been smokers at all, so it bothered us, but we figured that we could do a deep clean, use air fresheners, etc. However, when we turned on the heater, we noticed that the smell of smoke intensified. Apparently, the unit's A/C  is linked to our neighbors - if they smoke, we get their secondhand smoke if we use the A/C or heater. We became nauseous, developed serious headaches, and immediately headed back over to our friend's place for the night. Worse yet, our clothes and the rest of our belongings are beginning to take on the smell of tobacco/weed.

We spoke with the apartment managers about fixing the issue, but they've been largely unhelpful. They offered bringing up an ozone machine to help nullify the smell, but told us that  smoking in your own residence is legal in the state of Texas and that they couldn't do anything to prevent our neighbors from smoking. While we were willing to put up with  the rest of the apartment's issues, we simply cannot live in a place where we're at risk of breathing in secondhand smoke 24/7. Not only is it uncomfortable, but it's become a health issue (my wife's sclerosis has especially been irritated). We're especially annoyed because the contract includes a clause that states that a tenant is responsible for any smoke damage done to their unit or their neighbor's unit, but it doesn't seem like that matters much here.

We're considering breaking our lease agreement, but are worried about the potential legal and financial ramifications due to an unsafe living environment. Is it possible escape the lease without damaging our credit? Can we ask for compensation for damages (i.e. laundering, truck rental, loss of income)? What are our options?

I know this was long, but thanks so, so much for any legal advice you might have in advance. I also recognize that we're partially the blame for being so naive. We should've demanded we view the unit prior to signing the lease, but we didn't consider how deeply this smoke issue would affect our lives. We love Austin and are excited to start our lives here, but this move has been absolutely miserable.

Answer:
 Unless your lease guarantees you a smoke-free environment, this is not a valid reason to break the lease without penalty.

It would be the same as breaking the lease for no reason at all, in which case, you'd follow the procedure for early termination in your lease and pay whatever costs are associated with doing that.Answer #2: Your problem is you should have verified it was a 100 percent smoke free environment. Literally any apartment place in the world will have these problems especially if there is no guarantee in your lease to keep it smoke free


Title: I believe my high school may be taking advantage of children with special needs

Question:
I’m currently in 10th grade (sophomore) at a public high school in Southern California. Ive started noticing this ever since I started attending this school in my freshman year. During class, the children with special needs will be out on campus with buckets picking up trash, cleaning tables, and/or emptying trash cans. I witness this almost daily while walking to the restroom during class. They are rarely outside during passing period or lunch.

I’ve never questioned any teachers or counselors about this. Our school has a history with malpractice (primarily sexual misconduct towards minors on campus), so I wouldn’t want to tip anybody off to this and have it covered up, with no real action being taken towards fixing this.

From what I’ve seen, this appears to border on exploiting children with disabilities for free labor. What would be the legality of this situation?
Topic:
School Related Issues

Answer:
 This is a common thing in special education classes.  It's not taking advantage of these kids; they're doing this to learn basic life skills.  Many kids in special needs classes need the repetition in order to remember how to do tasks in the long term.  Also, many of them have to be given in depth instructions.  For example, I could ask you to sweep the floor and you'd go do it, but a lot of these kids have to be told how to hold the broom, how to move it across the floor, how to sweep the whole floor, and so on.

It's very good that you noticed this and decided to speak up.  We had an almost identical post last week here, with a response from a special ed teacher who explained things as I did above (and whose example I shamelessly stole).  Don't stop standing up for people who can't stand for themselves.  The world needs more people willing to do so.Answer #2: People ask this question fairly often. There are programs in place to help students with special needs learn valuable skills, that’s what you’re witnessing.


Title: Is it illegal to resell prescription eye drops? FL

Question: [deleted]

Answer: Yes,reselling restricted medicine is illegal.


Title: I’m 23, full time student. My car was broken into and nearly everything I own was stolen. I brought all my valuables home for thanksgiving break. The night I got home I just walked in and went to bed bc it was late. Mountain bike, jewelry, textbooks and clothes. 3-4K of my possessions were stolen.

Question:
I’m on my parents car Insurance still. So we claimed and the payment just cleared. My father is pocketing all the money and not giving me a dime.
What the hell am I suppose to do?
Topic:
Insurance

Answer: Tell your dad that was your stuff you were compensated for not him and if he won't pay you, you'll have to take him to small claims court.


Title: [Ohio] Is it a health code violation to have a pizza with one half ranch sauce and the other half pizza sauce?

Question:
I just ordered a pizza from a popular chain and they claimed it would be a cross contamination violation of a health code if they had ranch and pizza sauce on the same pizza.

What I ordered: Chicken bacon ranch on one half.  The other half chicken bacon mushroom with pizza sauce.

Now I'm not mad.   We came to a comprise with one half having no sauce at all and they'll include ranch packets.

Is this a health code violation to do this?  To have two different sauces on one pizza?

Please don't reject this question out its triviality.  My family is looking to open a pizza business based on a (literally) revolutionary new hybrid oven.  I've worked with pizza for 6 years.  My mother for 10.  We've never have gotten a health complaint for this with the employers we worked with.

Answer:
 i guess in theory because if the spoons putting on the sauce touch the other sauce it could be a problem.  but you'd think they could just toss those spoons in the dirty dishes.  i would contact the local health department to confirm.Answer #2: Maybe there's a specific juxtaposition between dairy products, minimum safe temperatures, and off-premises sales.

You're a pizza expert:  you couldn't sell a raw pie in your county, could you ?

Is there a standard for minimum safe temperature, outside of the obvious melting and browning that you actually calibrate your cook time for ?    Would that be different for a pie with a ranch sauce versus one with a tomato sauce ?

The odds that a "popular chain" doesn't use pasteurized ranch sauce is zero, of course, so any cooked dairy minimum safe temperature won't matter.

My guess is that the chain simply gets too many complaints from customers who don't like the appearance of mixed white/red sauced pies, so they made something up.


Title: Can a civil lawsuit be brought against a public official that has been called "Extremely Careless" about Top Secret information by the head of the FBI?

Question:
[deleted]
Topic:
Other Civil Matters

Answer: No. Not that it won't stop the Freedom Foundation or whatever other right wing "think" tank that will try it.


Title: Wasn't allowed restroom breaks at work, and ended up wetting myself.

Question:
I recently started working at a Indian casino( in California). I'm supposed to get two 15 min breaks and one 20 min break for lunch. I started my shift and 30 mins into my shift I had to use the bathroom, so I ask my supervisor he says yes but I will forfeit my breaks because I just started work. I had to go 7 hours after that with no breaks and no bathroom breaks until 1 hour before my shift ended when i was finally sent to lunch. but before that I ended up wetting myself because they would not let me go to the bathroom. My supervisor finally let me take my lunch after I had a coworker radio to him became i  became shaky, dizzy, and started to trip over nothing.

My friend told me to post here to see if there is anything that I can do. any help or advice on if this was legal for them to do, or do I have other options?

* this is the above mentioned friend that is typing for the person this happened to, I dont know if sex or age is relevant but this happened to a 55 y/o female*
Topic:
Employment Law

Answer: Just go to the bathroom next time.


Title: [CA] Disputing medical fees, $8k for 72hr hold?

Question:
A few months back I ended up in a 72hr hold(involuntary). I was told multiple times it wouldn't cost me anything when I asked people over there. I don't have insurance and have a very, very low income, but I do have a significant amount of savings(20k+). The bill just came in the mail and it turns out it's *eight fucking thousand dollars*. It didn't have any specifics for what costs all that(and for funsies I looked for a 5 star hotel in southern CA and it's less than $600 a night. The amenities in this medical facility was not even 1 star. lol) and I looked on their website and it says they might charge a fee to get a copy. (is that even legal, charging a fee for specifics, shouldn't that be a given?! It's like a grocery receipt that just has the total.)

How would I go about fighting this bullshit? Getting it lowered *significantly*? What resources, preferably other than an expensive lawyer, do I have? Could I get insurance after the fact, like medicare? Would my savings ruin things in that regard even though my income is extremely low?

Answer:
 You can talk to the hospital about discounting your bill. It often happens when dealing with uninsured patients. That being said, medical care is expensive. $8k for 3 days in a hospital is chump change.Answer #2: Yeah 8k for 3 days uninsured is normal - but what about
>I was told multiple times it wouldn't cost me anything when I asked people over there.

Can someone really provide a service, state its free, then charge money for it? Obviously not, so can OP do anything about it?Answer #3: Yes you should apply for Medicaid. Occasionally it will apply retroactively but even if it doesn't, it'll protect you in the future.


Title: Road rager brake checked me, I hit him. Did decent damage to car, he fled, all on dashcam. What do I do now?

Question:
This just happened about an hour ago, first time I've got in an accident. I was driving home and some guy crossed 2 lanes going ~45mph to my lane, slams on his breaks. I braked as soon as I could but it was too close and I hit him going pretty much full force. His rear end caved in and he went off the road. Got out of my car, he takes off.

I just uploaded all the footage to a USB. What now? Do I call the police or go into any police station with this? Talk to insurance company? Will I be reimbursed by the guy who did it?
Topic:
Traffic and Parking

Answer:
 First step is to call the police and show them the footage; word of warning, depending on what it contains you may have been following too closely based on the timing of events. Nonetheless, it is generally illegal to be a party in an incident where a vehicle is damaged and flee the scene. Second, call your insurance. Answer #2: I'm always amazed by these questions.  You have everything on film and someone forced you into a car accident and then sped off.  Why in the hell wouldn't you call the police?Answer #3: Also:   in most cases you're responsible when you hit someone from behind.

The circumstances you describe are the most common exception:  when somebody enters your lane suddenly and brakes hard.

When this happens in heavy traffic you usually have no proof and get cited for it anyhow.    If this happened on an open road and you have video, it's very unlikely that you'll be the one who is cited.Answer #4: This sounds like it could be an [insurance scam.](http://www.insurancefraud.org/scam-alerts-staged-crash.htm) You leave to report it, he goes back and claims you hit him without provocation and left the scene, fakes injuries, gets huge insurance settlement.

Beater car with more than one occupant?Answer #5: You should have called the cops then. I would call them now but have a lawyer in mind. He may have called the cops on you and said you ran offAnswer #6: Doin't save to just to USB or something. Keep multiple copies and save it to a cloud service such as OneDrive, Google Drive, or Dropbox. I might even suggest uploading it to a private/unlisted video on YouTube. This way you've got good backups in case the USB drive or whatever dies on you, is lost, etc.


Title: Trying to help my disabled mom keep the little alimony she gets, dad's taking her to court later this month.

Question:
Hey /r/legaladvice, humbly seeking any advice or insight you could offer to help me prepare my mom for her court date later this month, and defend herself to keep the monthly maintenance/alimony she receives.  Parents both live in Wisconsin, been divorced since about 2006.

It's a long and emotional story that brings us to this situation, but I'll spare you some excessive/unnecessary personal detail.
If there is any detail that you'd like me to elaborate on, I'll do my best to reply as I'm able.

My mom was served a summons at the beginning of the month (I have a pdf copy of the document available, gotta blank out names and such, but can do it if needed.  He's got old dates crossed off and whiteout here and there that makes the document look kinda suspicious, but it's stamped and apparently official.) informing her of my dad's intentions to modify the maintenance payments he's required to pay, and to be relieved of them.  Currently he is ordered to pay $200/month, which he has reliably done over the years since their divorce.

Dad re-married about a year ago, and had/has been living comfortably with his now wife for over 10 years, with an additional 6 years spent in an affair with her prior to the discovery of the affair, leading to my parent's divorce.   Many things he had hidden were discovered around that time, and we had to sell our house to cover debts and other expenses

By looking at the information he's provided in the summons, it appears as though he has listed his income and his expenses, but not his assets (recently bought a large 5th wheel camper, a bigger truck to tow it, a car for his wife's daughter, remodeling/improvement projects around the house, etc..)

Mom is on disability with severe hormonal deficiencies, and degenerative spinal disease (ankylosing spondylitis) after several failed spinal surgery's to alleviate it, and since her life was up-ended from discovering the affair and the following divorce, she has had to move from apartment to apartment, trying to live within her very meager means.  Sweetest and most selfless lady you could ever meet.

She's not out to get any more than she needs, but I want to prepare her with all I can to help her protect what she has.  From my research, it seems a court would only be likely to remove the alimony payments if there were "a significant improvement in the situation of the spouse", which there really hasn't been at all in ~12 years.  Mom's got a bf, but they don't live together, and they each take care of their own expenses.

I've encouraged her to try not to get emotional about the situation, and to prepare a list of her income and expenses, as well as establish a timeline from the divorce until the present.

Is there anything else someone could recommend me to pass along to her?

Thanks all-

**Edit/Update: The wording on the terms of the alimony agreement are exactly as follows:

"This is a case where, living separately, there is simply not enough income to go around.  Each party is going to have to get along on something less.  Therefore, the court orders that the respondent pay the petitioner $200.00 per month in maintenance.  This will continue until the death or remarriage of the petitioner, or the death of the respondent.

The court recognizes that this is a 'long' marriage.  However, the court is at this time leaving open the length of time during which maintenance will be paid.  The court orders that this issue be revisited when the youngest child is no longer receiving child support.  If the parties cannot agree on the amount of maintenance that should then be paid and the duration of same, the court will again have to decide."

Child support for my youngest sister stopped in 2009 when she graduated high school.  His alimony payments have remained the same, even after dropping child support.

And yes, she was disabled while they were still married, well before the divorce.
Topic:
Custody Divorce and Family

Answer: What were the original terms of the alimony? Was it supposed to be indefinite?Answer #2: Alimony is not designed to supplement disability payments. Was she disabled at the time of the marriage? If her disability happened after the divorce it doesn't increase her entitlement to alimony.


Title: A user on a Minecraft server sent a link to child pornography (US)

Question:
This happened on a server that I own and operate.

This evening a new user joined one of my servers and without warning, they sent a link to an image hosting gallery containing child pornography.

 There were about 15 people online at the time, and no one said anything about it, and I did not receive any reports from any users about it. I simply happened to be online at the time they sent it. Normally I don't think anything odd about links to images on my servers as most of them are harmless memes. As per my normal administrative duties, I opened the link and was appalled by the resulting webpage.

I have this users IP address and the related log files. I'm the only person with access to the system on which the logs are stored. Do I have to report this to the police? The FBI? I know I want to report it, but where do I start?

Answer: Honestly, the IP can easily be spoofed. The link is real, so you can send that to the FBI and be done with it


Title: How to tell your landlord her house is falling apart/you will not pay a fucking dime to her anymore.

Question:
The house we rented a century old house for 800/month (excluding utilities) in the downtown part of my city. The landlady is a batty, ancient woman who lives 3 hours away— this is her dead parents/her childhood home she is renting out. We signed a lease for one year last September.
It has been a traumatic year for me and my poor roommates as we gained and lost jobs, broke bones, gotten extremely sick, etc. While living in this hell hole she had created for us. I am looking to skip out on paying rent and I need to know if I have the right to break lease anytime.
Allow me to explain what happened.
2-4 months in, the dryer breaks. According to lease, we are supposed to have one. This is no ordinary dryer, it is one that uses the gas line. A gas dryer is incredibly expensive and hard to come by nowadays, and she knew absolutely NOTHING about how one works or where to find one. We did not dry clothes for a while because I couldn’t find a gas dryer  or we tried to hang  them on lines to dry. One day  I had gotten extremely lucky and found a good one on Craigslist for 50 dollars. She said she would send my parents a check (they paid because I could not afford it) and she never did. That’s just  the start of my really shitty time here at this house.
The heat in the summer was incredible. She had two window units for her ENTIRE house, which are both shitty and covered in mold. They also leak and have caused damage to the floor, which I no longer care about. I continue to use the window unit because box fans just aren’t cutting it. It was also buggy in the summer. We have had a MAJOR problem with ant and wasps getting into the house.
she failed to mention  we would be exposed to  asbestos and lead paint and Black mold as well, which, when I got a free  code inspection  from the city, is prominent in the House.

In the winter the furnace broke. It was a 10,000 dollar fix she refused to take out a loan for. She told us she would try to borrow money from her rich brother who lives in Hollywood to fix it, but it never happened. Instead she said “just get floor heaters I’ll send a check” .

We were so afraid to purchase the VERY expensive floor heaters she wanted because we  were afraid we would  not get Compensated.
Instead, we used office heaters and wore coats all the time. She knocked a bit off of rent but of course it didn’t fix the situation. The principle of it was, we suffered immensely and we were trapped by her rent price. We had no where else to go and we invested in This place.

And now the summer approaches again. The bathroom lights can’t stay on due to wiring and electrical
Issues. There is black mold all over the bathroom ceiling. It’s so hot in the house that I haven’t taken a hot shower in  Weeks.
Every time we cook something in the microwave, we find that we cannot have the window unit running at the same time or it blows the circuit.

I am so tired of living here, waking up in sweat and ants, taking cold showers in the dark and hating this old woman who knows nothing about the slum house she is renting to people. I am wanting to leave, we found a place, but I don’t know how to tell her she fucked up and i won’t be paying her anymore rent. Am I in the right to break lease???

Answer:
 [gas dryers are incredibly expensive and hard to come by?](https://www.lowes.com/search?searchTerm=gas+dryer)

Without a location it is hard to give solid advice.  You probably can't just break the lease, you probably can put the rent into escrow until things are fixed.


Title: Was driving a uhaul in a parking garage. Clearance of ceiling changed without any indication, damaging the uhaul, and severely injuring a passenger

Question:
On thursday I was helping my friends move. They had rented a Uhaul.  We were driving in the parking garage, which signified the clearance of the garage. We were more than clear.

Mid way through, the clearance changed drastically, causing my friend who was not buckled up to slam face first in to the climate control. There was enough force to push in the climate control, and cause him to be taken to the hospital, Note, we were not speeding in the slightest. We were looking for a place to park.

He has serious injuries to his forehead, eyes, nose, and cheek.

We went back the next day to check for any clearance markers, and take pictures of the area. (we filed a police report already, but wanted more evidence.)

The only indicator of a potential clearance change, was a marker that had been taken down, and put near the dumpster.

As in, not even close to being visible. Not even technically in the garage.

Any advice. We're all young 20 somethings and have never been in a situation like this before. What should out actions be?

---

EDIT: this is in Raleigh, NC

**TL;DR**

 Was driving a uhaul in a parking garage. At the entrance there is a marker that states a 12 foot clearance. The clearance changed to 7 feet without any warning, causing us to hit the ceiling, damaging the uhaul and injuring my friend.
We later found a sign that had been taken down stating "7 foot clearance beyond this point"
There were zero visible indicators of the clearance change.

NOTE: I was the passenger.

Answer:
 "Who was not buckled up"

Case closed for personal injury.


Title: Seeking advice, before I lawyer up, on what to do about being put on child support.

Question:
Seeking legal advice...
This is my throwaway account. My main is my username for everything, so I don’t want it being linked back to me, and would like it very much if a face couldn’t be put to the stuff I’m about to type.

The mother of my child wants to put me on child support. The case is still pending.
I don’t want to be put on child support.
I want my daughter to live with us equally (alternating four days of the week other week), and the cost be cut in half. I don’t want to help the mother with her rent or anything. I just want to make sure my daughter is taken well care of.
Should I get a lawyer? The lawyer I want to go with is asking for money even for advice. Would it be a waste of time and money since 90% of the time the mother always win.

Things I have on her that could help me.
-She has let my daughter get lice for months on end over the last three years. She waits until the last minute to do something about it. Always! She thinks that the over the counter stuff works, but she only buys it once they get really bad.
-She’s always sick while with her. I know little kids get sick a lot. It’s mostly always strep throat or an ear infection.
-On top of the lice thing on her hair, she developed a fungus on hair (which is now gone), but the doctor told her that it was most likely from being dirty, and not bathing. She would not bathe her because she rather her go to sleep or she’s too tired.
-She has an one bedroom apartment. I have a three bedroom house that she will have her own room in.
They share a bed over there. My daughter needs space.

Now the more complex stuff I hate talking about.
-I have videos of us fighting where she gets physical, and starts swinging at me. In the videos you can hear me asking her to stop.
-When we would fight and I would just need space away from her; she would go as far as showing up to my job. One time she showed up with our daughter unbuckled in the backseat. We had to argue outside my job, and I told her to just go home, she sped off causing my daughter to fly backwards in the back of the car. I texted her and told her that I was going to call the cops and told her what she had done because I was worried about my daughter. She texted back “It wasn’t that fast.” “She didn’t hurt herself. She’s okay.”
-I wasn’t always the best boyfriend. I let the stress of making ends meet get to me, and started neglecting her, and she ended up cheating. For two years we tried getting over it. I just couldn’t.
-I have pictures of the scratches she would leave on me after a fight we had because she was tired of me “not being able to see her” and the effort she’s putting into fixing the fact that she cheated.
-I got pictures and videos of her breaking stuff outside my house just because I wouldn’t let her inside my home for stuff that belonged to her. She also has stuff of mine that she doesn’t want to return. I’m willing to give her all her stuff back, but I need my stuff as well.
-Before the separation. We shared my current home. She would apply for store credit cards, max them out, and let the bills to collections. That just shows she’s terrible with finances. So I have a stack pile of letters from banks and debt collectors trying to collect what is due to them.
-She’s a shop lifter or was. I don’t know if she still does it, but she’s been caught three times at Walmart while being with our daughter. She’s lucky that they didn’t call CPS on her. She would text me that she was caught and she’s really nervous, and whatever one feels when they’ve been caught in deep shit. So I only have text messages of her saying she’s been caught with dates and time stamps, so perhaps I could go to that Walmart and ask for a copy of that footage from that date.
There’s more, but you guys get my point. I don’t want my daughter developing such toxic habits like her mother.
Should I go for full custody and be the one to put her on child support or should I just bite the bullet and take it up bum like most men who are put on child support?
Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks.
Topic:
Custody Divorce and Family

Answer:
 You want your daughter cared for but have left her in a situation where you believe she is being neglected and do not wish to provide support to her mother that might be used for rent so she is no longer forced to share a bed? Why would you think it would reflect badly on you to have that associated with your face?Answer #2: > Should I get a lawyer?

Yes.

> 90% of the time the mother always win

No.

Also, that sentence contradicts itself.

Out of all of your "think I have on her that could help me" there are ones that could hurt you actually. Your attorney will know which ones.Answer #3: It isnt true that the mother "wins" 90% of the time.  When fathers ask for custodial time they most often get it. Its just the fact that many many fathers agree that the mother gets custody, either because they think its in their child's interest, or because they think they can't get custody.

Accept that you will be paying child support. Even f you get 50-50 custody, it sounds like you are financially better off than the mother. Which means you will need to help provide for your daughter even when she is with her mother. Given that, do you still truly want 50-50 custody? Because its good for your daughter, and good for your relationsh? Then that is what you want to focus on, not on tearing down your ex.  You guys have to parent *together*.Answer #4: Yes, you need a lawyer.


Title: (IN) A neighbor wants to use my field for his cows. Is there anything I should be careful of?

Question:
(Indiana) A neighbor raises cows and we have about 10 acres of land that we aren't currently using for anything. He asked if he could put up an electric fence and let his cows pasture out there in the spring. He said any time we want to stop he'll remove the fence.

I don't have a problem with him using it. It will save me having to bush hog all those weeds. I just want to make sure that letting him use it for a year or a few years won't give him ownership or rights to it, or that I'll end up with liability for his livestock.

Answer:
 Granting use pretty much eliminates any potential adverse possession.

You should consider having a simple contract written up. A few hundred bucks now can save a lot of headaches down the line.Answer #2: You can draw up a grazing lease pretty easily.  If he's raising cattle, he probably already has insurance.  In the lease, you can require him to carry insurance with you listed as an additional insured.  Ask your lawyer what's typical for your area in cattle leases.Answer #3: Contact a lawyer and write up a contract: letting him use the land doesn't mean it eventually becomes his, and you are not responsible for the health and safety of his cows (if they eat a toxic weed, if they trip in a hole and injure a leg, etc.).Answer #4: Just a couple of practical, not legal, things. There are weeds that cattle won't eat. (And some they shouldn't) Grazing will favor those weeds.

The type of cattle makes a difference. Some breeds are, um, mischievous. They'll try to get out. Be sure that any damage they do is his problem, not yours.

And, in case you had thought of it, cow by products. Shit and stuff. Good fertilizer, but if you want to run through the field barefoot for some reason...


Title: (New York) Landlord is threatening to raise my rent +29%

Question:
Hi Reddit,

I am moving out of my apartment and my current roommates are staying. I told my landlord I was moving out of the country in 2 weeks, and she told me I had to let her know at least a month in advance \(understandable\).

Anyways, she told me that my new roommates have to sign a new lease and the price she mentioned was 29&#37; more than we are currently paying. I have been living here for 3 years and I have not paid any more over than when I first move in.

My question is, can she raise the rent that high?

How can I negotiate a lower rent?
Topic:
Landlord Tenant Housing

Answer:
 If you are moving out you don't have any leverage or reason to negotiate a lower rent.

There are rent controlled instances within NY such as NYC or large apartment complexes but there are many places and instances in NY where rent is not stabilized and the landlord can increase rent with notice any amount they deem fit.


Title: Invasion of privacy.

Question: So I've been living with my father and his fiance got a couple years now, and I've basically signed a sub lease with them and my dads fiance continues to go in my room and do shit(turn things off close my windows unplug things.) And refuses to let put a looking door knob on my door. And incredibly petty about the littlest of things. And idk what to do. I haven't been able to put away money to get the hell out and I'm e with her being a nosy ass bitch.

Answer: Find someone else to rent a room from, if you can afford $700 a month you will have lots of options.


Title: My friend's future could potentially be on the line.

Question: So I am a senior in high school here in Iowa. Recently, my best friend was pulled into the president of our school's office. The president informed him that he had been expelled from the school, however, the president did not inform my friend why he had been expelled. I am just wondering if this is a legal move on the school's part. Any answers will help. Thank you.

Answer:
 Your friend's parents need to deal with this.  There's nothing you can do from where you are that can help him or even figure out what's going on.Answer #2: Public or private school?

Have his parents tried to get in touch with the school?

Also, are you sure your friend is telling the truth?


Title: I got sent a check and deposit it, now my account is under watch?!

Question: I was selling a piano on Kijiji and a guy was interested in buying it. He said he didn’t have the cash but he could send me a check through email. So he did... he sent it in my name and everything, but ever since I put it in with the cibc app, my account has become unavailable. I can’t see any of my money. I’m freaking out! I called the bank and they said it was a “bad check” and that my account is under watch?! What the heck did he send me and what’s going to happen?

Answer: The check is fraud and will bounce. Don't send anything or spend any of the money


Title: My dad took my car I bought my graduation money. Help!

Question:
So backtrack to 2013, I was given 2,500 dollars for my birthday and graduation. My dad that I now have disowned, and my mother is divorced from, made me buy a shitty 2004 Dodge Intrepid. He then made me replace the windshield which costed around $300 to do.
The car’s engine was a piece of garbage and needed a lot of work. When the divorce was happening, he told me that he would continue to work on the car and fix it for me. He didn’t. I’m not sure where it is or who has it. The car title is under mine and his name.
I really regret not taking action sooner.
Is it too late to take him to small claims court? What can I do? Any advice on getting reimbursed?

Answer: Were you an adult at the time the title was registered? I'm assuming not since your parents "made" you buy a car. In that case, that car is as good as theirs.