Title: Neighbor is harassing me, Condo Association will not help

Question:
I have lived in my condo for 1 year. About 10 months ago, my next door neighbor \(with whom I share a wall\) began screaming every day for at least an hour. He repeatedly lets a  "homeless friend" stay with him, becomes angry, and then screams at the man to get out of his house. He has even called the police on the guy, but continues to let him in day after day.

A few months in, I knocked on his door and nicely asked if he could yell a bit quieter as I have PTSD and the sounds freak me out. As soon as I stepped foot back in my apartment, he was screaming that I was a c\*\*\*. This continued to progress to lesbian c\*\*\* \(I am straight, but I guess he thinks I dress like I am gay/not to gender stereotypes\). I have literally been called that name around a thousand times since October.

I have reported the situation to the condo association who said they can do nothing because he is also an owner. I was told there were no by\-laws about noise.

April 4th, I called 911 because of the screaming and slamming that caused my kitchen countertops caulking to become unattached and create a gap. I asked for a mental welfare check from medics, and requested to be anonymous. Instead of sending COPES or paramedics, they sent two police officers who knocked on his door. When he refused to open it for them, they knocked on my door and made me come out. They said they could do nothing and to followup with the condo association.

Within 3\-5 minutes of the officers leaving, he was screaming he was going to throw me against a wall, beat the s\*\*\* out of me, and that I am a trailer trash C\*\*\*. I called 911 again and while on the line with the dispatcher, he started beating on my storm door screaming, "IF YOU EVER CALL THE COPS AGAIN, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU" \(I have all of this recorded\). Officers came out, but once again said nothing could be done despite it being recorded. They tried to get him to come outside, but he refused. One of the officers forced his way in and said, "If you bully them, I am going to bully you".

Suddenly the focus for the officers switched from my well\-being, to trying to get their officer out of the residence. He stayed inside the neighbors house for an hour while the guy screamed for him to get out of his house \(literally for the full hour\). Apparently this guy got thrown to the ground and injured when he was previously arrested, and he tried to sue the city \(but he lost\). The officers repeatedly said there was no report that could be filed, but to call back if there were problems. I pushed that the guy said he was going to kill me, surely they could do something. They got their boss out on site \(and 7\-8 other officers\) and finally agreed the could take witness reports but would not arrest him. Audio was supplied to the police as evidence. They advised I get a protective order.

I now have a final, and continued protective order against this guy and the judge wrote in that the could not talk to me or about me within earshot of the wall, door, or window.

He continues to have screaming fits about me, including screaming, "Protective order, my ASSHOLE! and calling me a slew of names.".

I am looking at selling my home, but if this guy would knock it off, I would happily stay.

I have supplied the recordings to the association and they would not take action, saying that there were no noise ordinances in the by\-laws. I finally pulled them up and confirmed that there was. The guy was sent 1 fine, but they won't send any more.

2 of the 3 board members resigned last week and I received notice yesterday that the property management company has resigned as well \(due to an issue surrounding the pool, not because of my situation\).

I can report this guy for violating the protective order, but little will likely be done as they still don't have the death threat situation assigned to a detective from over a month ago. I also have concerns that this will further agitate the guy to actually cause bodily harm to me.

I feel that I am being sexually harassed by him screaming that I am a wh\*\*\*, as well as sex discrimination because my dress does not fit gender stereotypes. My understanding is that this violates the Fair Housing Act for Hostile Environment Harassment and the association should be willing to step in to some degree. I just got off the phone with the intermediary property manager \(while they find someone who specialized in condos to take over within a few months\) and she says they will not become involved. I even brought up Hostile Environment Harassment and she still said they would not become involved nor would they try to get a rule or modification in the CCR to include harassment.

She said it is up to me if I choose to sell and nobody can make that choice but me.

It appears I have two choices, sell and walk away \(despite the property being in an area that is gaining value quickly due to the opening of a nationally recognized park\), or try to pursue legally.

There are not many lawyers that are interested in stepping into this kind of a situation, but I was wondering if anybody has any advice for me. I feel that I am running out of options and feel pretty hopeless. This whole situation has created severe anxiety and there were two weeks where I pretty much hid in my bedroom \(farthest from his wall\) and did nothing but eat for the two weeks. Even getting up to shower and function daily is becoming difficult. Should I just eat my losses and walk away for the sake of sanity? What about the person who buys my condo? Is it something that should be disclosed?

Answer:
 > I can report this guy for violating the protective order

That is your recourse here.

> I feel that I am being sexually harassed by him screaming that I am a wh***

That's not illegal.

> as well as sex discrimination because my dress does not fit gender stereotypes.

No, "discrimination" from a neighbor is not actionable.


Title: Am I able to represent my father in court about a parking ticket?

Question:
Location is Ontario, Canada.

My father received a parking ticket that we don't think was fair. The ticket gives us an option of going to court but my dad doesn't think it's worth his time and so he'll just pay it.

I made a deal with my dad that if I am able to represent him and win he will pay me the cost of the ticket.

Just a little information, I am 15 years old (turning 16 in January) and the parking ticket has been given by the city of Toronto.

Answer: Unless you're an attorney, you can't represent someone else in court.


Title: (OH) My CEO had a midlife crisis and is considering giving me our marketing contracts.

Question: I was a peon for a small marketing firm that is now disbanding. The CEO is gifting me our advertising contract with a prominent Insurance agency. I'm considering starting an LLC and just running the work for the contracts on my own but I'm not sure how big of a risk that is... What I'd like to know is can the insurance company sue me for anything after I take on the work as an LLC? I'm worried that hypothetically they could sue my LLC for not fulfilling contractual obligations or being unsatisfied with my work. I really know absolutely nothing about this or running a business in general, I just need an LLC to be able to do the work at all.

Answer:
 You should read up on the benefits of an LLC:

http://www.bizfilings.com/learn/creating-llc.aspx

Can they sue you? Sure. Can they sue you for issues that happened prior to taking over the contract? Maybe, but this is something that your attorney should help with. You don't want to inherit liability.

Some people will argue against it,  but there is no legitimate reason to do any significant amount of business without an LLC (or whatever other corporate structure is appropriate for your situation.) You may have some filing fees and yearly maintenance, but in a vast majority of cases it is worth it.Answer #2: An LLC will generally shield you from personal liability and is easy and cheap to set up.  Your clients would need to sue the LLC, not you, assuming you maintained separateness (you need to always invoice in the name of the LLC, etc and not use yourself and the LLC interchangeably).  You don't need an LLC, but it's a good idea.


Title: Assisted suicide in California for unresponsive patient

Question: Hi everyone. My grandmother unfortunately had a massive stroke in California on Monday. She continues to be unresponsive, but has to leave the icu now. She was always very, very clear throughout her life that she did not want to live in a state like that, and also has a do not resuscitate. My family saw that California had fortunately legalized assisted suicide earlier this year. But we are unclear if we will be able to secure it for her in her unresponsive state, does anyone have more information on this? If so it would be hugely appreciated. Thanks, and merry Christmast.

Answer:
 When you 'suicide' someone else, that's murder.

is she on life support? she can be taken off life support but you can't actively kill her, even if you absolutely know that's what she would want.


Title: Am I entitled to refuse to pay my rent? (UK)

Question: I rent a flat from a private landlord through an agency. Our heating failed on the 18th December. We reported it immediately and the agency sent an engineer who couldn't fix it. The engineer said he would return on Xmas eve but didn't. Since then I have phoned the agency every day, and initially they said they would call me back but failed to, and since then I've just got the answering machine. Am I entitled to refuse to pay next month's rent? BTW, we have a 2 year old in the property, and over Xmas it hit -2 Celsius.

Answer:
 I would suggest you contact the agency and inform them they have a few hours to send someone out to fix it and if they do not do so you will get in your own engineer and deduct the cost from the rent.

Also as it is such a low temperature you can contact environmental health as it is an unsafe environment. I suggest you inform the agency of this in your call.


Title: Can I get in trouble for posting this on 4Chan?

Question:
Hey you guys.

I made a thread yesterday on /b/ about my neighbours (whom I hate for various reasons) and asked for tips on what to do with them. I jokingly made a suggestion that I should shoot a firework into their house.

Then some guys who clearly didn't see the joke pointed out how illegal that was and said they reported me to the police. I am now banned from the site.

Will this actually land me any trouble with the law or are they just trying to scare me.

Thanks in advance!

Answer: Probably not. Staying away from 4chan is good life advice.


Title: My father passed away recently and his ex-wife (my ex-stepmom) is refusing us contact with our brothers. what can we do??

Question:
Edit: the state which this is occurring is North Carolina.

Problem: My ex-stepmother is keeping my half-brothers (14,15) from having contact with me and my sister after our father has died.

History: My dad passed away less than a month ago. He was married to (my ex-stepmother for a while) and they have been divorced for about 7 years (maybe a bit more). The divorce settled with shared custody/visitation rights for my dad (they live with their mother). after a while she started to not let him see them. so they went to court and he won which forced her to let him have every other weekend.

Now he is gone and we basically have no right to see them and she has made it abundantly clear that she will take us to court if we try to contact our brothers.

Their mother is basically brainwashing them, using home schooling and highly religious teaching and controlls every aspect of their life. There is a time ive heard of where her new husband threw my brother to the ground and choked him for a few seconds (this was brought up at my dads court case and dismissed as a temper problem and not child abuse...)
I just need advice if there is anything we can do.

sorry for the unorganized post. all of us other siblings are over the age of 25 if it matters.

Answer: Until they turn 18, their mother can decide who they can can or cannot have contact with.


Title: Eviction in progress, home owner shut off electricity. (South Carolina)

Question: This a long story, sorry. I was renting a house for 1 year and verbally told I could rent to own if I wanted after the year. (*Yes I was very naive.) Anyway, home owner decided she wants to move back in. She gave us 2 months notice, but we couldn't find a place in time. We have bad credit, 2 kids at home and 2 medium size dogs. We let property manager know multiple times and asked for at least one more month, but home owner said no. We have no family here, and we finally found a place, but can't get out until Dec 30. So, eviction process is begun, which we expected, but then home owner turned off the water, it was in our name. We got it turned back on, but on Friday she had electricity turned off, also had been in our name. What can we do? I'm pretty sure it's illegal for her to do this.

Answer:
 It's probably illegal if she impersonated you to turn off the utilities. Don't miss your court date where you'll have a chance to explain your side of the story. The judge may be lenient and take in consideration that it's the holidays and you have a family.Answer #2: If she accepted the Dec rent that is an implied agreement to rent the house to you, she cant accept rent then evict.  You can probably fight this though SC law will have it's own specifics. Answer #3: Did the Landlord or the Property Manager (whoever you paid the rent to) deposit the check?

&#x200B;

So pretty much you were in the wrong up until she started turning off utilities (not generally allowed during the eviction process - certainly not during winter).

&#x200B;

Go to the court date. If they deposited the check or took the rent money for December that is your biggest piece of evidence - bring proof of that. Also show proof that your utilities were disconnected. The judge will not be impressed with either of these things.

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Also see if your city has some type of legal aid that you can talk to about this, because remember we are all just from the internet.


Title: Is it legal for my landlord to make me share a mailbox?

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 Your neighbors have access to your mail anyway unless you want a locked mailbox.

It's not a super big deal, but it's kind of a dick move for you to use an illegal space as long as it benefits you and then report it when you're done.


Title: [PA] Can I get punitive damages from my harasser's estate?

Question:
Short background--girl wanted my man and made my life hell. She was married to some rich guy. Sued her for intentional affliction of emotional distress, and yes I had a lawyer. A hearing was scheduled for next month,  but she ended up dying in an accident.

There were a lot of damages including a lost job and other issues so we are moving forward, but my lawyer said she might withdraw the request for punitive damages because he is dead and they would not be allowed.

Is this true?

Answer: Not being funny but you've got a lawyer who has full knowledge of all the facts. No-one here is going to be able to give better advice based on two or three paragraphs.


Title: Comcast told me i would pay $39.99 a month for internet, bill comes for $54.99

Question:
When i initially called, i asked for the 25 mbps service for $39.99 and the rep said that it would be an extra $10 ($5 with eco pay) for the 70 mbps service - so i said yes.

i get my bill: 54.99

When I called to ask WTF was up with that and why it wasn't 44, they said 'oh we're sorry about that misinformation, that promotion is no longer something that we do. 'we can give you a $5 credit for the misinformation.' and i asked if i can get the original 25 mbps package that i asked for and they said that the best the can do is 3mbps at 39.99 a month!! there are afghani villages in the mountains with speeds faster than that.

they said that their hands are tied and they will not budge and my only option is to continue to pay the 54 or cancel my service. what can i do?

Answer: You can cancel your service and walk away.


Title: [Boston] How do I research local laws regarding protesting?

Question:
I'm pretty involved in various social justice movements. I just moved to Boston a few months ago.

What are the laws regarding public protest/demonstration?

More importantly, where would I even start researching this?

Answer: Whatever you do, do what the cops tell you, even if you think they are wrong, unless you want to get arrested. (and maybe you do, but just be prepared that if you don't obey the cops it's likely to happen)


Title: [CO] Currently in ER for tripping over onto a CO2 tank at a restaurant and cutting my head open. I had only had one drink.

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 Was the restaurant aware of this situation (did they know he was injured/taken to the hospital)?

My guess is that they have already called their insurance company. In the morning, contact them and let them know that you plan to have them cover your brother's medical bills. You may need to wait until he's finished being treated, however, as you don't want to accept a settlement and then get more bills.

You can hire a lawyer on contingency here, but it won't be worth it if it's just the matter of a couple stitches and an MRI. That said, take your time dealing with this, and make sure your brother is taken care of. If the restaurant balks at paying you, then you can contact a lawyer. If they ask your brother to sign anything, contact a lawyer who will review it on an hourly basis.

Good luck, and I hope he recovers quickly.


Title: My friend broke some sort of no contact order with me and I am scared for both of us.

Question:
So about a month ago, my friend got into some trouble from a group chat on instagram, got sent to juvy (we are minors).

The court ordered that he doesn't talk to anyone in the chat, and that included me. A couple days ago, he told me he was allowed to talk to me now, so we chatted on discord. He told me about everything, we called and played some games together. Today he found out he wasn't supposed to be talking to me yet, and I left the call immediately. He tried to get me to delete the messages because it could send him back to juvy,  but I didn't wanna dig the hole any deeper. Am I at risk here? What is going to happen to him?

Answer: Your fine. He violated a court order. You should just ignore him moving forward.


Title: [VA]Stalked by ex. Terrified. Can’t give out details

Question:
The details I have provided are the only ones I can provide.  Anything else would be an indication to him that this is by me about him.  Even if he did not think it was me he would assume it was and harass me further.

I broke up with my ex boyfriend a week ago.  We talked some things out and then I cut off contact with him a day or two later.  He has since been harassing me by calling me and texting me.  He called me from another number and called and messaged me on apps and platforms I didn’t even realize had messaging or calling functions.  He contacted my brother to ask him to tell me to contact him.  My brother told him to leave me alone.  He has also contacted my last ex (who I am still friends with) to make vague suicidal claims but won’t tell him what’s wrong.  He has also contacted a friend of mine to ask again if I was going to visit him later this year like we had planned.  He sent me a message yesterday telling me he would see me soon.  Today he sent me a picture of the plane ticket for Tuesday.

PLEASE do not give me any non-legal advice.  If he sees this post, he will still read through the advice on how to keep him from contacting me and find a new way.

I feel extremely unsafe and while I do not think he will physically harm me, I’m worried about him showing up at my friends’ houses, my work, etc.

I need to know what I can do to hopefully not even have to see him or have him come to see me.  I know I likely can’t make him not come to the same city, but at least enough so that he will know to expect legal repercussions if he does come to harass me.

Answer: You can file a restraining order. That is your legal option. A judge may or may not grant it


Title: Just found out I'm having surgery that will take me out of work. It's my roommates fault. What do i do?

Question:
edit: In Wyoming, USA

Both of my jobs require me to be on my feet for hours on end. Two weeks ago i was walking in my living room barefoot and stepped on a sewing needle. It went about a inch and a half into my heel pad. I tried to walk it off for a day or two but it became infected and i went to the doctor. They Couldn't feel anything in there and gave me strong antibiotics with the concession to come back if it ever wasn't healing.

 I spent the next 10 days trying to slowly heal (missing about 7 days off of work each, from my two full-time jobs) and then as soon as i got off the antibiotics my foot got worse.

Queue me going to doctor yesterday and them x-raying my heel to find a piece of metal from the needle pretty far inside my foot. I am having surgery in a few hours to get it out but the doctor thinks I'm out of work for at least 3-4 more weeks while it heals.

My roommate who dropped the needle (and two others we found) on the floor admitted to spilling the needles unknowingly (she is the only one who uses the area or has needles) and offered to pay for my medical bills when we thought it was j8ust an infection. She wrote me a check already I have, but have not cashed for the exact amount of my first doctors visit. She said it was her that dropped it but she didn't realize it at the time (obviously an accident ) and has apologized a lot. At this point, I don't know how to go forward or whats the norm in the kinds of situations where I am now looking at over a month of not being able to work.

Answer:
 You could make a claim on her renter's insurance, go on short term disability, or go on any sort of gap insurance you may have, or a combination of any of those.

If you don't have any of those, you could sue her for your expenses, but you would have to show she was negligent.


Title: You're aloud to smoke but you smoked too much

Question:
So, I moved in to an apartment 3 years ago and when I signed my contract I asked if smoking was aloud in my unit. I was told "some people prefer to smoke outside but you are free to smoke inside if you'd like". I was also charged a 100$ deposit and a 500$ non-refundable deposit for my two cats (as well as a 50$ a month pet fee tacked on to my rent which raised to 60$ my second and third year there).

Flash forward 3 years and upon moving out I was sent a bill at my new home for 500$. When I contacted them to find out what this was for I was told it was because my apartment smelled like cats/smoke. When I said I was told this wasn't a non-smoking unit the lady basically said it wasn't, but I smoked too much. I asked if this price took into consideration my 100$ deposit and the 500$ pet deposit (as well as 50/60$ monthly pet fee) she said it did account for the 100$ deposit but the pet money "didn't go towards that".

So I'm paying 600$ because my apartment smelled like cats/smoke even though I was aloud to smoke and had by that time paid 2,900$ in deposit/fees to have my two cats there. Is this legal? What can I do about this 500$ charge?

Answer:
 First of all, it's allowed not aloud.

Your apartment does not just "smell like smoke" after smoking inside for 3 years. Frankly $500 seems on the low side to properly clean for the next tenant. You're responsible to return the unit to the same condition as when you moved in, less reasonable wear and tear. Smoke damage is not reasonable wear any tear.Answer #2: Smoking more than just an occasional cig in an apartment can seriously damage it.  The landlord may have to scrape and repaint the walls, replace carpeting, etc. to get rid of the smoke and make it habitable for the next tenant.  $500 is very inexpensive for the rehabilitation many smokers' apartments require.  If I were you, I'd pay it and be glad it's that little.  If you don't, the landlord could sue you for damages above what your other deposits covered.

You can ask for an itemized accounting for just what the $500 is supposed to cover, if you want.


Title: FBI TOOK MY STUFF

Question: So in April of last year my house was raided by the FBI. They took my laptop that I use for school. How do I get it back from them because it's been over a year since they've taken it. I need help trying to get my stuff back I did nothing wrong myself.

Answer:
 Did you call them and ask about the status?

They can keep it until they are done with the forensic analysis of it.  No one knows where in that process they are, but backlogs of more than a year at some labs are normal.Answer #2: Why did they take it? What did the search warrant say they are looking for?


Title: Strict "No Refund Policy" but Store sold me an unusable product

Question:
This might seem like a petty situation in comparison to a lot of the posts here but I still feel like I was ripped off by a rather sketchy business and wanted to hear outside opinions on it. This happened in Canada by the way , where I believe stores are not required to offer refunds or exchanges at all.

The store in question was a bridal and prom dress boutique. Their "no refund" policy was clearly stated in the invoice and on their front counter. As a side note , they have a lot of one star reviews on Google , along with a suspicious number of  five star reviews . Apparently they offer a very small discount ( something like 5%) if you leave a 5 star review BEFORE you buy from them ( that seems dubious to me ).

Anyways, I was there to look for a prom dress. The service was awful and they limited the amount of pieces you could try on . Employees barely acknowledged you , so customers were forced to help themselves to pick out dresses to try on and then the staff would yell at them that that was not allowed.

After a few visits I found a dress that I liked . It cost over $600 ( which is not unusual for a prom dress in my country) . The store had to order in dresses and the store assistant measured me to match my measurements to the size chart provided by the dress' manufacturer. The measurements came out to about a size 0 and we asked the assistant if we needed to go up a size , she assured us that no , the size she indicated would fit. We looked through the invoice and pay for the dress.

It comes in a few weeks later and when I go to try it on , it's not even wide enough for one of my legs. The tag said size 0 , the size that the assistant said would fit . I try to get help trying it on , and as the same shop assistant tries to zip me up , the zipper blows up completely.

We spend over two hours speaking with a lady who said she was the owner about what could be done , since the dress was unwearable but the store did not offer refunds or exchanges. The owner kept insisting that it could be taken out by "half inches" and that it would fit . I some sewing experience and that dress did not have enough seam allowance to be let out at all , besides this kind of fabric is very delicate and probably would have torn if stretched. She also measured me again , and surprise surprise , all my measurements were bigger by at least half an inch - even though I had not gained weight and my bust measurement was definitely the same. The measurements were only taken weeks apart so I don't believe that its possible to go up so many dress sizes so quickly .

In the end , the owner agreed to  order a new dress in a bigger size , however we would be charged a $300 dollar "restocking fee" . I found that to be predatory , but my only other option was being stuck with a broken $600 dollar dress. I ended up paying over $900 , plus alterations. The size we ordered the second time was a 4 and that was the correct size for me ( only a bit loose) . I tried reaching out to the manufacturer but got no response . I would not be surprised if some of the dresses in their store where counterfeits.

This happened some time ago , so I have no intention of taking any legal action. I'd like to know what my rights are as a consumer in this situation . I believe the business was in the wrong since it was by their mistake that I ended up in that situation , however , I recognize that I willingly purchased a product that could not be returned.

&#x200B;

Answer: You knowingly shopped at a badly reviewed store, experienced terrible service,  saw and understood that they had a no returns or exchanges policy, and still spent 600 dollars there??  Stores do not have an obligation to do returns at all.


Title: Parental leave issues. STD ended and they aren't beginning Parental leave pay because "we weren't notified."

Question:
My wife works at a very large company that offers great benefits. We had our first child and she went on Short Term Disability. It takes a week to kick in so she used a week of vacation to supplement during that gap.  So her STD just ran out and she was sent a check for 48 hours this today for the last two weeks. There way we understood it was that one the STD ran out the parental leave pay would kick in so we expected an additional 32 hours of parental pay to round out the two week pay period.

She called her benefits department and the one woman in charge of people's leave in the entire country...is on leave.  So she gets a call back from the girl that is covering for this other girl and she says that the reason that parental leave didn't kick in is because our insurance company (through her employer) didn't notify them in time and that it will apply during the next pay period.

I told her to call the insurance company and get documentation and when this notification was sent out before calling anyone else at they company to see if that is even true.

This honestly sounds like the girl covering for the other girl in charge of leave screwed up and doesn't want to own up to it and fix it or just doesn't want to deal with it on a Friday.

Any advice? Is this typical?

Answer: I'm having trouble following, but it sounds like documentation wasn't received in time to process a payment, but that the payment will be processed in the next pay period. This isn't that unusual; this is a very manual process and requires a lot of entry level staff to check boxes and send paperwork around. You aren't entitled to any kind of rush payment. You can yell and scream but there's probably almost nothing you can do to get this money any quicker. It's not the hill to die on.


Title: Can my manager look at camera footage from the night before to correct my hours worked

Question: I work at a bar in Amsterdam and my manager was looking at camera footage from a night where I clocked out late on accident and later filed a correction. While watching the footage he found out I stayed late, and now im in trouble. Is he allowed to look at the camera footage for something like this?

Answer: Yes.


Title: [MA] Recently fired

Question: So I was recently fired for "Destroying company property", all I did was play with a spray can I found while sorting through donations (I work in a donation based thrift store "Savers") and sprayed some on one of the garbage cans in the production room. I was brought to the office where my production manager forced me to write a paper stating why I did it and sign my name to it. With in the hour I was let go. Now heres the thing, I am autistic I had no intentions to "Destroy" any property. and now everyone I work with is mad at the managers and want me to seek legal help.

Answer:
 They could have fired you for any reason or no reason at all. Seek unemployment, but prepare to be denied.

And for the record, you did destroy and vandalize company property.


Title: (ID/WA) Deceased grandfather's wife is still sour about his death and is filing fraudulent insurance claims against me.

Question: Here's a little back story for you guys. Right before my grandfather was about to pass we were informed by a social worker that he needed to be rescued (abuse and neglect) and scheduled a complete voluntary (his choice) move from WA to ID. After he passed she started accusing me of stealing her possessions during the move and filing fraudulent claims with her insurance company claiming me as the responsible party. Now I have the insurance companies harassing me telling me that I owe them money. I've tried telling them that she is making fraudulent claims and they act like they don't believe me. I don't want to be forced to pay thousands of dollars for a crime I did not commit, what steps should I take to get this taken care of? Thank you

Answer:
 Have you been served with any official papers that indicate she has filed a lawsuit against you?Answer #2: Insurance companies cannot charge you with a crime and you are not legally liable for anything they claim you owe unless it comes in writing on official state/local court letterhead. You have very little info as to how this situation came about, so I cannot offer any advice other than the insurance nonsense is nonsense.Answer #3: As others have said, until you're served with court papers you can safely ignore it for the most part.

I would make sure that you have details handy regarding the social worker getting you involved- social worker's name and number, case number, any letters you may have received, etc.

Maybe some one else could comment on this possibility, but I wonder if this could count against OP's credit and need to be disputed?


Title: I've seen my boss in her underwear on 3 separate occassions

Question:
I'm in Massachusetts, USA. I work at a dog kennel, and the owner is one of the worst people I've ever met. Constantly berates her employees in front of customers, schedules them for 40-50 hours a week instead of hiring more employees, makes said full time employees also work overtime on top of 45 hours a week, ignores my requests to not work night shifts because of chronic pain, and has no sense of boundaries. Usually employees last about 2 weeks working here because they are treated like 5 year olds & deemed useless if unable to work 24/7.

She sleeps in the building every night, and she doesn't wear pants before 8 am. She walks down the hall to the bathroom in her underwear, and has even tried to have a conversation with me while in her underwear. I've seen her without pants on 3 times in the 3 months I've worked here.

Is there anyone I can call to report something like this? It makes me very uncomfortable. And is there anything she's doing in terms of employee treatment that would be considered illegal?
Topic:
Employment Law

Answer: Have you told her that you don't want to see her in her underwear?


Title: Divorce attorneys: how do I decipher a court docket?

Question: What does "Decree of dissolution granted. Separation agreement incorporated" mean? Does that mean the couple is legally divorced, or just legally separated?

Answer: It means the divorce was granted, and whatever terms were in the separation agreement are part of the divorce order.


Title: I was a guarantor and now the landlord has come to me for money.

Question:
[MA] A couple years ago I was the guarantor for two of my friends who were leasing an apartment building.

Long story short those two friends were not good tenants and were asked to leave the apartment. They told me they were leaving before the lease had ended and that everything was fine with the landlord and property management.

Almost a year after all that happened I received a call from the property manager saying that my two friends owe money on the lease because it took the company a few months to find new tenants. I was told my friends owed money equal to the amount of time the apartment went unoccupied (which ended up being a significant amount of money).  The manager told me that if my friends don’t pay they will come after me.

It doesn’t seem right that they would do this so long after everything has happened. What should I do?
Topic:
Landlord Tenant Housing

Answer:
 > It doesn’t seem right that they would do this so long after everything has happened.

What did you think a guarantor was?  They didn't pay, so you pay.

They have at least three and perhaps as many as 20 years to come after you for this.Answer #2: > It doesn’t seem right that they would do this so long after everything has happened. What should I do?

Pay the money and sue your friends. What do you think being a guarantor means?


Title: (Serious) I have some questions about my parental rights due to a scary situation that has arisen. This is kind of a long one so please take the time to read it all.

Question:
So my ex fiance and I have a son together who will be 2 next month. Our relationship didn’t work out because we simply can not agree on anything. We decided to separate after one such argument.  We talked about splitting custody 50/50, no child support, and all decisions regarding our son would be made jointly unless we couldn’t agree in which case we would engage a legal mediator. I got a lawyer, had him draw up this parenting plan, and gave her the paperwork. She said she wanted to get some legal guidance and have some one look it all over before she signed it. She quit her job because she said she felt like she was missing out on being a mother after he was about 7 months old. Up to that point I was a stay at home dad because she made more money at the time. We switched roles and I supported her and our son up to the time we decided to separate.
 Point being now she has no money for a lawyer, and so she saw a free legal aid.  After which she said she refused to sign the parenting plan.

My attorney had initially advised me that I needed to remain in the home (we are currently living  with her sister and her family for financial reasons) because if I do not than in the courts eyes I would be considered guilty of abandoning my family.

In the midst of all of this, my son on several occasions has displayed odd and concerning behavior which are as follows. On one occasion while only him and I were in the car going somewhere he was pointing to his mouth and his butt saying “owie”. I contacted his mother and asked what it might be about. She didn’t know. I asked if there was any time he was alone with any one besides her. She said no.

On another occasion about a week later, it was evening time and I was going to shower and he needed to bathe as well. So I took him to the bathroom and undressed him. He began crying uncontrollably and saying mommy and “I gurdy” which for him means “I’m scared” this continued until the shower was over. I wrapped him in his towel and took him to the room and was holding him and consoling him and he finally started to calm down. However when I laid him  back to put a diaper he immediately started telling me no no I gurdy again and was trying to cover his genitals and butt with his hands. He did have a little diaper rash which I put medicine on, but in my eyes the rash was not the reason for this behavior. After he was dressed I asked his mother to come into the room and again I asked, has he been left alone with any one but her. She told me no

When I came home from work that evening before I bathed him, she was in the kitchen and my son was in a back bedroom with his cousin. I went down the hall to see where he was when several young men came out of the cousins room, my son came out, and his cousin was not wearing anything but briefs. Initially I didn’t think anything of it until the events I just described transpired.

The background on the situation is this. Her sister and her new husband bought their home from the husbands parents. When they first moved in his parents lived with then. The husbands father began acting in a sexual manor to the boys and the daughter of my ex’s sister. So the husbands parents divorced because apparently this wasn’t his time behaving like that and has a history of inappropriate sexual behavior with kids.

So in my mind, I don’t know the extent of the sexual trauma my sons cousins have experienced, and I don’t know if they would for lack of a better term, in some way molest my son. And because I work full time, and some times as much as 16 hours in a day I am not there to see what happens during the day and who my son is left around.

I made the decision today after discussing it with my family to take my son, and leave that house hold with my son to stay with my father where I know it is safe. My attorney is out of the office until Monday and I plan to file for full custody. I told my ex that our son is safe but he is going to remain with me until we go to court and settle everything. I told her she cannot have visitation until we have our court hearing and a parenting plan established because I don’t feel that he is in a safe situation where she is living.

I live in Washington State, I am an upstanding law abiding citizen with no criminal record.

My question is, am I breaking any laws?

What are the potential consequences of my actions?

Are there any additional steps I need to be taking?

Any useful input on this situation is welcome.

I want to add that I know my son need his mother... I want her to be an active participant in his life. I am just not currently convinced that she is managing his well being very well and feel that because she always is “taking care” of him, she gets tired and becomes negligent while he is in her care..
thanks for hearing me out and I hope some one has something useful to share

Answer: I'd get him to a doctor and get him checked out. Being around children who may have been abused, saying his bottom hurts and being scared about having his genitals and bottom touched would all be major worry areas for me.


Title: dodgy run in with police they have my license

Question:
hi i am 16 years old i live in detroit and im low class so i dont know where to turn to ask about this situation as i cannot get a lawyer or anything like that. But i was pulled over with marijuana in the car and admitted to having it after realizing it was most likely the best course of action i was given a "juvenile detective consultation" where i have to go meet with the junior detective and discuss the incident with him and my parents. well anyways i was taken out of the car patted down and told to stand in front of their car they asked me if i smoked that day and mistakenly i said yes 7-8 hours ago and they told me i would not be able to drive home until they gave me a "sobriety test" in which they waved a pen in front of my face then told me to get in my car, they gave me the slip for the meeting and said i was free to go, they then took off and i did after but. the officer has my license. what im wondering is were they in the wrong? why does he have my license? can i get it back? whats gonna happen at or after this consultation?
Topic:
Drug Possession

Answer: He likely forgot to return it. Call and ask. But nothing they did was wrong. You admitted to breaking the law to police.


Title: Boss Gave me pay advance, One month later he lets me go without a final paycheck.

Question:
I started working for my ex employer about a two months ago, when I first started I let him know I was going through financial issues at the time so he gave me a pay advance. A few weeks he let me go for no apparent reason. He did not give me my final check when he let me go because he stated it was a payment to the money that he advanced me from when I started. I live in the state of California. Is this legal?

I had to leave my town home I was living in for the past year and im on the verge of my loosing my car because im behind on bills.

Edit: Changed time frame

Answer:
 >  In no way shape or form was I fired.

Firing means you were let go. So, in the exact form you were fired. You weren't fired for cause is what you want to say. Completely different issue.

If the pay advance was equal or greater than your final check sure. You are owed for what you worked. If he has paid you more than what you work, he doesn't owe you a final check for funsies.

You can go file for unemployment either way.


Title: [MD-Car Insurance] Was rear ended and filed a claim with the responsible party's insurance; Driver blatantly lies and denies having ties to the accident - Best course of action?

Question:
Hi /legaladvice/, throwaway poster looking for some much needed advice. Apologies for the long winded post, but I wanted to provide as much information as accurately as possible so you'd have all the information you need to make an informed response.

I was involved in an accident a few weeks back. I was sitting at a red light for 15 seconds, got rear ended. Having it be my first accident in all 16 years of driving, I wasn't in the right presence of mind so bear with me as you cringe at what I did.

I got out of the car, her passenger got out as well (she stayed behind the wheel the entire time cursing @ the situation). Confirmed both parties OK, looked at damage, and asked for her license + registration  (which I took photos of). I asked if she had insurance to which they confirmed yes twice, but for some utterly bizarre reason, I didn't ask FOR it (to snap a photo). After a brief awkward pause, we both get back in our cars and she drives away. I drive down the block and realize what a ridiculous idiot I was. Pull over, call the cops, gave them all the information, and told them I was missing her insurance information and wanted their help. Two whole hours later, an officer arrives, hands me a paper note with the name of her insurance + her policy number. I asked the officer if he was going to write a report, he declined, also didn't bother to look at my car or anything.

I get home, call my insurance to keep a file of it and tell them that I wish to pursue the reparations through her insurance. They contact the other company while also sending out an appraiser to estimate the damage to my car. I get a call from her insurance company - the agent confirms that I took pictures of her license and registration. It turns out they had contacted her, and she vehemently denies having any ties to the accident. So I shoot the agent the copies of her license and registration. He calls me back the following day and tells me that she claims her license and registration and license plate had all been stolen, and that he would send an investigator to see her in person.

I'm not very privy to what the investigator came up with but he said he collected everything he could and presented the information to the claims agent on Monday (it is now Friday night). I have not heard from the claims agent since after being told of her denial. I plan on contacting him tomorrow, but it's been on my mind all this time and I can't help but feel that some percentage of possible outcomes will require legal recourse.

It had never ever crossed my mind that this scenario could ever play out the way it did. I'm kicking myself in the butt for not having RECORDED it...In a generation of smartphones and video, how could I have been so absent minded? Anyway, some points to consider -

-There's 0 possibility that we could have the wrong person. It would be inconceivable that I would accept a driver's license from someone who didn't look like the driver who just rear ended me.

-I have a friend who was visiting from CAN who gave a pretty good recall on her description (I presented that information to the investigator)

-Her license plate fell off during the collision. It left a pretty decent discernible imprint on my bumper.

~~-In the photo of her license, the rim of her car is visible (along with the imprint, nothing else visibly ties her car to the accident that I can prove). I didn't bring this up until I noticed it after talking to the investigator today (he told me to tell the claims agent).~~
(Upon further recollection, this is false. The rim belongs to a car in the lane next to us, as I never actually stood past her hood).

-I took notice that her front bumper suffered no visible damage other than the license plate flying off. The investigator confirms that he also saw no damage on her car. This piece of information is pretty significant because you'd assume that a car would suffer some damage, but me having explicit knowledge otherwise helps my case, right?

-The estimate was roughly $1500. I've taken very good care of my car up until now and my trunk can't close and it's all very unsightly, so I definitely do not want to drive it as is much longer.

I'm hoping that the claims agent gives me good news but that's being overly optimistic. I'm currently financially unstable and would hate to be entangled in any lengthy process, but what are my options? Despite her denying being in the accident, would the fact that I have photographic proof of her registration + partial license plate imprint be enough to have the insurance company accept fault regardless of what argument they have with the insured party? Could this somehow be twisted by them to press further burden of proof upon me?

Thank you ahead of time for all of your help and time!

UPDATE 1: When trying to reach her insurance claims agent after a 2 week period of non-response, I got an automated email saying he was out of the office until the 28th. Thanks for the notice guy...

UPDATE 2: Spoke with my insurance again. I was unsure before, but apparently telling them explicitly "I want to go through the other party's insurance" meant (to me) I was going to talk to them myself. But somehow that started the subrogation process for me. So they themselves have served intent to her insurance, but also have yet to receive a response. At this juncture I think I will just wait it out a bit longer and see what comes after the 28th, as my car is perfectly drive-able. Thank you for all the responses!
Topic:
Insurance

Answer: Call your own agent. You pay them all this money to negotiate on your behalf.


Title: Arrested for Pot

Question:
Hi /r/legaladvice!

Yesterday my girlfriend and I were caught by an off-duty police officer smoking pot from a bong I owned. We were caught because we were in a secluded park as my parents were home and we did not want to smoke with them around as my father is extremely strict.

I know this action was extremely stupid, especially looking back now and if I could redo it, I wouldn't do this again, not in a hundred years.

However the reality of this situation is that we were both placed under arrest and taken into custody to be finger printed and such. We were both as completely cooperative as we could possibly be, we handed over the bong, the weed, and told all the officers the exact truth.

The officers all acted like it was really no big deal and at the end of about one to two hours of processing we were both released with two separate charges. I was charged with a minor possession charge and my girlfriend was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia.

It is at this point that I'd like to point out we're in New Jersey if that is relevant. The official charge we received is a disorderly persons offense. We both have a court date set next week and my girlfriend is thinking of finding a lawyer despite the fact we cannot afford one.

We're both 19 so I believe we were charged as adults.

So my question to you guys would be: what should I do? Currently I am planning on going to this court hearing next week by myself (no lawyer) and pleading guilty, accepting the fine, and then going on to expunge the record of this charge when that becomes an option (which from what I've read is about 5 years later).

My girlfriend however contacted a lawyer who said to plead not guilty  because we would be put on probation for 6 months to a year and then the case would be dismissed. I don't honestly know why we would try to plead not guilty when it's obvious we are however.

What is your take on this /r/legaladvice?

I appreciate all your help guys, seriously, thanks a lot in advance.

Answer:
 From our Wiki:
>Drug convictions are a serious issue. They will affect the rest of your life. If you are in college or plan to go to college, your financial aid can be affected. Yes - that includes scholarships. Your ability to get employed in the future will be affected by the outcome of the charges. So...

>yes - these charges count

>yes - this can impact where you can rent an apartment

>yes - this can impact you for years

>no - it's not "just some weed" - it's illegal (in most states and federally) and it's a drug charge

>yes - you need a lawyer

>no - you can't google your way out of this

>no - the cops aren't assholes and this charge isn't bullshit

>yes - you can get kicked out of school for this

>yes - call your family or close friends and get some help

>yes - you may qualify (financially) for a public defender

>yes - a PD is a real attorney with the same experience as a hired
attorney

>no - if you can afford an attorney, you will not get a PD

>yes - drug convictions can also keep you from volunteering for your children's (future and present) activities

That said, plead not guilty and contact a lawyer if you can afford one. The prosecutor will likely be able to work out a deal as your girlfriend found out where the charges will be dismissed after a period of probation. The information above should show you why pleading guilty and expunging years down the line is not a good plan of action.


Title: Brother required to stay after his shift ends until manager checks him out, but not paid for that time. (IA)

Question:
My brother is working as a cashier in a restaurant. He is supposed to cashier until his exact shift end time which is 8PM, and then when he leaves his station he is supposed to go to the cash room where a manager counts out his cash drawer with him. He cannot leave the cash and just go because (1) he needs to be present in case something doesn't add up and (2) he cannot access the cash room without a manager because it is locked, so he would not be able to secure the drawer in a safe place.

What I did not know until yesterday is that he only gets paid until 8, and after that he's just waiting for a manager. Apparently managers just give him the run around for literally hours while he sits waiting for them. He said when he first started they were good about it and he was usually leaving by 8:30, but it has slowly gotten worse. Now he'll ask, they say they'll be over in 10 minutes, 20 minutes later he finds one again and they say they'll be over in 10 minutes, etc. Lately the manager does not come over until after the restaurant closes at 10PM at which point he cashes out other cashiers whose shifts ended at 10 before they do my brother's (the manager his friends with those cashiers).

He said at one point he got so frustrated waiting that he just followed a manager around, but they told him he needs to go wait and basically threatened to fire him for carrying his cash drawer around the place.

He is currently looking for another job (struggling to find something that will work with his schedule of school and time with his daughter) but as soon as he finds one he does plan to quit.

However I am wondering if there's any way he's entitled for compensation for time he was not allowed to leave. He texts me every night as he leaves (I babysit his daughter while he works so he tells me when he's leaving as a heads up that he will be there soon to pick her up) so we have a record of the time he has left. Now that I know he wasn't getting paid for that extra time, I estimate based on those texts that he has sat waiting for about 85 hours!

Is there anything we can do?

Answer:
 He's entitled to be paid for the time he works.

Your bother should keep his own records of how long he works and file a wage complaint based on what he's not getting paid for.Answer #2: Is he clocking himself out at eight, like with a time card?  Or are they clocking him out themselves at eight?


Title: [California] My landlord isn't allowing us basic utilities after previously allowing us to use them, and we want to break the lease.

Question:
Hello!

We are a group of college students at a small university in California.  This is our first experience with renting and living off campus, so we apoligize for our naiveness.

We signed the lease with this particular landlord as we were late on housing and needed a place to stay as soon as possible before the school year started.  Our university has an official group to post ads for off-campus housing, so we looked there.

We found a rather nice looking ad, showing off a house with a large pool, jacuzzi, and fancy furniture all for about 500 a month (which is rather expensive around here, most people pay around 300 a month minus utilities).  The 500 a month included the furnished rooms, AND utilities such as: washer/dryer, internet, electricity, and all the other luxuries that were advertised with the rooms. We should also note that we would also be living with the landlord.

When we were given a tour, we were greeted by the landlord, and her "property manager."  We were assuming the property manager was needed as the landlord is a south-east asian lady whom's english is not perfect.  On tour day, she told us we would be allowed to use almost everything in the house: the pool, the induction stove, the large tvs, the a/c and etc.  She also had three chihuahuas that she said she would keep in side her room.  The contract was very brief, and only mentioned rules such as: no guests after 12, and no parties.  There was no mention of us not being allowed to use any of her utilities, or allowing her to change any rules.

Assuming that we would be comfortable here, we all signed a yearly lease with her and were excited for our next year in college. There were many odd signs that we should have took to notice when living with her.  For starters, she cashed our first months check and our deposits, 1 month early before rent was due, which had forced some of us to have negative balances within our banks.  After living with her for a few days, she starts telling us more about herself.  She told us that she picked us all because we are asian, and that she is more comfortable living with us because so.  She also asked us to pay our rent in cash, and if we paid by check to not write that it was for rent, as she doesn't want "the IRS to catch her."

When moving in, many problems started to arise.  She also kept her chihuahuas in the living room, and they would bark extremely loudly, every moning at 4-6am when she said that they would be in her room. We also brought over a few friends every now and then (about 5 friends), to just have dinner, study, and swim.  Some of our friends are african american, and the next day she would warn us about them, and told us that we would be responsible if they were to "steal" anything.  After our friends would leave she immediately started posting new "rules" for the house onto the kitchen whiteboard.  She told us that we cannot use her stove because it is expensive and that if it broke we would have to pay for it.  She then told us that we have to stop cooking for our friends, and that if we do, we would have to pay her more for electricity; even when it was stated in the contract that our monthly rent would cover utilities includin electric.  Day by day, she started posting new rules: we weren't allowed into the pool anymore, we could not use the TVs, we cannot touch the AC, and that house guests are now limited.  The next day, she came to us and told us that she was going to draft all these rules into the contract, and told us we had to sign an "addendum" to amend these new rules.  She told us that we HAD to sign this addendum, and she told us her lawyer allowed her to do this.  Her property manager isn't around anymore and she told us not to contact her property manager because she is going through "breakup issues."  She hasn't since asked us to sign the addendum since, however she said if we broke the rules she would immediately evict us.

She also has cameras in the house for our "safety," but never mentioned to us that they recorded sound.  We unknowingly had some small talk about finding another place to live, discussing our plans to move out all under the recording of her cameras.  She told us that she listens to us, and then threatened us saying that she isn't afraid of us, stating that she will get a lawyer, and told us that if we were going to move out, she was going to make us pay the entire yearly lease.

We do not have much money for a lawyer, as we are college students.  We just want to know if we have a chance to break the contract without paying the rest of the yearly lease.  We are extremely uncomfortable living here and would like to leave and not cause any more problems.  I will answer any questions and wil post the contract if needed to.  There are not many rental lawyers for us in contact with; and our school's legal clinic has not responded to us since.  Thank you for the legal advice.

P.S.Sorry for any grammar issues, as I typed this up briefly.

Edit:  The property manager isn't in contact any more and her name is included on the contract.  A friend told us that since the property manager is not around anymore, the landlord broke the contract, giving us a means to leave.  Is this necessarily true?  We asked to have a meeting with both the landlord and the manager.

edit: header
Topic:
Landlord Tenant Housing

Answer:
 She can't force you to sign an addendum, and she can't evict you for not agreeing to sign a new modified contract. She can't evict you for breaking "rules" that weren't in your original contract with her. If she evicts you illegally (say by throwing all your stuff out on the curb and changing the locks) you may be able to sue her for triple your damages.

If your lease says utilities generally and electric specifically are included in the base price, she can't charge your for them, and she can't evict you for not paying them.

> and told us that if we were going to move out, she was going to make us pay the entire yearly lease

If you moved out and she attempted to sue you for the remaining lease, the most the courts would likely award her is two months rent.


Title: Constitutionality of movie spoilers

Question:
Is spoiling a movie protected by the 1st Amendment's freedom of speech?

Does it supersede my 4th Amendment's right to privacy?

Someone maliciously spoiled Avengers Endgame for me right before I saw it and I just want to think of him as unAmerican. Thanks.

Answer: Is there any government trying to make telling people the ending of movies illegal?


Title: Ex girl is threatening to dissapear with the child she is pregnant with what can i do

Question:
I can\`t let her have this kid, I have chat logs of everything from extreme drug use to the eventual reason we broke up which is the fact that she worked as a prostitute fml... 7 months..

&#x200B;

Just wondering what is every measure i can take to go after my child, I have the instagram of her sisters and I know where she works I need to know what I need to do to be able to take possesion of my child.. do i have some sort of right to put her in a drug clinic?

I\`m freaking out here guys I don\`t want my kid to be born and have to be with a mother like that

&#x200B;

what rights do i have?

Answer:
 She worked as a prostitute. You may not be the father. Regardless, there isn't anything you can go to court for until there is an living breathing baby.Answer #2: >I need to know what I need to do to be able to take possesion of my child

So first children are you know humans, so you get custody or visitation, not possession.

>do i have some sort of right to put her in a drug clinic?

Absolute no.

>what rights do i have?

After the child is born you can file for custody.


Title: Received in mail 4 titles for vehicles I didn't purchase. Could it be fraud or identity theft?

Question:
I live in Houston Texas. 4 different vehicle titles under someone else's name. Has my name underneath his.
Ex: John Wayne <his name
  c/o John Smith <my name
All 4 came in the mail today and haven't purchased a single car. No weird transactions on my bank account. Need help on knowing what to do with these. Has someone used my name to cosign for some vehicles or something else?

Answer:
 I'm assuming these are from a bank that held the title during loan payments, and the loans are probably freshly paid off, so try calling the bank these came from, if that's the case. It could just be a simple mistake in the paperwork or mailing.
I have a friend who manages a local bank branch. She just fired the branch idiot for mailing 50 car titles, representing all of the paid off loans for the month, to a single customer rather than the real owners. Probably a mail merge issue, but one that should've been caught before they left the bank. Instead the post office caught the mistake at the branch and returned the lot for verification.


Title: [KS] Can a woman be listed as the father on a birth certificate, as in a lesbian relationship? If so, can she be held to the same rights and responsibilities as a biological parent would be?

Answer:
 Am not a lawyer, but am a lesbian researching the best way to plan for kids. The best resource I've found is
[Lambda Legal](http://www.lambdalegal.org/) - they have general state-by-state legal information on LGBT issues. For example, in Kansas, second-parent adoption is not allowed, but since marriage is legal other laws might come in to play.

Most states have a Department of Vital Records or some other government dept. that handles birth certificates, and there should be an FAQ there. I know in Minnesota, for example, two moms can be listed on a birth certificate (with the non-bio parent as the "father").


Title: Our neighbor had us jumped

Question:
Sorry if this is a lengthy story, but I would greatly appreciate some advice on this. It only happened about 5 days ago.

So we lived in the lower level of a house, there is a garage door you have to unlock and walk through a small corridor in order to get to two rooms, ours, and the woman living next door to us. I went outside to smoke a cigarette like I usually do, leaving the garage door unlocked. When I tried to go back in, the door was locked. Fortunately my boyfriend was still trying to find parking and he had another key so I got it from him. Went inside and saw our neighbor lady, let’s call her “D”, coming out of our room, because it was unlocked as well since I am only gone for 5 minutes at the most. I didn’t assume the worst, thought she was being snoopy maybe. So I go in my room and notice a medication of mine is missing. I come up to her door nicely and ask “Were you by chance in my room while I was gone, something is missing.” She came back very aggressively saying “Why the FUCK would I go in your room?!?!?” I didn’t want to escalate the situation, so I went into my room to check further and call my boyfriend to see if he had moved it. Nothing turns up. I got a little upset, said a few things, called her a few names, but she never opened her door so there was no direct confrontation.

An hour and a half or so later we hear shouting and banging at our door, which the garage door would have had to have been unlocked for them to even get to our door and mind you, we were in our pajamas just watching a movie. My boyfriend gets dressed and I’m still in my pajamas and robe. He answered the door and they were pushing themselves in, only noticed two males at first. They take my boyfriend out and one is holding him down, one is beating, kicking, punching. I come out and say “Hey this is unnecessary, please stop!!!” And I can hear one of them saying that he is “D’s” brother, which means she is the one who told them to come here and do this to us, and had to be the one to unlock the garage door. Out of nowhere a woman rushes at me, pushes me to the ground inside our own room and starts beating me with a metal object in her fist (still not sure what) wherever she can get a punch in. I was screaming and yelling for help at this point. I eventually was able to kick her away and get to my phone to call the police. They immediately ran, and the police showed up not even a few minutes later. I was extremely distraught. They took our statements and both of us had to be rushed to the hospital in an ambulance.

The problem here is not really the story, but the detective that is assigned. In the past two days I left him 8 voicemails and a message in his inbox at the station for him to call me back ASAP. He called me back finally today saying he has done all his investigating and got a hold of all parties involved, saying that they are all claiming self defense, and that no one wants to press charges unless we do. He does not seem to be helpful at all, keeps repeating to me that there are two sides to every story. Saying that even if I do press charges it’s going to take a long time to get to the DA, and they will possibly even just throw the case out because there are no witnesses, only “he said she said.”

The man renting the room to us told us that essentially he’s not “allowed” in this country. We don’t know the name of the real landlord, nor the man who rented us the rooms real name. So in order to keep him out of the whole situation, we told him that he would be left out of it if he just gave us extra money on top of our deposit to pay for my missing medication. The detective told me that what we did was illegal, but it was a written up agreement that all 3 of us signed (The man renting the room, my boyfriend, and I)  basically saying we wouldn’t come after him for any damages, because I had called him when the first dispute occurred when she was coming out of my room and he did absolutely nothing about it.

How do we get around all of this?

How do we get justice?
Topic:
Criminal Law

Answer:
 First thing you should do is go to court and get a restraining order placed on not only your neighbor but also her brother and his friends.

Second is tell that detective YES you want to press charges against the brother and friends, any DA with half a brain will see that this isn't "self defense" as you were attacked inside your residence, and yes the garage counts as part of your residence.

Third install security cameras inside your room, this way if anything else goes "missing" you'll have proof of what really happened.

Fouth don't talk to your neighbor at all, no need to add fuel to her craziness and get more people called in.

Also from now on you should always carry a key to open the garage incase you get locked out again.


Title: Ex-wife is having my paycheck garnished

Question:
I've been divorced since September 2011.  I have a child support agreement to pay my ex wife $400/month, which I have always paid on time.  In fact, when I had to spend 2 years in Qatar for work, I gave her $1100/month.

She was fired from her job about 2 years ago for missing too much work.  She hasn't worked since.  She has now filed with the State of Missouri to have my paycheck garnished for "underpayment."  She has claimed that I owe her $4600, which is a lie, and I can prove it.

My question is, has she broken any laws?

TL;DR: Exwife lied to Child Support Enforcement and is having my paycheck garnished for unpayment of support.  I've never missed a payment and even paid more than required at times.

Answer: Something doesn't add up here. Shouldn't this be cleared up with a single visit to you showing you paid what you owed?


Title: Medical Marijuana and Firearms purchase?

Question: I live in California, I have a medical marijuana card. I will soon be purchasing a handgun. Although I have not yet started the process. Will the holding of medical marijuana card bar me from purchasing a firearm? Thanks in advance. Also, as soon as 2018 comes, CA will be a 100% recreational marijuana state. Thanks in advance

Answer:
 The federal government could not give two craps less if California has no laws about marijuana.

Because the federal government DOES.

This is on the form you'll have to fill out and sign when you buy a gun.

>   Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?

> **Warning:  The use or possession of marijuana remains unlawful under Federal law regardless of whether it has been legalized or
decriminalized for medicinal or recreational purposes in the state where you reside.**

So yes, it will bar you from purchasing a gun.


Title: Indiana. I have custody of my kids and they see their mom every other weekend. She is somehow getting food stamps, is this legal?

Question:
Pretty much summed it up in the headline but one more detail I need to add.  The mail from the food stamp office comes to my house.  I called her and asked about it and she told me that they knew she didn't live there but she didn't have her PO Box set up.

I'm concerned that she told them that she does live here, but not me.  Is this something that could come back on me?  What exactly are the requirements for counting a child as a member of the household, when they don't live with you the majority of the time?

Answer:
 If she is getting food stamps for herself, that's not likely to be a problem.  If her food stamp application claimed she has custody, that's going to come back to bite her.

If the department believes that you committed fraud with her, then you could be held liable too (to pay back benefits plus penalty.)Answer #2: Contact the food stamp office and let them know that she is having mail sent to your house and that she doesn't live there, but your kids do.  They will handle it from there.Answer #3: I'd be tempted to return the mail to the food stamp office ("Not at this address") and let them figure out what she's up to. Does she receive other mail at your address, or is this her one and only?


Title: The company I work for is being forced to close down.

Question:
UPDATE: just as I thought, it's completely legal. Thanks guys!

I've been working in a cafe/bar in a small town in North Carolina for four years now. This last year has been rough for the business to say the least.

Someone recently came in and bought the apartments above us and put them all in an HOA. A friend of his bought our building in and slipped the HOA requirements into our lease. We have been forced to shut down at midnight at the latest, which is already kind of a death sentence for a bar.

• The rent was scheduled to go up by $1,000 in November

• the city has begun threatening to tow any cars in the parking lot after 11 pm if we get any noise complaints (we're a venue)

• the owner of the cafe just had a meeting where he offered to turn us into just a cafe, put $10,000 down and sign a ten year lease as just a cafe, just to allow us to stay in business. These offers fell on deaf ears.

• we are in a downtown/mixed usage area with living and business buildings.

I've been just accepting this as textbook gentrification, but people keep saying "isn't that illegal?"
So, I figured I'd ask.

Edit: forgot to add that the landlord said they will not be renewing our lease, with no reasons given. But that his friend is planning on opening a bar with a similar vibe on our street, and another friend of his is planning on opening a restaurant at our current location.

Answer: Nothing illegal happened here. Landlords are not obligated to renew leases if they are not interested in renewing leases.


Title: Got "fired" the day before my first day. Advice?

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 >Apparently he lost funding. He was very apologetic, and said he was very sorry. He offered me cash (!) and said he'd try to find me another place to work.

And you're not willing to take him up on that? Note, you didn't specify how much he offered, but what exactly are you expecting here? Are you wanting to sue your ex-boss? Are you asking about your tenancy contract?

If the startup lost funding, are you trying to get blood from a stone? Are you trying to burn your bridges both personally and professionally?

Not every problem *needs* to be solved by legal action. You took a risk, it didn't pay off, why do others need to pay for your gamble? See how active the ex-boss can be in helping you gain employment elsewhere, otherwise look to see what you need to do to get out of your tenancy contract.

>Please help out a depressed, desperate and broke guy.

Sounds like the ex-boss already tried to do this. Why are you turning to the internet instead?Answer #2: Unless there's something specified in your contract, I doubt you have any legal recourse. Most jobs have a probationary period during which you can be released without cause. Sounds to me like the guy is actually doing more than is legally required in offering you a payoff and help with finding another role.

Sorry, it sucks but there's probably very little you can do.


Title: Can the Apple Store gold my phone indefinitely?

Question:
I took my phone to the Apple store to get the display fixed, but I wasn't informed until it was time to pick it up that the warranty wouldn't cover it and it's gonna be $149. Being a broke college student, I can't really afford that right now or for the foreseeable future and they said they will hold the phone for 60 days before recycling it.

I asked if they could undo repairs or just give me the phone without a screen but they aren't going for it. Do I have any other options or should I just start scraping together the money?

P.S. I'm in MD, and the phone was a gift.

edit** I meant hold in the title.

Answer:
 Indefinitely? No. They said they'll hold it for 60 days.
If you don't pay to pick it up, they'll recycle and likely charge you a fee for doing so.

I would start scraping that cash together now.Answer #2: Why did you think your warranty would cover it?


Title: I am working in a segregated department (IA)

Question:
We are a union plant, so I'm not sure how much help I can get from here, but here goes.

Within the past year, my facility has been trying to implement a system of increased pay based off how much schooling you have. If you pass the test without even taking the test, you get the total increase without the progression tiers. If the department signs this increase, they get an immediate 40 cent raise. This sounds all great for the employees except with a few details.

I am in the same department. Same department code, same uniform. The biggest difference is job description. I am more on the utilities(electrical, steam, refrigeration, etc) than the general maintenance; the ones receiving the raise.

I want to know how a company(and or Union) can allow the exact same department the purposefully be segregated out of a training program and financial compensation.

I apologize if this doesn't belong here.

Answer:
 You mean can your employer require a demonstrable level of education for a pay raise?

Yes.


Title: Wasn’t paid all my hours in my first paycheck, What do I do from here?

Question:
Hey guys!

So I’m going to keep this as simple and short as possible.
I started a new job (food industry) on August 31. When I went for an interview just 2 days before, she told me I could try a shift on the 31st and see if it like it and tell me how things went. She also said we would go over rules and uniform and all of that. I worked 5 hours that day.

A couple of days later, I officially got the job and filed paperwork and all that Jazz.

Then I get my first paycheck yesterday, September 21st. My pay stub says I worked 18 hours, but I went back and counted the days and hours. I came up with the total of 23.

23-5=18
Sooo I’m guessing she didn’t pay me for the working August 31?

Is she required to pay me for working those hours or do I just drop it? Because maybe I don’t get paid for those hours because it was a “test shift”

Please help! Thank you all in advance.

I live in Georgia btw.

Answer: Double check the pay period on your stub: it may not be the first day you’re missing, it may just be that some of your hours worked were after the pay period cutoff (and they’ll be on the next cheque).


Title: mom being denied visitation, denied guardian ad litem, counselor for child lied on stand, in Richmond VA

Question:
I have no record of any kind.  I do not abuse my kids, nor do I do drugs.  I lost custody to my children because my ex had someone take the stand and lie that I did drugs.  Within 23 hours I had to give up my kids, my home and everything else I owned to my ex.  After I took my court ordered drug test, and it was of course negative because I don't do drugs, I decided to take 7 more on my own.  All negative.  The court did not care.

That was two years ago.  We are still not divorced because he has so much money and keep getting it continued.  Now he has found a counselor to side with him, and last week we went to court where the counselor lied and they stripped me of my visitation and banned me from going to the kids school (where I was an active volunteer).

My attorney is not aggressive and his is very much a dirty aggressive attorney.  I am out of money, and in severe debt.

My children are very young, and need me.  We go to court again in 3 weeks for our "final" hearing, although the "final" hearing has been trying to happen for half a year now.  The first judge said this was the worst divorce case in Chesterfield County and gave it to a "judge pro tem", who we have now.  I have heard of people who are felons, on drugs, abuse their kids and still have custody and/or visitation and this is NOT the case with me.  I am a college graduate, don't use drugs, have no record whatsoever, love my children and am a great mother (I was a working mom for years, then a stay at home mom, then my ex cheated on me and we split).  We are in circuit court, so I don't think I have an appeals process.  I don't have any money to hire some big wig attorney to win this and my kids are suffering.  Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Answer:
 I am just going to gloss over the fact that I think you leaving some major information out and/or misunderstanding this process.

If you don't like your lawyer get a better one. If you are not even allowed visitation right now then that is a very serious situation, and judges only order than when there is a very serious issue. There is no simple way to deal with this DIY.Answer #2: You can't keep focusing on "big wig attorneys" and how somehow your husband convinced a judge and an independent counselor to lie to get him full custody.  It's not credible.  What *actually* is happening here?  It's not likely that a judge would strip you of *all* custody on a rumor that was not only unsubstantiated but proven false.  There is substantial background that we don't have the benefit of.Answer #3: If you dislike your lawyer , take the transcripts and court orders thus far and interview other lawyers get second and third opinions.  I'm suggesting the transcripts because there is a large disconnection from the courts reactions and what you are describing happened and it doesn't matter if EX lied the court obviously believed EX so a lawyer will need to know what the court believes to be true.

Not even allowing supervised vitiation is a huge deal so the court believes something very serious is going on. You don't seem to understand the courts position you need someone who does.


Title: Starting a new blog. What can I legally post about people/companies/etc? (Texas)

Question:
I'm writing a new blog and I just want to know what I can and cannot legally post about people/companies/groups who may be the subject of the weeks post.

Simple question, I just want to make sure no one starts sending lawyers after me for being cathartic.

Answer: Anything true and anything that is your opinion.


Title: Ex-boyfriend posted my explicit pictures on the internet

Question:
So I dated a guy for two years over a year ago and as much as I hate to say it, I cheated on him. I was in a bad spot and didn't have anyone at the time while he was overseas with the Marines. I hate myself for this and he went absolutely off on me when he found out and went off again when he found out I began dating the guy I cheated on him with. Now, I got a message from a friend saying he saw explicit pictures of posted on 4chan and screenshotted it to me. My ex would always take pictures and videos of us and would ask me to pose. He has thousands of pictures like this showing my face and everything. I messaged my ex about this and he denied it and said he sold his cell phone and laptop a while ago and that is probably how the pictures leaked. I don't buy it for one second and I know he posted that picture and probably many more. Is there anything I can do about this? I feel like I have no support for this. I was hoping to move on from that chapter of my life but now I feel like I'm exposed to the world.

&#x200B;

Answer: Revenge porn is a crime if you can screenshot and show it's his and take legal action. Don't let anyone scare you away from doing so


Title: Slumlord questions again

Question:
Is this even legal? https://imgur.com/gallery/WQ36gIj

Got a letter staying electric is the tenants responsibility May 1st. Now he wants me to pay last months too today. The electric has been included in the rent since I moved in.  I don't have a lease so I basically just have to pay the SOB right? Ohio. If its legal ok but still ain't right.

Last week shows up at my store to tell me Im 'probably' being evitcted because I was bitching its taken over a month to do something.  At my job. Wtf. Im already looking for another place to live. It'd take me a week to write a post of the nightmare this place has been since day 1. Im so angry.

Answer:
 > I don't have a lease

Well, all legal protections you might have are out the window, so I'm not sure what you want us to tell you.


Title: Oakland Rent - Master tenant only contributes 5% of total rent

Question: [deleted]

Answer: Yes. Their lease has nothing to do with yours.  Assuming they are separate leases


Title: [New York] I put a girl pregnant and she wants to keep it, I don't is there a way I can be legally unacountable for this child ?

Question: So yeah, i hoocked up with a gril a didn't really know and now she is pregnant. You gotta know im 17, I'm still in high school and I am not ready to have it, also I don't know the mother and I feel like this kid would'nt have a good quality of life and these are the reasons i don't want it. I don't need to know we could've protected i just want to know what i can do ! thank you..

Answer:
 No. Get a job now and start saving your money. You're gonna need it.Answer #2: You can prepare to pay child support for 18 years. You'll be able to establish paternity and thus visitation once the child arrives.

Congrats, dad!Answer #3: If she someday gets married and the potential stepfather wants to adopt, then yes, at that time.

Until then, you are on the hook.


Title: Possible Fair Housing Act / HUD violation. Looking for the correct documentation in any advice to confirm before I file a report.

Question:
First I would like to thank anyone who takes their time  out of the day to respond.

Okay. Here's the situation. My girlfriend and I have made the decision to finally move in together. Her apartment is far closer two work than mine and we would prefer that we keep her apartment and let mine go.

She has stayed in the apartment complex for nearly two years and has never had any issues. When inquiring about the process to get my name added to the lease, I was informed that my application would be denied because of criminal background.

This policy seems to be essentially a blanket statement, even posted on the rental company's website. Now I am very unfamiliar with this area of the law but here is my assumption. Because she is already capable of taking care of her rent and finances by herself, the addition of a second income on the household could not put that in jeopardy.

Then because my application and residency would be denied solely on the grounds I have a criminal background is in violation of the Fair Housing Act and I'm being discriminated against simply because of the criminal history. If that is the case, what documentation should I assemble to put pressure on the landlord? Should I contact an attorney? Or should I file A HUD violation report?

Answer: Where are you seeing it is a violation of the FHA for discriminating on the basis of criminal history?


Title: Great Uncle died without will in New York state. No spouse, no kids, one living sibling across the country.

Question:
My great uncle who was close with my parents and family in New York died potentially without a will.  My parents were the closest with him and have been searching for a will for a few days. Odds are not looking good for finding one.

He has multiple assets and bank accounts that now look like they will be going to his brother who lives across the country. They haven't seen each other in probably 40 years and the majority of that family my great uncle probably never met. (That legally doesn't factor into anything, just adds insult to injury for my parents)

Is there anything that can be done as far as my parents go? I feel terrible for them that they lost a family member, and also get nothing afterward. Pretty much it's the bank accounts that are potentially the biggest loss as far as assets go because my mom has stage 4 breast cancer and massive medical bills. They could so use the money.

Is this just a cautionary tale for making sure you have a will?

Answer:
 If I understand NY's laws right, *all* of your great uncle's siblings inherit a share. Living ones get theirs directly; deceased siblings get a share that is then passed to *their* descendants.

So your parents should get something, it depends on how many other siblings there were and how many siblings your *parent* had.

Is anyone managing the probate process?


Title: Employer lied on reference/job verification form

Question:
S.Florida

What happens when your employer gives a false reference?

Example: You left the place of work on your own accord, yet when the new potential employer asks you for a reference for employment verification the old employer indicates that you were dismissed and ineligible for rehire?

“Scenario”: Employee is contracted with an agency and is completing a new task for first time and makes a miniscule mistake. Nothing that cannot be corrected, given that several other employees have been having issues with the same particular task. This after completeing all previous tasks correctly and in a timely fashion the employee in question has therefore proved competence and reliability.

Supervisor becomes upset at the mistake and asks the employee if they want do the work correctly or leave.

*Employee chooses to leave.*

Agency representative calls the same day asking if its true that employee chose to leave. Employee confirms. Agency representative lets employee know work was winding down anyways and its not a problem. Employee will be kept on file for new contracted work.

I called the supervisor who admitted to putting terminated on my reference, and became defensive when I brought the witnesses this exchange was done in front of.

What’s next for me?

Answer:
 "not eligible for rehire" is their opinion. They can not rehire anybody they don't want to.Answer #2: Can you present your witness to your "new job offer" people?  May not help, though.Answer #3: So the whole asthma/smoking thing wasn't important enough to mention in the original, unedited post?
Seems a little 'constructive' on its own TBH...Answer #4: Fired vs quit doesn't really matter. So there is nothing you can do. They decided to fire you after you quit.


Title: [California] I am under 18. Is it OK for me to charge people for my technological services (diagnosises, repairs, etc.)?

Question: I've decided that my time is valuable and I don't want to do all these things for free, so I'm wondering if I could charge people even though I'm under 18 and not part of a business. If that's illegal, what would happen if I did so anyways?

Answer: Its not illegal to charge people for casual work and services. Just remember to declare income where it is required by law.


Title: [CA] Smoking age raised to 21

Question:
So these questions are more hypothetical and to get an understanding of the law.

(1)  I did skim through the bill, but I was wondering if there will be a grandfather clause for those who are 18 before the law is enacted? From what I read, there won't be, but I wanted to ask.

(2) If a person under 21 was smoking or vaping in public, could a police officer stop them to check their age if the officer suspects they might be under 21 due to their appearance?

Thanks in advance for any input you have.

Link to the bill: http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520162SB7

Answer: No, the bill only addresses sales to those under 21, it doesn't criminalize possession of tobacco/nicotine delivery systems. In essence, they can start busting people who sell to people under 21, not those who are under 21 who possess the products.


Title: I'm being wrongly accused of sexual child abuse on Facebook by someone I don't know from Canada.

Question:
The other day, someone made a public post to Facebook of a poorly planned doxx for a child abuser in New Jersey. It was a collage of chat logs featuring this person soliciting nudes from underage people, pictures of the abuser's genitalia, a photo of the abuser's NJ license, and censored pictures of the underage nudes they've received. Unfortunately, I share the same name as this abuser from New Jersey, right down to the middle initial, so it appears that the person making this doxx had searched the abuser's name on Facebook and went with the first profile they found, which happened to be me. They used an image of me accepting an award in highschool to censor the picture of the aforementioned picture of the abuser's dick, implying that I am this person from New Jersey who was soliciting nudes from the underage (I live 6 hours away in New York).

I've also recently discovered that they've been trying to contact members of my family and friends of mine for at least a week now, which is how this post came to my attention. When alerted to this, I tried to ask, rather politely, to have my picture removed from the collage as it was rude at best and defamatory at worst. Immediately, the person began to latch onto me and post chat logs from this other person all over my public page (until I made it private) and attempt to contact more of my friends and family and threatening me in direct messages that they may send obscene pictures to them. I've already attempted to prove to them that I am not the person they think I am (with a picture of myself holding the poster's name up on a piece of paper) but they are convinced that I am just using an aliased account and, according to their "chinese facial recognition software", that I am the same person. Everyone else who looks at the images he's posting disagrees strongly. They continue to harass me and my friends, trying to pry personal information from them.

&#x200B;

The only thing I was concerned about was getting my picture taken off of this person's post so that my family/friends wouldn't start to think that I am in some way associated with this child abuser from New Jersey, and it has now turned into a full scale attack on me and anyone in my personal sphere of influence. A couple people have already tried to ask me if I was really responsible for the chat logs that this person is spreading everywhere. I have written a personal injury lawyer and have left a message with the local sheriff, but I'm not sure if either of them will take this seriously. I don't know what to do next.

Answer: Call the police. If the person is from Canada they can get them arrested by the RCMP. The police can also contact Facebook and get all this stuff taken down and maybe if there is a real pedophile they can go after them.


Title: Job scam, reshipping at home job

Question: I don't know where else to turn. My mom's boyfriend got a job with Simple Freight LLC. Where appretntly they will send to our house pacakgaes that he has to reship after taking pictures of the  package and assuring all contents are in it. This sounded off to me and I advised him and he won't listen to me that it is a scam. He won't believe me just saying "whatever happens, happens" and then today when he got his first package and shipped it out it had our address on it! Im just concerned for my safety. Can something like this be legit? Do you guys think it's a scam?

Answer:
 These are probably items bought with stolen credit card numbers. Your address is being used so the actual thief won't get caught when the police track down where the packages are going. If that's what it is you're literally being set up as credit card thieves recieving stolen property.

It's also possible that the scam might start to include recieving and sending money. That could also be stolen money which can have severe legal penalties for helping move, or it could be fake checks that seem to clear, but later bounce or get reversed after you guys have irreversible money transfers to the actual thief.Answer #2: 100% scam. And he himself is facilitating criminal activity for which he could face legal consequences.


Title: Served ghe wrong person papers (LA)

Question: My boyfriend and I live together and a police officer showed up to iur house, asked for him (mind you he has a normally female name), I stated I was not that person and he gave me papers and told me to give them to him.  Come to find out, they were papers for being sued for child support.   he has no problem paying child support, but we would rather go after 5050 joint custody first, because the childrens mother has shown she cannot manage their wellbeing.  Can this case be thrown out or forced to be redone because they served the wrong person the papers?

Answer:
 I think some of the comments for you are a little backwards. Service, while times difficult, isn't something magical requiring X, Y, Z, and some fairy dust. Service is about making sure the other party is on NOTICE of the court date.

So, let's pretend you and your boyfriend want to fight this as improper service. Well, you either ignore the court date and risk a default judgment, which is a really bad idea since there will be paperwork saying your boyfriend was served. Or, you show up and say ex girlfriend served the wrong person! Judge will look at your boyfriend and say, well, you got the papers right? You knew to come to court? It would not be wise to lie to the judge who is about to decide custody and child support payments.

In the end, just file the documents for requesting 50/50 custody and get ex girlfriend served. Probably consult a family law attorney or clinic. Answer #2: No

> Art. 1234. Domiciliary service

>Domiciliary service is made when a proper officer leaves the citation or other process at the dwelling house or usual place of abode of the person to be served with a person of suitable age and discretion residing in the domiciliary establishment.