Title: Help getting out of lease- Horrible Roommates!

Question:
Hello everyone I come to you all today for obvious reasons (title).

Back story: I had to move from my last apartment fairly quickly and had a very limited budget. This in turn results in me moving into an apartment with three gals who I had never met. The place itself was within my budget and near enough to my job and I’m kept to myself so I figured I can make it work despite never having met these people.

Problem: Time and time again these 3 have shown that they have no respect for me nor my property. I’m genuinely hate being home because it’s such a toxic environment, it’s gotten to a point that for my safety I need to move. However, I still have 8 months to the end of my lease and cannot get in contact with my landlord for a copy of the lease. I desperately need to leave but I’m not sure how to go about it. What is the best way to break the lease and leave with minimal fees and least amount of legal battles. Like I mentioned prior I am on a tight budget and can only afford so much. Additionally because I would have to be looking for a new place I have to account for any upcoming safety deposit or moving costs.

Please let me know if you’ve been a similar situation or know how to get out, thanks in advance.

Answer:
 You are responsible for your lease until it completes.

You need to get a copy of your lease (which you should already have!) and see if you can sublet.


Title: (Virginia) If I receive an inheritance and utilize it to pay bills is it still considered separate property?

Question:
(Virginia). Let's say that a spouse receives an inheritance but deposits it into a separate checking account. The spouse keeps the inheritance in that account, but, in the spirit of wanting to share, also takes some money from it to pay off combined bills on a regular basis.

Would the inheritance in its entirety still be considered separate property, in this case, in the event of a divorce? Or would the fact that even part of it was used for a "shared" expense (bills) place the inheritance in its entirety into shared property?

Thanks!

Answer: Nope. Only the portion that was shared would be martial property.


Title: Ex-wife's attorney has accessed my Tinder account, my cellphone text messages, my web search history, and (likely) my phone calls with no subpoena (South Carolina).

Question: [deleted]

Answer: You should be asking your attorney these questions and doing nothing without the attorney's okay.


Title: Girl molested. Where to get advice?

Question:
My best friend's 8yo daughter was molested recently by a trusted family member. Many other members of the family are financially indebted to the perpetrator. He lives in Texas. Please tell me where to get advice and support for this. Local police are involved and a detective is working, but the girl will eventually begin to cry and scream when asked to explain details.

He told her of consequences that would happen if she told anyone. She still believes. We only found out about what was going on because she had an emotional breakdown and confessed to her cousin. The cousin told the family.

Need to find resources for the moment. We need people to talk to. Thanks.

Answer: This isn't subreddit advice territory. Everyone involved needs to be *wildly* careful when speaking to the child about this because memory and testimony can be shattered with bad interviewing techniques. I would suggest calling [RAINN](https://www.rainn.org/about-national-sexual-assault-telephone-hotline) and asking for referrals to a child psychiatrists with expertise in child sex crime victim work. I would include the police in your plans.


Title: New landlord bought our property and changed the terms for staying [HI]

Question:
Hey everyone, the title basically summarizes it the situation, but here are the details. I’ve lived in a house in Hawaii for about 2 3/4 years, but a new owner came in and recently bought the place. I was on good terms with the old owner, and we hugged goodbye and exchanged gifts and stuff before we left. Previously, my housemate and I were month to month, as our lease expired in January.

Now, on May 1st the new owner offered to let us stay, but said he wanted to repair the floors upstairs, in my unit, because they’re damaged and dirty (which is true). There’s termite damage from years ago and mismatched flooring. The deal was, I could move to the old landlord’s small room down below, but keep living on the property. I explained that I would need a kitchen if I moved, because the small remove below has a bathroom, but only a sink and shelves. He said sure, they’re renovating the floors but the kitchen should be OK.

Fast-forward a month (roughly June 2-3), and he’s not only saying that the kitchen is off limits (he’s having the whole house painted and they’re coming ASAP), but that everything from previous tenants needs to be off the property or we’re losing our deposits. Keep in mind, there was quite a lot of stuff in the house, including shelves, a bed, garbage, extensive kitchenware, and, the coup de grace, a very large Hammand 8200 electric organ. Friends and I had gone to extensive efforts even to remove this stuff, though it’s acknowledged by everyone that it was there before we moved in, and got almost everything except the kitchenware out of the apartment.

I explained the situation to him on June 4th, saying I can’t live (and work on my dissertation, which is due in July) without a place to cook for myself and that he had agreed on that in May. He also starting complaining there were plants and cacti in the garden (also there when I moved in), and other old pots on the property, and that I had to remove them all or lose my deposit. Mind you, I have no car. He basically said, ‘Remove it all or if you don’t like it you can have you rent check and move out, but good luck.’ I have a cat, which makes that scenario extra difficult here.

As they began repairs that day, too, termites began swarming my place, and after I left to go work at school, he started sending me aggressive text messages complaining about the number of garbage bags left by the garbage spot, demanding everything be hauled away, etc. despite the efforts I already made out of good will. So I weighed my options and, by a miracle, found a place with some coworkers I could abruptly move the kitty and I into. We moved stuff that night and that next and I texted him and left the keys, but when I went to cancel the check, I discovered that he had already cashed it on the 4th.

What do I do? I feel like he effectively wanted to evict me from the property into a different room, which was much smaller but meant to contain all my stuff and my cat, but did not give either me or my housemate the required 45 days not for month-to-month tenants in Hawaii. Hawaii statutes also saying we’re to leave the place in the condition it was when we rented it, not that we have to remove everything for him. This is already a very stressful time for me, and now he’s ignoring my text about the rent check that he already cashed. He knew up front that I was finishing my dissertation, had a kitty, and would probably also have to move in September back to the mainland, so I feel he is taking advantage of us for labor and money. I was literally in tears the other day because I bought $60 In frozen food and had nowhere to put it anymore and that’s a lot of money for me. What can I do?

Answer:
 Removing your access to a kitchen was a material breach of the lease terms. I am not comfortable saying with a lot of certainty, but I believe you may have an argument that you were constructively evicted, and possibly owed damages beyond your rent for the month and deposit properly returned. It's not a very straightforward question/answer, so I strongly recommend you contact a housing/tenancy attorney in your area to discuss the issue.

Good luck.


Title: My sister was admitted to a psychiatric care facility based on a wellness check initiated by a crazy boyfriend

Question: We are in Oklahoma City. My sister had a wellness check initiated on her by her boyfriend. She didn't handle the situation well. She bolted out the back door of her place and the police caught up with her. She agreed to being admitted in the hospital without a fight. The next day she was handcuffed by the police and transferred to a pych ward of a sister hospital (same health group) about 30 minutes away from our, her family's side of town. We are trying to get her transferred to a different facility of our choosing. I just spoke to the head physician there and was informed that it depends on whether she was voluntary or an involuntary admission whether or not she gets to decide where she is treated. Of course it's someone at at that hospital who decides what is voluntary and involuntary. I don't believe she is getting proper care. The food is terrible and she's not eating. And they are holding that against her. It's a coed situation and she is very uncomfortable. What are our rights in this situation? What kind of attorney would we even need to talk to that could help us with this situation.? We've tried to get her primary care physician to transfer but be she is something called "not hospital certified". Very frustrated and confused as to what to do. I'm her big brother and I'm doing everything I can to help.

Answer:
 Has anyone ever applied for, and granted, any kind of guardianship or Medical Power of Attorney over your sister? If she's an adult, and nobody is legally empowered to make decisions on her behalf, then I don't see how you'd have any legal standing to force matters.

If you want to get to that state, you'll need to talk to a family lawyer who can start the legal processes for some kind of guardianship / POA or something of that sort.

Was your sister previously in the care of a psychiatrist, not just a primary care doctor, beforehand?


Title: Landlord won't deal with rat problem (Oregon)

Question:
Shortly after my roommates and I moved into our house we started hearing some sort of animal running around and digging into the walls in our attic. One day of of my roommates saw a rat run across our kitchen floor so we decided to call our landlord and fill her in on the situation. She sent a pest control guy over and he confirmed there were definitely quite a few rats, squirrels and even birds living in our attic. He relayed the message to our landlord who told him to use poison mitigate the problem. So, without us knowing he used poison in our attic so obviously  something died in our wall and has been making our house smell absolutely terrible for upwards of two weeks now. The pest control guy came back and said that something definitely died in the wall (ya don't say) and that the only way to remove it would be to take out part of the wall. When I told my landlord via voicemail (she never answers her phone) that:
1) we would need to have part of the wall removed
2) there was a hole in our roof that we've see rodents crawl through
3) our house smells so terrible we can barely stand to be in it

she said we should just wait for the smell to subside. I mean, obviously if we could afford it we would just deal with the situation ourselves but we're college students and can't afford to have the wall taking out. We're paying rent to be in a house we can't even be in. Is there anything we can do?

I should also mention, we keep an extremely clean house so that's definitely not the issue. Thanks in advanced!

Answer:
 Contact your local health department and get an inspection.
You need to also write your land lord a a certified letter explaining the problem so he can't cry you never notified me.


Title: My company has been dwindling staff intentionally to make more money for the owners. It’s created an unrealistic amount of work for me, as I have doubled my client load. I want to get fired to collect unemployment while I look for new work. What are my legal boundaries? (CA)

Question:
Throwaway account. California.

I heard through the previous manager at my company that the owner is intentionally stripping staff to make as much money as possible while trying to dissolve the company, a startup. While I look for a new job following this information, it’s made my workload and clients impossible to manage. I’m hoping to get fired so I can collect unemployment, but I want to get fired for a justifiable reason so I can collect unemployment.

So a couple questions- Could my employer fire me for my inability to keep up with the workload? Would I be able to collect unemployment if he did? Or could I do or say something to instigate getting fired vs quitting in order to collect unemployment?

Obviously lining something else up immediately is ideal, but the job market being what it is, I’m needing to consider alternatives. Thanks for any help

Answer:
 If you're fired for not keeping up with your work that is not misconduct unless they can show you were not trying.  This is certainly not "on cool trick" but if you bring your concerns to your employer in an honest and good faith attempt to get help with your workload and are fired you would probably qualify.Answer #2: As a side note people are often under the misapprehension that being fired is the only way to collect unemployment, this is not true.  Being laid off is as well, and in addition there are specific circumstances where you can quit and still get unemployment.

The most notable is constructive discharge, where they change your working circumstances so drastically that it becomes intolerable.  The most common example of this in case law is a pay cut of more than 20% but drastic changing in working conditions may apply.  You would need to consult an attorney to find out if your situation qualifies, it's a complex and highly fact-dependant area of employment law.Answer #3: Do your job as best you can. If the owner wants to put the weight of the world on your shoulders and things start falling apart because of those poor decisions, that is not misconduct on your part. If you get fired over it, immediately file for unemployment and you will almost certainly win.


Title: sued because I keep returning packages in washington

Question:
Another resident in my apartment is suing me for not giving packages to her. Our apartment office accepts them and emails us when we receive a package but 3 times now I have gotten unexpected emails and gone down to look only to find that the package is not for me. I suggested the apartment management check similarly numbered apartments for whoever is ordering this shit but they refuse and don't care. Theres at least 200 units. If I say the package isn't mine (it's identical to my address but not my name) then they mark it "return to sender" and toss it in the outgoing mail box.

Like I said this has happened 3 times with the same package. I tried to take a picture of the sender last time to contact them to stop this, but all I ended up with was the name of a shipping company. The girl who these packages are for is suing me for shipping costs, the item cost, and "economic losses" from not getting whatever the hell she keeps ordering for career purposes or whatever. Like I said this happened 3 times and it seems to me that I have no responsibility but to decline it and if it were important she would fix the address. How do I prove I havent been keeping the packages or otherwise improperly handling them since I obviously dont have them or access to the orders she placed.

Answer:
 Is this just a threat or have you actually been served?

If it's the former, just ignore her. You have no obligation to receive deliveries for her. If it's the latter **do not ignore a summons**. If it is a small claims action simply show up, act like a respectable member of the community, explain what's going on, and watch the judge laugh her out of court. If it isn't small claims you'll want to hire a civil attorney to represent you. Answer #2: so what is her reasoning?  if the packages are sent to your address and she is not a resident of your address, you have no duty to ensure that she gets her package.  you never took possession of the packages and the office sent them back to sender.  she can sue you all she wants, it'll get thrown out quick.


Title: Can I name a band Public Service Announcement?

Answer: In Quebec, where I'm assuming you are since you didn't provide a location, no. Business names generally need to be in French.


Title: Possible wrongful termination?

Question:
I was fired from work today for insubordination using material obtained in what I feel may be an illegal fashion. Approximately a month ago my coworker whom we'll call C was fired for a reason I'm not sure of. Since then her and I have kept on touch via Facebook Messaging, not publicly, but the private messaging feature. During this time we spoke about our extreme dislike of our supervisor (her former supervisor) and her drug addiction that she thought kept well hidden. Some of our messaging was done while I was on the clock, some was from my personal cell phone not on company internet and some was from my home computer.

I was let go today using those Facebook messages as evidence of my insubordination, however those messages were obtained by the superior accessing C's personal Facebook account. I found this out when C told me she got an email notification from Facebook stamped with date/time and IP address that her password was changed, then subsequently her account recovery phone number deleted, then display name changed.

So the superior 'hacked' C's personal Facebook account, changed her information and tried to cover her tracks, discovered the messages and used that to terminate me. Do I have any potential legal recourse here?

Forgot to include location is in Virginia.

Answer: Have you seen any proof of these notifications C allegedly received? Is it possible that C reported you to the supervisor and brought you down with her?


Title: My neighbor has put up stakes along our property line and wrapped them in ugly reflective tape just to harass us. They're technically a few inches on his land. Can I legally fight this?

Answer: You could build a fence slightly higher than their stakes on your property so you don't see them?


Title: [IA] My husband and I are being sued by our wedding photographer.

Question:
On our wedding day our photographer had a drink in her back pack which spilled down her shirt when bending over. She claims it hit her camera which I clearly saw that it didn't. She continued to take pictures for another half an hour while loudly complaining. She eventually made a scene and said she was leaving and her camera quit working. She is claiming the camera is worth far more than it is. She breached the contract by not staying the entire time that was stated in the contract and refuses to give up any pictures she took prior. She is constantly harassing us and threatening us with legal action claiming one of our groomsmen placed the drink in her back pack. We have saved all emails, texts, and check stubs. She refuses to give us a copy of the signed contract. She tried to claim her camera on my parents home owner insurance (the wedding was on their property) but insurance denied her claim. I know there are things I am missing. I have talked to two different lawyers and both laughed stating she doesn't have a leg to stand on. She was booked to shoot my friends wedding but after seeing how she's been treating us my friend canceled. The photographer is trying to sue us for that lost job also along with any jobs she missed while her camera wasn't working (according to her site she was still doing pictures). I guess I just want to know if she really has a leg to stand on. She first threatened small claims but is now threatening district court. I'm not hugely worried but some advice would be great. Thank you. I'm on mobile if it looks weird.

Edit: A word.

Edit 2: deleted contract to cover names better.

Edit 3: She had an open/full drink (diet Pepsi) in her back pack that may have been replaced by a minor with a beer can (a 12 year old thinking it would be funny). I saw the drink tip from her back pack and I saw that it did not touch her camera it actually hit my dress.

Sorry if I miss details. It's a lot of information and I have a tendency to forget things about it.

Edit again: we also paid her for a photo booth which she never set up. I asked her earlier in the day when she will and she told me not to worry about it and she'll get to it. Everything seemed very rushed which makes me extremely suspicious.

Answer:
 A professional wedding photographer brings a second camera body at minimum.

The "photographer" is nuts.

Unfortunately you are going to have to sue to get your pictures. Answer #2: Even *if* one of your groomsmen put the drink there, any supposed liability would be on him, not you.

She has nothing backing her argument.Answer #3: Why would the photographer have a drink in her backpack in the first place?


Title: [ID, US] Someone stole a package from my porch, insurance claim was denied. What is my next step?

Question: I ordered my wife a solid gold shinebox as an anniversary gift and it never arrived. Shipper says it was left in the mailbox. Insurance says it was delivered and they won't reimburse us. I don't know where to turn next.

Answer:
 credit card company / paypal

Do a payment reversal and get a porch camera

also the seller should have known better then to not request a sig, most companies require a sig if the value is over a certain amount


Title: Wrecked my car trying to avoid a head-on collision, HELP!

Question: I was driving thru town in a two lane road (45 mph road) when I had to veer off the road to avoid another car who was coming at me trying to make a left in front of me. I had the right of way and managed to avoid them, unfortunately I ended up wrecking my car by hitting a parked car then slamming into a tree. Fortunately there was witnesses to include the driver behind me and I believe they gave statements to the police. Cops say it will be a week until the report is complete. I was definitely shaken up and requested to go to the hospital where I was treated and released, nothing broken but I am bruised up. Unfortunately I only have liability on my car (it’s a 2003) and it looks like a total loss, all airbags deployed. I’ve never been in an accident and am lost at what I should do. I did report the accident to my insurance. What I’m perplexed about is that the driver who cut me off did not get a ticket. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Answer: File a claim with your insurance for the parked car, tree, and any other damages. You will have to pay put of pocket for your vehicle.    Did the other car stop?


Title: [US-NV] Hospital lost everything I came in with, what can I do?

Question:
Hello,

I recently had a short stay in the ER, however, when it came time for me to be discharged, I was informed that the staff was unable to find any of my belongings. Basically, everything aside from my underwear was lost. A tech managed to get scrounge up a shirt and painfully small scrub pants so that I could be picked up. I left my contact info, as well as a brief list of the items that were lost, and was given a number to call regarding reimbursement if the items were not recovered.

I've managed to get in touch with the hospital and was informed that their policy is not to provide reimbursement on lost items other than eyeglasses or dentures, and that I'm shit out of luck. That's rather hard for me, as it's looking like it'll cost ~$4k to replace the lost items, as well as an extra few hundred dollars for security (changing locks).

I'm uncertain what steps I can take from here. Do I have any standing if I were to pursue the costs in small claims court? How long would be considered reasonable to wait before doing so?

Thank you for any help you can provide.

(Note: I made a similar post earlier but butchered the title and it wasn't clear.)

Answer:
 The fact that the hospital lost you items makes them responsible. You could get a lawyer to send a demand letter for the reimbursement, and send an email to their legal department.Answer #2: What items did you have that cane to 4K?Answer #3: If you haven't done so already, I'd recommend freezing your credit, change any important account passwords, and make sure you reach out to friends/family to be weary of any calls/texts/emails coming from your accounts/numbers until you confirm your stuff has been recovered. Make sure you've reported any missing debt/credit cards ASAP as well.

Additionally, you may want to reach out to any local pawn shops with a list of these items and your contact info.Answer #4: Has the hospital acknowledged that they actually lost your items? Or is it possible they were misplaced by the ambulance company? It'll get a bit trickier if there are two different organizations that can each blame each other for the loss. Answer #5: When you went to the ED, did you sign anything or were you brought there unconscious?
I work for a hospital and whenever someone comes in, the form they have  you sign includes a statement that the hospital isn’t responsible for lost property.   We offer to put valuables in our safe or suggest a family member keep them for you.


Title: Employer is forcing every employee to put their personal phone number on business cards and to be added to a database.

Question:
I work for a large employer in Australia where we work in a retail type field. We are being forced by our employer to put our personal phone number on our business cards, in a database and to be put to a link to give to customers online. If we don't do this we are unable to order new business cards and we won't be able to access online systems. They aren't offering to pay for the use of our personal phone bills.

I can't find if this is legal in Australia and I am just wondering if anyone has any advice? This is a nation wide roll out but I am personally in Queensland.

Answer:
 This probably is less a legal issue than a policy question.

In your shoes I'd set up a Google Voice number or similar, put that on the card, and then kill it when you leave / forward it to voicemail permanently. But I'm passive aggressive like that.


Title: I sold an iPhone. They claim it isn't paid for and now they want their money back. I put sold as is in the Craigslist post. Can I be in trouble or does that protect me if they call the police or try and sue ?

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 As is means the condition of the phone. If you lied or mislead them about the phone being locked it's possible they will call the police and / or sue you.Answer #2: As is refers to condition. You can't sell a stolen phone and say "as is"Answer #3: OP be very careful if you offer a refund that they actually give you back the iphone you gave them. This would be a great way of offloading a stolen iphone, they get a functioning one and the money.Answer #4: Was the phone you sold stolen or possibly stolen? If so then this could be bad for you.

If you know the phone is legit then they have no argument. Well if your post described a working phone and you sold them something that is not a working phone then they still could deserve a refund. That gets a bit more complicated.

But if you sold a stolen phone then you will want to give them a full refund before they get the police involved because yes selling stolen property can land you in very hot water.

You surely checked the state of the phone before you sold it right? Or was it in new packaging? If so, how did you get it? Did you steal it or did the person who sold it to you steal it?Answer #5: You sold them a paper weight. You are a pile of shit person. Why do you think that is ok?Answer #6: That's an incredibly dick-ish thing to do and yes this is probably something akin to selling stolen property, since you didn't pay for it and then you sold it to someone else you pretty much stole it wouldn't you agree


Title: Can you be arrested for a parking Violation in the United States?

Question: My mom just got arrested in Arizona for illegally Parking this is her first offense she has no warrants or any thing but they arrested her is this legal? because I've never heard of anyone being arrested for illegal parking only ever a Ticket

Answer: There's more to this story that either you're not telling us or that you haven't been told.


Title: [Kentucky] HOA Madness and possible breach of ethics?

Question:
Here's the TL;DR of my HOA's current status. A faction of ~ 20% of the owners ambushed a special meeting, tried to violate due process, force resignation of the current board, nominate their own members and proceed to vote in these members all in the same meeting.  Serious.  This actually happened and I've been fighting this mutiny, as a non-board member, for the last month and a half.

My HOA has retained the same lawyer we will call Mr. Smith.  Mr. Smith provided legal council for our HOA for the last 30+ years, has been an owner in our HOA during that time and also been paid for his legal advice.  Mr. Smith is now providing legal advice to the group attempting a mutiny (one of this group is the spouse of a legitimately elected board member).  Is it possible Mr. Smith has violated any code of ethics applied to him being part of a credentialed profession?  These folks are trying to play bush league so I just want to go tit for tat.

If you must know the particulars of my situation they are below, and it may not make much sense:

=======================================================================================

I volunteered to be on a Deed of Restriction Committee (DORC) appointed by our President.  Our president actually begged for volunteers and accepted all who offered their services.  The goal was to rewrite our ByLaws and Deed of Restrictions by:

1.  Adding language to incur a system of fines for violators.

2.  Allow sheds for homes meeting a certain criteria. Our current DOR prohibits ALL sheds.

3. Grandfather in existing sheds, regardless if they meet criteria from bullet #2, until the house sells to a new owner.

4.  Increase yearly assessments.

5.  Apply assessment increases towards a property management company to consistently enforce the new DOR.

Throughout this process the DORC moved slowly to ensure we followed the due process outlined in our ByLaws and DOR. Two of the DORC members were members of our Board of Directors(the P/T and S). Our Board consisted of only 3 members.  So President and Treasurer were held by the same individual.  VP and Secretary held by two separate individuals. The VP, Mrs. D, disliked the direction of the DORC and attempted to argue and inhibit our progress.

Finally we drafted an amendment to the DOR and were going to hold a special meeting for the Board vote on it.  If successful the amendment would still have to be finalized by a majority vote from the owners. However, before we initiated this meeting a seemingly organized faction appeared requesting the resignation of our P/T (The request was very loud and the group became somewhat animated.  I'm just glossing over things here).  P/T refused.  This faction then requested vote to remove all board members at which point our P/T and S left.  The VP relented however she stayed in the crowd. The VP's husband supposedly is the ringleader for the faction that ambushed this meeting.

This faction then began to nominate, second and vote in various members of their group. Once all 11 Board spots were filled they began to introduce themselves and have a magical Disney moment. Mr. J was elected president at this point.

Per our Bylaws Board members may be elected at:

1. Any annual meeting (which this wasn't)

2. Mailed ballot (which this wasn't)

3. A Special meeting called specifically for that purpose (which this wasn't.  This meeting was called to address DOR issues)

Disliking these events I sent an email (cc'ing the whole neighborhood) to Mr. J, the illegitimate P, voicing my concerns that due process was not followed and the board is illegitimate.  I told him the process had to meet at least 1 of 3 criteria. Mr. J respond with a long winded email that essentially said "No" without actually saying it. I respond to Mr. J, cc'ing the whole neighborhood, asking how this new board met 1 of the 3 criteria. Mr. D responds to me (**in which he states his wife resigned, does this count as a written resignation if it comes from a shared email?**), with a long winded rant that ultimately says none of the 3 criteria were met.  I reply to Mr. D asking the same 3 questions.

Since then the illegitimate T placed a stop order on all checks and had the accounts transferred to her name.  I suspect she showed minutes of the illegitimate election to the bank. Several days later the P/T handed over all documents and such to the illegitimate T.  However does this make the new T legitimate if not properly elected? Is there any recourse we can take against the illegitimate T?

Today, almost 3 weeks after my last email to Mr. D, our legitimate S notified me she received written request from Mr. J to hold a special meeting for an election. Mr. J cc'd Mr. Smith on this request.  So I can assume that Mr. Smith is advising this new faction trying to overthrow the board.

What do I do?

What do I do about the stolen money/accounts?  Can I use this to discredit those trying to take hold?

What about Mr. Smith?  Keep in mind one legitimate board member is linked to that group.

Answer: If he has been paid by the HOA previously and has switched, he has created a conflict of interest. I would seek out an ethics attorney and discuss this matter to determine what your options are.


Title: PA I'm just curious it if is legal for landlord's to refuse to rent to people with children?

Question:
I see ads all the time that say "No children" and I thought that was discrimination?

Topic:
Landlord Tenant Housing

Answer:
 Federal law prohibits discrimination against families with children under 18 y.o. however there are exceptions federally including:

-owner-occupied buildings with four or fewer rental units

-single-family housing rented without the use of advertising or without a real estate broker, as long as the landlord owns no more than three such homes at any one time

-certain types of housing operated by religious organizations and private clubs that limit occupancy to their own members

Also there can be more exceptions at the state level but I'm not familiar with the laws in PA regarding that subject.

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/free-books/renters-rights-book/chapter5-2.html

Edit: spelling Answer #2: It is discrimination, but not all discrimination is illegal.

So in some cases, it is legal. Landlords with under a certain number of total rental units, or who live in the same home as the renter, have pretty wide latitude when choosing tenants. They can say no kids.

Larger scale landlords however have to obey federal and state laws, which ban discrimination on the basis of family status.  There are also specially designated senior housing where they can refuse children. LLs can also refuse to rent on the basis of violating occupancy laws (they can refuse to rent a 2BR to a family of 8, for example)


Title: Neighbours knocking on your door to make a complaint

Question:
Is this illegal if it's ongoing? For example, I'll be up after the quiet hours so maybe 2 am getting a glass of water and I'll accidentally drop something on the floor. Then my neighbour from upstairs will come down and start knocking.

I'm in Vancouver, BC

Answer:
 It's not illegal to knock on your door unless it's part of some ongoing harassment campaign.

It's pretty whacko to do so if the only noise you made was dropping a glass.


Title: Workplace harassment

Question:
Hello Reddit, for the past year my boss (34m) has been harassing me (20m). He has squeezed my nipples, grabbed my sides, rubbed my leg, tickled me, hit me in the beginning (open fist), stuck his finger in my ear, etc. almost all of this happening in the work truck between jobs where he thinks it’s a joke or funny even though I tell him I don’t like it or push his arm away or just ignore him. I’ve been looking for a new job for awhile now but frankly I’ve been scared because of financial reasons. I’ve been telling my girlfriend everything since I began working with him now my question is: do I have any grounds to file workplace harassment against him or take another action since it only happens in work truck and my girlfriend only knows by word of my mouth?

If so, what actions, how do I go about it, and what if I can’t afford a lawyer?

Sorry, all done on mobile app
Topic:
Employment Law

Answer:
 Yeah you have 1.2 million reasons to file a workplace harassment/sexual harassment suit. Speak to an attorney. Answer #2: His pinching your nipples or grabbing your sides is enough to seek counsel with a lawyer. Call the state bar association for a referral. They should be low cost. You can also refer to legal aid in your area.

Do you work in a larger company? is there anyone else over him, HR?


Title: Fiancée ran into burglar after second day of living here

Question:
Hi fellas,

I am looking for some advice to my current situation, as I don't know  exactly how to handle this situation.

3 days ago, my fiancée and I moved into a luxurious apartment complex in Long Beach, CA. It is a very well secured apartment complex in a very nice and upscale neighborhood.

Last night around 10:30pm, my fiancée realized she left my MacBook in my car, so she decided to walk down into the parking garage as I was asleep. No matter where she goes, she's always paranoid that something will or could happen, which turned out to be a good thing, so she took our big German Shepherd along. As she was approaching the car, she saw a man sitting in the passenger seat. She slowly backtracked and ran to the elevators to get me. After that I woke up and went down and I was making sure I would keep an eye on the person sitting in my car while navigating the police to come. Unfortunately, the guy left the car just before the police arrived and I confronted him with my 130lbs dog. He clearly was afraid of us and went of his bike and took off. I chased him after and as I was about to catch him, my dog's leash got stuck in a door and I chased him after alone en foot. While we were in the middle of street, just before I was kicking him off the bike, I noticed three police cars speeding towards me for help. We caught him and we received all of our stuff back.

The issue we have now, mostly my fiancée, is that she is paranoid of living here. She is still in shock and completely scared to leave the apartment. The way I know her, I know that she will probably calm down and forget about this fairly soon, but this will always leave a bad aftertaste and thought in our minds. If we really wanted to, do we have a ground on terminating our lease? I am sure the leasing complex would help us out with it as well. What do leasing offices usually do when such things happen? Can we ask for anything from them?

Thank you so much for your advice!

Chinese

Answer:
 This is not grounds to terminate your lease unless you've got a very strange lease. Answer #2: You could always ask to terminate your lease.  It would be up to your apartment management to decide to let you out of it.

One crime like this is not sufficient grounds to break a lease if management wont release you willingly.


Title: Question I had after a party I went to last night...

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 Well since you're 18, we still have time to save you.  Don't pull the "am I being detained" bullshit.  Use a little bit of common sense.  You were in a house where underage kids were drinking, and the cops broke it up obviously before you could get out.  When you tried to leave and they told you to sit down and grabbed you by the arm and directed you to the living room, what did you think?  Did you think you were detained or not?

Now that we got that out of the way, what are you intending to follow through with or pursue? You were given a gift...he told you to get out, and that was *after* you pulled the "am I being detained" bull.  Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.  You can still be charged with underage drinking, possession, or whatever else the cops barged in on.


Title: Email from Dropbox saying DHS service subpoena on my account

Question:
Side received an interesting email this evening foreign account I haven't used in years. I've searched online, but haven't found anything like this. Email is below

Dear Dropbox User,

We write to give you notice that we have been served with a subpoena
from the DHS seeking the following information for the Dropbox account
associated with this email address.

- Subscriber information, including name, email address, and length of service
- Logs associated with account access, including timestamps and IP addresses

We complied on 9/25/18. We at Dropbox cannot give legal advice. If you
have any questions about this matter, please consult with an attorney.

Thanks,
Dropbox Legal Team

It was from almost a year ago so I'm assuming they couldn't tell me this until the investigation was finished? Should I be contacting a lawyer?

Answer:
 There is probably nothing you can do for the time being. If they complied a year ago, it's possible that the case is already closed and nothing came from it. If the case is still open, there is absolutely no benefit to getting in touch with DHS to ask for more information. In other words, who you gonna call?

If the cops themselves come knocking, do not talk to them, and have a lawyer ready to represent you. But there's no point in worrying about it now.


Title: Fired for having a stroke?

Question:
I worked for an airline as a flight attendant and right after completing the training course I had a stroke and was hospitalized and had to do rehab  for months. Anyways I'm good now so I'm getting back to work and have to be signed off by a senior flight attendant that I'm okay to work on my own.  It's usually a 3 day pairing but I'm only allowed to work 2 days in a row. So I have to do 2 pairings with a senior FA. I passed and I had a second one with a senior flight attendant that knew I had a stroke. She was asking me if I was fine now and I said I was. I just have some sensation issues and fatigue. She knew I passed the first one and so she didn't give me much support for this one. I did pretty bad. She was really closely watching me and not picking up on things I was doing right but anticipating me doing things wrong. I felt super uncomfortable and unsure of myself. I got a call the next day from my manager saying I didn't pass and would get another pairing with the senior FA.
This pairing is when the discrimination became clear to me. The senior FA was making comments about my cognitive skills and if I would be able to handle an emergency situation. It's not her place . I passed all my safety exams and have doctors approval to work. So the pairing went really bad. I got no support and at the end she told me I was just being watched. I had a meeting with my manager where she told all the areas I didn't do well in. And I agreed that I need more support in those areas. Then she gave me a letter saying I was fired and had been unsuccessful in all my pairings. When I said that wasn't true she didn't give me a clear respond and just said the decision is final.
I know the second senior FA was looking at me under a magnifying glass because she knows I had a stroke. If I was with anyone else, the outcome would have been different. The human rights commission here says they can't do anything because airlines aren't under their jurisdiction.
I don't know if I have a case and If I should hire a labor lawyer??
I loved my job and I was good at it. I was unjustly terminated and really want it back. But idk what do you guys think??

Answer: From one flight attendant to another- contact your union. They should have been with you in all of these meetings. They will fight for you!Answer #2: I'm not a flight attendant, so I'm really confused about how this all works. To me, it sounds like you couldn't do something without help that you should probably be able to do without help? But there's a good chance I just don't understand why their support is a factor.


Title: I'm pretty sure somebody broke into my car last night but only stole 2 lighters and my pocket knife. Not sure if I should notify the police.

Question:
First of all, the car was locked. However, I don't see any marks or anything of forced entry and my key is the only key that works. But when I went out today, upon opening the door, the first thing to catch my eye was a sunflower seed shell on the floor. I haven't had sunflower seeds in years. Then I noticed my center console was left open, I always close it. Then I noticed some papers from the center console in the passenger seat. That's when I noticed some of the things from the pockets of my work pants were all over the seat and floor as well. The only things I noticed missing were 2 lighters and my $60 SOG pocket knife. They left my wallet, my oakleys, my ~$1k worth of tools in the trunk. When I woke up and went to walk the dog I noticed 2 officers parked in the neighborhood which is very rare so I'm not sure if the 2 are related. I'll take my blessing that they only took my knife and 2 lighters but I'm kind of pissed about it. Either way, not sure if it's worth notifying the police or not. Suggestions?

Edit: location, Northern Virginia

Answer:
 Yes, it's worth calling them. Getting these reports will give police a better idea about what areas are seeing an uptick in crime, which helps them allocate resources.Answer #2: Reporting the incident likely wouldn't hurt, if that's what you're asking.

If there is an arrest made, it gives the police more to build their case. Answer #3: No one's mentioned this yet, but I'd recommend getting issued new credit/debit cards and such, depending on what you kept in the wallet. They may have left your wallet, but you don't know if they copied any information from it.


Title: Grandfather being sued for care taking arrangement?

Question:
This takes place in Manitoba, Canada…

I do not need personal legal advice, but rather just insight into if a lawsuit filed against my grandfather and if it has any legitimacy. Our family has hired a lawyer and it is being handled professionally.  Long story but anyway…some years ago my grandfather met this woman. She seemed like she was a vagrant, with a vague backstory…something about the fact that she won some kind of settlement ages ago filed against someone and she lived alone in isolation on crown land somewhere for years subsisting of the money she had won.

When she met my grandfather she ended up befriending him and my grandmother and living with them at their house. She would cook and clean the house and they pretty much covered all of her cost of living. Aside from the fact that it seemed she had an alcohol problem, and was probably bi-polar she did a pretty good job helping my grandparents out. When my grandmother died, it was decided my grandfather would move into a really nice assisted living facility and this woman’s service were no longer required. After he was moved she kept seeing him, to the point where she was pretty much staying in his apartment again, but still helping him out. The assisted care facility originally did not approve of this but something was worked out where she could stay there if my grandfather paid extra.

Time passes, and she starts telling my grandfather that he will run out of money if he stays there since it was so expensive (he had no financial worries though), and that he would be better off moving into an apartment with her and she would take care of him. Our family tried to convince him that this was a terrible idea but he wanted to do it. So he moves into an apartment with her and he is constantly asking for us to get him money to pay this woman for food and other expenditures. It gets to the point where it is obviously excessive and we approach the woman. We outline a generous budget as an attempt to keep the woman in check, which included money for food and other expenditures, as well as an agreed upon amount of money to compensate her for taking care of my grandfather. We attempted to have her sign a contract and she refused. My grandfather was convinced a verbal agreement was good enough and that was that.

Over a few years the care had greatly declined, to the point neighbours would find my grandfather wandering the halls of the apartment looking for food because he hasn’t seen the woman in days. She isn’t buying groceries or cooking for him. She is obviously stealing cash from my grandfather because he keeps taking money out and has no idea where it goes. She even gets a DUI, but I’m not sure what happened after that. We convince my grandfather he needs to go back to an assisted living facility and he takes that advice. She took over the lease for the apartment, and since then my grandfather has been placed in an extended care facility. His health has declined and he needs 24/7 care…the woman has been out of the picture for years now.

Just recently my grandfather received notice he was being sued by her for a sum of money over $100,000 because she was being unfairly compensated for being a “care worker”. This woman has no experience or training being a “care worker”. The notice demanded payment by a certain date or else the amount doubled. Does this case have any legal grounds? To me it seems completely frivolous but I don’t know much about law. If it is frivolous, would a professional lawyers till take on the case?

Topic:
Other Civil Matters

Answer:
 >to the point neighbours would find my grandfather wandering the halls of the apartment looking for food because he hasn’t seen the woman in days.

I would keep this in mind. Those neighbors may be of use


Title: [UPDATE 2] [PA] - Upstairs neighbor is very noisy, downstairs neighbor thinks it's me.

Question:
[Original](https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/4otlr4/pa_upstairs_neighbor_is_very_noisy_downstairs/)

[Update 1](https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/4xmocb/update_pa_upstairs_neighbor_is_very_noisy/)

Well reddit things have gotten much worse since my last post.  To bring everyone up to speed, Todd, my upstairs neighbor, makes a lot of noise, and Betty, my downstairs neighbor thinks it is me and has proceeded to freak out.

Since my last post I reported her to the police and they told me that they can't do anything unless I file a private criminal complaint, which requires sending a cease and desist order by return certified mail, waiting 10 days for her to comply, calling the police when she violates the cease and desist letter and then paying $40 to get her to court.  A pain in the ass to say the least.  Betty spent the next few days, yelling and screaming and accusing me of slander, threats, harassment, disturbing the peace and stalking, to which I have resolutely remained inside my apartment and ignored her or simply replied with  "don't contact me," if I encountered her while entering or leaving my appartment followed by leaving the situation and either locking the door to my appartment or driving away.

The landlord was considerably more helpful than the police and they informed me that they would not be renewing her lease and she would be out by the end of November.

I never did send the cease and desist letter (which I now realize was a big mistake) because by the time I figured out what I had to do Betty had been gradually winding down her harrassment and I hoped she would burn herself out. I didn't want to provoke her further, which a cease and desist letter would certainly do, and I knew that she would be gone soon anyways. Also, as horribly as she was acting, I didn't want to be responsible for her facing criminal charges.

That brings us to today. I had the misfortune of walking past the train station at the same time that she was there, and she shouted. "Stalking is a crime, asshole"  holding her phone up apparently recording me.  I left on foot and it soon became apparent that a man and a woman was following me.  The man shouted angrily at me something to the effect of "So you like stalking old ladies?"  Fortunately, I was able to de-escalate the situation and get him on my side.

Speaking with the man who I'll call Brad, I learned that she had told them about my supposed stalking behavior and said repeatedly that someone should "kick my ass"  to which Brad agreed and he brought his girlfriend along.  I got Brad's contact information then called the police.  While waiting for the police I sent an email to my landlord explaining the situation, but she won't be in the office until tomorrow.

When the police showed up they talked with Betty first and were clearly convinced of her story, talking aggressively, suggestively putting their hand on their tasers, accusing me of stalking and harassing her.  Fortunately I was able to talk them down somewhat but they seemed determined to make this whole thing my fault, telling me to stop provoking her, and dismissing my concerns saying things like Betty is an old lady and they can be crazy sometimes (What the fuck) and basically told me to ignore her until she actually hits me.

Right now I am staying in a hotel and quite honestly freaking out.  I will definitely mail the cease and desist letter tomorrow, but I don't know what else to do.

TL;DR Betty tried to follow through on her threat to have people "fuck me up" Police were less than useless.

Answer: You need to record and document everything about this btw. Answer #2: either talk to a more senior police officer or file for a restraining order if you feel that is necessary. However, I would honestly first get the landlord on your side and maybe help you explain it to her? If you've tried being reasonable to her and upstairs neighbor still won't shut up then legal actions are the last resort. Look into sound ordinances or right to peace and quiet as well.Answer #3: This could be an awful or awesome idea, I'm really not sure which.  I'd really prefer others back me up or (preferably politely) say why this is a bad idea before actually doing it, but if she's a bit older, could there be some kind of dementia or something else going on?  If so, a phone call to adult protective services may be in order.


Title: Just bought our first new car!...But I am not liking the salesman's service. Is this weird, rude, normal? Thoughts?

Question:
So hubby and I just bought our first vehicle together! It's a crossover from Subaru, a 2019. We came in literally ready to buy if we found the right model, color, and add ons. This may be naive, but we made that clear to the salesperson at the time. We had visited other dealerships before and test driven the vehicle we were aiming for several times so we knew exactly what we wanted. One of the big deciding factors to buy at that time is that I had been driving a borrowed older vehicle which had just started having its own issues. Having an older vehicle of our own (which my husband drives), we knew we were done with the many issues that come with maintaining them, so it was time to finally upgrade. After all, we have the income and our credit is decent.
We asked the salesperson if they happened to have any certified preowned vehicles like what we wanted available...the most loaded version in a matte grey.  Anyway, it turns out they only had that new, but they had a white one available which had 13,000 miles on it.
It would be over $3,000 cheaper than new so we fleetingly considered it, but we reminded ourselves we were going to have that vehicle a very long time so it better be just what we want. When we came back we told him we liked the price but werent convinced on the color. We said if he had a deal like that in the color we wanted we would take it that day. We werent kidding, we needed it already. He offered to look around, make some calls. We waited in the lobby for him...then when he talks to us again he said there was possible good news, he wants to show us a vehicle. He takes us to see one of his loaners and we're thrilled, bc it's exactly the vehicle we want minus a few add-ons like crossbars, basket etc. We could just add those later. This loaner had less than 5,000 miles on it and would get a 180-point inspection (thus getting certified), come with the bumpr2bumper 3 year warranty and the drivetrain 10 yr extended warranty all their certified preowneds get (new is 6 yrs), all at a discounted price. He told us how we were in luck since they dont usually have this model available as a loaner, though not sure how true that is. Either way.
We were ecstatic.
We really did feel lucky to have found exactly what we needed when we needed it.
But the salesperson sort of ruffled our feathers a bit in the process.
First there was the fact that he jumped the gun a few times, only one of which instance was understandable - him having us wait while he gets word on whether he may sell us the loaner vehicle. The other couple of times Im wondering why he didnt follow the usual rule for customer service deadlines - under-promise and over-deliver. This guy seems to have been taught the opposite. Being the last clients out after dealing with their financial department (janitor was already in doing her thing to give an idea), the salesperson walks us out to our car and goes over how they would deliver it to us, since we chose to have it detailed and finished before we took it home. Otherwise we would have to bring it back in. We had asked about a loaner vehicle and he said he could help us out with that or maybe even have the car ready for us early enough so we wouldnt need the loaner. Said that most likely the latter would be the case. He said he would call the next day and let us know. He did call, telling us our car should be ready that day and we said thats great, not a problem as long as the necessary stuff wasnt rushed (supposedly they worked on it since 7 am that day so they said that wasnt an issue), but said he would call with an update. No update later that day so my hubby called and was informed that unfortunately we would have to wait until yet the next day and that there were no loaners available either. I had things planned so this was an inconvenience, but I dismissed it due to the excitement, with the excuse that it would just be one more day until we get our new vehicle. Next day came, sales guy said he probabaly wouldnt be able to deliver it until later around 6:30pm bc they were understaffed. He said he'd call back to confirm the time. He later calls my husband (around 6:30pm) to let him know he is heading over. Excited, my husband calls me right after and tells me to be ready for his call, that the salesperson would let me know when he is nearby. Excited, I waited for that call.
When he did call (6:49PM), it was to inform me he was outside.
A bit unexpected since the dealership is about half an hour away, but hey, even more reason to be happy! "That was fast!" I exclaimed to the salesperson.
"Well I just sped on over here to deliver this," he said with a smile. I thought, 'how considerate,' and told him thank you and how I appreciated that very much. I figured it was a euphemism he was using to jokingly make up for getting our hopes up on having our car ready on time, though not what you want to hear when they deliver your new(ish) car to you. Then with a dead serious look on his face he says, "now I'm just going to need you to give me a ride back to the dealership".
Some background perspective here. When we gave him our info during the paperwork process, he made an annoyingly antiquated yet innocent comment after us telling him we had been married for 6 years. "Any children?" We smiled and contentedly replied, "not yet." One of us added something along the lines of wanting to enjoy more time to ourselves before going down that road. "Married for 6 years and no children yet?!" He said increduously, making a face as if to imply well then what are we doing with ourselves. When he asks for my occupation details I let him know I am a medical assistant but am currently between jobs. My husband is a CDL driver and makes more than enough for the both of us at the time so that shouldn't affect us negatively either way. No problem, he says, just give me an estimate of your annual income. Etc etc.
Fast forward back to where he delivered the car, he had just asked me for a ride despite not calling me beforehand to ask me whether I am even available to do this. He said he told my husband, and that my husband said he would let me know. I told him I did speak with my husband and he didnt say anything of the sort, but I'm sure he would have if that was the case. I called hubby and put him on speaker to clear up whatever misunderstanding took place. Hubby says he was not told this, and salesperson responded with "I said I was coming out here by myself, so that should have been obvious". My hubby was out of town working atm and we were having a hard time understanding him on the phone, which left me to deal with the situation on my own. I asked the salesperson, isnt there another way to resolve this, anyone at the dealership that can call you an uber? I was not aware i had to give you a ride and it isnt a good time for me. He goes on to ask, "Well what is it that's holding you up right now? Youre not working right?" For a second I look at him in disbelief. Then, forcing myself to stay polite despite the annoyance and frustration, I replied "I have my own things going on right now and I am not good to drive," (i was studying for an exam and had just been vaping mj for my back injury) when I really wanted to ask how he thinks that's any of his fucking business and tell him that's irrelevant to the situation, also...he claimed he rushed over here during working hours to deliver this vehicle and now he has to get back to work...so why didnt work provide him a surefire way to get back? When he insisted he either had to have me drive him back or he would have to take the car back again and deliver it the next morning, I mentioned the uber again, but asked how I would be reimbursed for this, because it's a $35 charge. Considering we just put down $1500 on a new investment and were already budgeting for other additional parts we wanted, we werent happy about some extra empty charge, not to mention the principle of the matter, lack of professionalism and the inconvenience. Why should we be responsible for getting this person an uber when the reason he needs it is he messed up a job he's supposed to be doing for us? Aren't there liability issues to consider? Why did he claim he didnt care about the expense when i suggested uber but when i pressed him for how we would get reimbursed, he then suggested he would come back in the morning with someone to follow him and take him back to the dealership? This experience overall left us with a bad taste in our mouths and I'm just wanting to know if this is a common occurence or if there is truly something technically out of line we should be upset about here. I dont know how to go about talking to the manager about the delay, the inconvenience, and the overall crappy experience while purchasing something that was supposed to be exciting and problem free, not to mention that now we're getting our car with a bit more mileage than originally signed for and anticipated, and the slight resentment that the person who tainted the experience with either incompetence, carelessness, or whatever reason he had to do things the way he chose to is getting the commission. I really didn't appreciate his attitude toward the situation, lack of initiative in resolving the issue, or his assumption that I could just drop what I was doing because I was not working atm, as if my personal time isn't valuable. That seemed beyond unprofessional and rude, but am I possibly being harsh? Does stuff like this usually happen when buying a vehicle? My first and only previous vehicle purchase went much more smoothly, but it was so long ago I don't recall any related details. This is my husband's first time buying one so no feedback there. Anyone have any advice...what would you think if you were in this situation?

I have to deal with this guy tomorrow morning, so this is pretty short notice. Anything helps! Thanks for making it to the end of the book, I look forward to your insight.

LSS: Hubby and I bought our first newish vehicle and everything went smoothly until it came time to recieve the car, which's delivery was delayed 3 times. Salesperson who sold and delivered it had frustrating attitude about delivery and did not keep his word to produce a loaner vehicle when necessary. Not sure how to go about getting comped for unprofessionalism and inconvenience (valuable time lost which salesperson seems to be downplaying bc he knows I don't work rn) or at least submitting a proper complaint about his unhelpful attitude and assumptions so he treats future customers better.

Answer:
 You know what isn’t illegal?

Paragraphs.  Go back and add some.

But ultimately from your TLDR it sounds like you can complain to the manager, but that’s about it.  At first blush this is a customer service issue, not a legal one.


Title: Cornell University graduate students are about to vote for whether or not they want to unionize. I do not want to pay union dues to the AFT or NYSUT (groups they've combined with for more funding in the unionization process). Is there any way to get out of paying them?

Question:
Cornell University is in New York State.

I wouldn't care about paying the union if it were Cornell-based, but I disagree strongly with the fact that some of the grad students' stipends come from federal government grants and that money would go towards funding political parties (AFT has donated more money to political campaigns than any other single corporation or union between 1980 and 2010). I found this site (http://www.nrtw.org/religious-objection-guide-2/) that goes through basically the only way to get out of paying these union dues and I think I qualify for the religious objection (Catholic, baptized, confirmed, pro-life, and the fact that the AFT seems to only donate money to people in the Democratic Party who are big supporters of pro-choice). How difficult is this objection to implement? What would it require?

I'd also like to point out that I can't believe this kind of practice exists, where public employees like teachers have to pay money to an organization that only (basically) supports one political party. They're using money from the government to fund a political party, how are they allowed to donate in politics?

Answer: What government funding do these unions get? You lost me at that part.  Do they have a revenue source other than member dues?


Title: [NJ] School Monitoring Provided Email Accounts for Profanity

Question:
I am currently a senior in high school and since freshman year, each student is provided with a google account specifically for our school's domain. Many students use these accounts for the grand majority of their schoolwork and it is often times required for students to use it (i.e. submitting assignments to "Google Classroom" requires use of a school account. Frankly, it can be difficult to succeed in some classes without the use of this account.

Recently, our schools has implemented a new service called "Gaggle". This service scans through all documents and emails sent on our school gmail accounts and sends us warnings if the use of profanity is detected. I am not exactly sure what the specific repercussions (suspension, detention, etc.) as this is a new service, but many students are worried that it may lead to larger problems. Additionally, Gaggle's website mentions that Gaggle administrators are alerted to the use of offensive language - so this means that our school is sharing our private documents with a third party.

Even more so, the service goes beyond simply looking for profanity. Many of my peers have received warnings for using words such as "autism" or "retarded" (i.e. "I am a member of the autism awareness club") in non-offensive contexts and only in regards to the actual illness. Additionally, warnings are sent out to anyone with whom the document is shared, so students can receive warnings from the service even if they are not the ones who have used the offensive language.

Right of the bat, I am deeply concerned that this is a flagrant invasion of privacy. I am aware that these accounts are provided by the school, but students are all nearly required to use them. I am also aware that New Jersey has strict HIB laws that can oftentimes restrict our free speech, however, this seems over the line and quite frankly out of the school's jurisdiction. I am curious to know whether or not there is specific legal actions students can take or whether or not the school is legally allowed to be monitoring us in this way.

Any advice is appreciated.

Answer: There is absolutely nothing wrong with a school having policies about use of language in school-owned information resources including your Google Apps for Education account. Or in using software to monitor and enforce those policies.


Title: Just finished small claims court vs Equifax [OH]

Question:
For anyone who is curious, I filed in small claims vs Equifax and had court today. Equifax did not just send 1 person. They sent a lawyer from my area and also a legal associate from their corporate office in GA. As you could expect, the lawyer was very well prepared. We went through pre-trail and based on that, I realized that I could not prove enough that Equifax was being negligent on their security.

The judge after pre-trail had us go to the hall and exchange information and see if their is a resolution. There was not, so we went back in and I requested for the case to be dismissed without prejudice. Equifax countered that it would be dismissed with prejudice. The judge sided with me, the case was dismissed without prejudice.

It was an interesting experience. It was not a win but at least I can still join the class action lawsuit.

Answer:
 Save all the documents you had done in small claims, and whatever the attorney/company associate gave you, including the dismissal w/o prejudice...opt out of the class action, and go after them yourselves.

Note that there are risks associated with doing this. This is why *pro se* litigants shouldn't try and mess with a huge company like Equifax in small claims. You need to save your info and get some legal advice outside the class action as to whether or not it's better for you to join the class, or worse for you.Answer #2: I'm absolutely shocked. This is my "shocked" face. Answer #3: The mega thread said all of this and more.  Anyone attempting to follow OP is better served by following that thread and accepting that it's not going to happen.   Answer #4: What was your best case scenario here? What dollar amount were you hoping to get?Answer #5: So if I were informed in Cyber Security at a semi professional level. Spent 5 hours ironing out details of their breaches. Would I have a chance at beating them for 1k?


Title: Mailed girlfriend magic mushrooms. What is at risk here?

Question: I mailed approximately 1 gram of mushrooms to my girlfriend. She is very upset thinking about potential consequences. They didn't even arrive yet and may not arrive to her address. I mailed them to her address under a different name and there was no return address. What are some potential ways this could play out. Any advice you have is appreciated. I need to help convince her she will not get in trouble because she had no way of knowing I sent them.

Answer: They’ll either arrive to her address or be held at the post office. If that happens she should not go pick up the package.


Title: Groped by a prostitute as a Lyft driver

Question:
I’m a driver for Lyft. I got a ride share request by a female. I drove for 10 feet before she started to grope my privates. I told her to get out, as she got out I noticed an older looking madam who was watching the whole thing give me an evil eye.

I reported this to Lyft and blocked the lady from requesting me again. I got a response from Lyft apologizing for the incident. I felt violated by what happened. Do I have a case against Lyft?

Answer:
 >Do I have a case against Lyft?

For what? Do you think they intentionally sent the prostitute to grope you?Answer #2: Lyft didn’t assault you, this woman did.  Unless you had evidence that Lyft somehow knew or should have known that this was going to happen you have no claim against them.


Title: (PA)My kids school wants me to sign paperwork saying I can't sue if he is hurt on a field trip.

Question:
I don't have the paper with me to know the exact wording. But it basically says he can't go on field trips unless I sign, and that if I sign, I cant' sue if he is injured/dies.

I get that if they go for a hike and a branch falls on him, it's not their fault. But if they loose him it is. Or if they aren't watching him at a museum and he falls or gets hurt, they should be responsible.

I don't want the kid to be left out, but I don't want to wave rights. Any suggestions.

Edit: Thanks everyone for your responses. I was inclined to sign it anyway but just wanted some advice.

Answer:
 Liability waivers are generally limited, regardless of whether they claim to be limited or not. A waiver could void your right to sue the school for damages that occur as a consequence of "normal" risks of the activity - broken limbs from falling during a hike or a ziplining event, for example, but the school cannot eliminate their liability for intentional acts, or for gross negligence.

What would rise to the level of gross negligence on a school trip is hard to assess from an armchair, but leaving the students unattended in the presence of heavy machinery or unguarded drops would probably do it.

As a practical matter, the school is likely to bar your child from field trips if you refuse to sign the waiver. You may be able to challenge that, but you'd have to commit to fighting it out, possibly in court, with your school. The school is most likely looking to avoid nuisance lawsuits from overprotective parents who assume any scrape or childhood injury must be someone's fault, not looking for an excuse to endanger your child.


Title: [CA] Employee who quit filed workers comp claims I fired him after he was injured

Question:
Hey everyone hopefully someone can explain workers comp to me better I'm new to this....

My father passed away in March of this year and ran his own trucking company we had 7 employees. I am handling the legal work now to become full owner because I have hit many obstacles trying to do so and here is another obstacle to slow me down.

One of our employees had a really bad relationship with me personally for some reason even when my dad was alive he always complained that he wanted more money, I wasn't fair, and that he wanted to quit. After my dad passed away he continued working and was being paid the same amount and said my dad paid him more, what he didn't know though was I was the one who always wrote checks not my dad so I called him out on it and he resumed working like normal.

About a month after my dad passed away he said he wanted a raise or he was going to quit and I told him we can talk about it on Friday when I meet with the employees and give them their paychecks he said okay and hung up the phone. He didn't show up to work on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday but showed up to pick his check up at 5pm and when I asked where he was he said he wasn't going to work anymore unless he got a raise so I told him right now a raise is out of the question I told him he's already being paid more than every other employee and doing the same work. He told me and everyone else that he quit he gave me the keys to the truck and the yard where we store containers and the trucks.

The claim I received in the mail from his lawyer states he wants $825 a week and that he was injured for 2 years while working for my father and I. He said he went to the doctor and got treatment according to the claim I got and he wants to be paid $825 weekly continuously due to our "poor working conditions".

Where do I stand with this guy and how can I move forward?
Do I still have to pay workers comp since he quit and he wasn't fired?

Another important thing would be my dad only had workers comp on one of the 7 drivers only 1 driver counts as an employee all the others are paid gross and have to do a 1099 every year because they are independent contractors.

Tldr: Employee didn't show up to work for 3 days refused to work and quit filed workers comp claim saying I fired him because he was injured

Answer:
 Hire a lawyer to handle this . It's very fact specific.Answer #2: Get a lawyer to handle this.

>Another important thing would be my dad only had workers comp on one of the 7 drivers only 1 driver counts as an employee all the others are paid gross and have to do a 1099 every year because they are independent contractors.

Make sure to mention this.

>Employee didn't show up to work for 3 days refused to work and quit filed workers comp claim saying I fired him because he was injured

See what happened 2 years ago and see if he reported something? If not? It's not going to hold much weight.

You can't demand a raise and then quit and claim you had an owie 2 years before that wasn't reported.

Well - you can try - but it isn't going to work well once a lawyer smacks you around a bit.

(Not you - you refers to the employee :) )

You - as in you (OP) - want to get a lawyer to deal with this as a preventative measure. It will save you a hell of a lot of headaches.


Title: Shady brokers trying to lease properties by falsely advertising

Question:
I'm not entirely sure if this is the right place to post this, but here we go anyways.

My wife and I were trying to lease an apartment in Boston and found a place we liked. I contacted the listing agency and asked a bunch of questions. The pictures on the listing and that the agency sent over looked great. All the main MLS website for renters (Trulia, Zillow, Apartments, etc.) had the same or similar pictures listed. We currently live in Madison, WI so it would be difficult for us to tour the unit. The leasing agency wanted us to sign a sight unseen lease. We were weary of this and I had my brother drive to the area (90 min away) and take a look for us.

This is where it gets shady. The guy I had been talking too took my brother to a location that was a few houses down from the one advertised. Said that it was “A mistake” and the apartment needed to be updated. That the new address he was touring was the actual rental. Every major site says it has been listed for over a month. It was an absolute slum hole, my brother sent me pictures. The rental agency and two guys I was talking too went MIA after didn’t answer any emails or texts.

We never signed anything so we’re not on the hook. But this agency is scummy and wasted 3+ hours of my brother’s time and a lot of our time. I left them poor reviews on google & yelp. However, I want to make sure that no one else gets scammed. Is there anything else I can do to raise light to this issue or make sure they don’t do this to other people? A government agency maybe?

Also, I’m not sure if I can post the listing or name the rental agency. Is that against the rules of this sub? I have pictures of what was advertised and what my brother toured.

Answer:
 Its a common scam for out of town rents

Boston has a hotline you can call to report tenant shenanigans

https://www.cityofboston.gov/news/default.aspx?id=5569


Title: Step-Father got arrested for "Assaulting" my mother. I and my brother were witnesses and now have to testify.

Question: Bit of a drunken argument turned slightly too physical one night and as a fear tactic my mom called the cops. To make the story even juicier, my mom is a political official in our city in Missouri, and in the interest of remaining unbiased, the case was moved up to County court. He spent a night in jail and is home now, and no one wants anything else to happen because of it. Unfortunately we aren't able to get the case dropped and the city is prosecuting and has subpoenaed myself and my younger brother to testify. I already wrote a statement and so did he. What kind of questions should I expect to answer? What rights do I have that protect me from incriminating my father? How can I present myself so that I maintain my status as a credible witness? Is there anything else I should know?

Answer: You will likely be asked to recount the events of that night, and maybe answer questions about other arguments.  Say factual things, not opinions, and don't embellish the truth.


Title: 34 m Sexually Assaulted in hospital by another patient. Need Help Please

Question:
[removed]
Topic:
Removed - PII

Answer: Contact Raiin, as suggested in your earlier post. And I am sorry and hope you get some redress.


Title: Questions Regarding Child Pornography on Snap Chat in Ohio, USA.

Question:
I mentor a 15 year old (we will call her Sally) through a non-profit community organization. I've known her for about a year and she is very open with me. Sally is pretty immature, has incredibly low self esteem, and has a host of psych conditions.

This afternoon Sally told me that she has been talking to a 20 year old (we will call him Henry) for about a month. He found her on Facebook and messaged her. Henry lives about a half hour from Sally, and attends the university I work at. She told Henry she is 15 years old very clearly, and he knows she is a freshman in high school. They've engaged in daily texts, phone calls, Facebook message, and Snapchats for the past month, but have never met in person. At first Henry was very charming. He never talked about anything inappropriate and made Sally feel smart and validated.

He slowly started asking her about her sexual history. Then last weekend Henry asked for a nude picture, and Sally sent one through Snapchat (waist up, totally nude, no face shown). Henry repeatedly asked for more, but she put him off, making up excuses because she didn't want to. Henry kept asking through the day, wanting, pictures that showed more. Eventually later in the day she said no, and argument occurred, and she stopped talking to him entirely. She told me all of this when I picked her up to hang out this morning.

I am a mandated reporter both through my work and through my role in the organization, so I told her I would have to file a police report, as confirmed by the organization coordinator. She was distraught about her parents finding out, but not angry. She was actually pretty understanding.

The police officer said a special child crimes detective will be assigned to the case and will be contacting Sally and her family within the next few days. The police officer said Sally is in no legal trouble (but gave her a very deserved lecture). I will have to report this at work tomorrow, as well, because Henry is a university student where I work. Sally's parents hope this guy is prosecuted to the full extent of the law, and were very thankful we reported (again, she got another lecture, and social media privileges revoked).

I have a few questions...

1. The police officer kept saying "if a crime has been committed". I understand this is probably necessary police phrasing, but just to ease my mind, a crime has certainly been committed, right? Or am I crazy?

2. If so, In Ohio, what crime did he commit exactly? What kind of sentencing would this crime typically see?

2. Most of the inappropriate communication occurred over Snapchat. Are they going to go through the trouble of recovering those photos? If they  choose not to, is it pretty much a lost cause?

3. How likely is it that this man will actually get in trouble for this? Would you bet that nothing will even come of it?

4. Typically, will the family have the option to criminally pursue this, or is that decided by the detective and prosecutor? What will the process be if it is pursued?

I know these questions are vague yet specific, and I'm sure there is no quick and easy label, but any insight is very appreciated. Thank you so much.

Answer: IANAL. When they say, "If a crime has been committed," they essentially mean they need to investigate the issue before deeming it a crime. It's not that they don't believe you, but they can't just take the word of every Tom, Dick, and Harry without doing their due diligence.


Title: Wife is 5 months pregnant and was just let go with no warning, notice or severance. Options? [US-MD]

Question:
My wife is 27 with a degree in business management. She'd recently been employed by a kitchen and bath remodeling company as a Customer Service Coordinator. She'd been employed there for just under 2 years.

They, for obvious reasons, gave her no reason for her termination but it came less than one month after informing them of her pregnancy and she had 0 formal reprimands prior to being let go. Unemployment will cover ~50% of her previous salary and we'll likely be filing for that Monday. She's considering a return to her previous waitress position which paid comparable but she doesn't know for how long she can manage 8 hour shifts on her feet.

Is it even worth calling an attorney? Should she attempt to pursue a new office job related to her degree despite the fact she's so far along in her pregnancy?

Answer:
 It's absolutely worth calling an attorney. Does she have copies of performance reviews, etc? A local employment attorney will be able to tell you if you have a case.

She can apply for new jobs, but be aware that she likely won't qualify for any kind of leave/disability right away, so it might make more sense for her to wait. Or at least to negotiate a start date for after she's ready to return.Answer #2: You say it's a small company...how small? The number of employees affects which laws would apply to the company.Answer #3: File for unemployment.

File claimat MD Office Civil Rights

 [https://mccr.maryland.gov/Documents/publications/Publications\_2edb.Pregnancy%20Disability%20-%20Employment%20(Poster%20Color).pdf](https://mccr.maryland.gov/Documents/publications/Publications_2edb.Pregnancy%20Disability%20-%20Employment%20(Poster%20Color).pdf)

 [https://www.blr.com/HR-Employment/Discrimination/Maternity-and-Pregnancy-in-Maryland](https://www.blr.com/HR-Employment/Discrimination/Maternity-and-Pregnancy-in-Maryland)

 [https://www.blr.com/HR-Employment/Discrimination/Maternity-and-Pregnancy-in-Maryland](https://www.blr.com/HR-Employment/Discrimination/Maternity-and-Pregnancy-in-Maryland)Answer #4: >  Is it even worth calling an attorney?

Yes, but you can be fired for any reason or no reason, they just can't discriminate.   You will have a hard time proving they fired her because she was pregnant.


Title: If I buy a cryptocurrency during a tokensale/ICO that is later declared a security by the SEC, will I get in trouble for purchasing an unregistered security? [VA]

Question:
I'm an active investor in cryptocurrencies.  For those who are unaware, there are around 900 cryptocurrencies (like Bitcoin and Ethereum), and many of them raise funds for their projects by selling a portion of the tokens for their project in exchange for money.  Many of the tokens pass the Howey test, but many also do not, and the SEC has already said that while some are legitimate currencies/utility tokens, others are unregistered securities.

My question is:  If I participate in a token sale by purchasing some, and the token is later determined to be a security, is it likely that I'll be punished?  Or is it only illegal for them to sell an unregistered security?

Answer: /u/grasshoppa1 any thoughts?


Title: Open container

Question: If having the open container as a passenger in Delaware is illegal what happens if you cross to Jersey and get stopped by police can you get in trouble

Answer:
 Having an open container of alcohol in a vehicle in NJ is also illegal, so yes you could get into trouble.Answer #2: When you cross into NJ you need to follow NJ's laws.

When Colorado first legalized recreational marijuana you should've seen the neighboring states' highway patrol waiting right at the state line waiting to bust anyone with MJ. Same thing.


Title: My parents are abusive and I need help

Question:
Hey, I'm a minor in the state of Florida for the next two weeks and I wanted to weigh my options. My parents have been very abusive mentally, psychically, verbally, and emotionally for my whole life and I need serious help. I want to get therapy for some of the trauma I've suffered from living here but I don't know how. An example of recent abuse from two months ago is when my dog was having a seizure resulting from her ear infection. She's had the infection for over 5 years and they refuse to take her to a vet. During her seizure, she lost control of her bladder and peed on the floor. At this point my father began beating her severely. After 30 seconds I went into the kitchen where he was still beating her because I had reason to believe it was a cruel and unusual punishment at that point. When I walked into the kitchen I witnessed him punching her full force (he's over 6'5" ~230 lbs) kicking her, and picking her up and throwing her on the hard material kitchen floor where he kneed her head into the floor.

I gave him a verbal command to stop, at which point I didn't walk forward or make any additional commands. He approached me aggressively and violently shoved me, screaming "move" and went back to punching the dog in the head. At this point I feared for both the dogs and my own personal well being and I placed my legs in front of his legs and placed my elbow around his neck and threw him down to the floor and away from the animal, where my only command was "get on the ground." At this point he broke a glass bowl on the way down which resulted in both myself and the dog suffering from cuts and we both began bleeding. Afterward both him and my mother told me it was "my fault," and that I "should've known better than to get in his way when he was punishing the animal."

My mother has so far failed to take any further action and both dogs in the home are suffering from an immense flee infestation, ear infection on one of the dogs, and they've failed to clip the other dog's nails for an excess of 7 months resulting in pain when he walks. They also purchase weed, alcohol and other unnecessary items over necessities such as the flee medication for the animals and the home, as well as other important or otherwise necessary things for myself such as clothing, contact lens solution, doctors visits for consistent medical problems that I've been having, and more.

My mother threatened to put me in a foster care home if I said anything or attempted to leave. She told me never to call the police or it would "end badly." I have no evidence. Do I have any legal options I may follow and do I qualify for free or reduced cost of therapy for my trauma? What are my options for removing the animals from the home? I am moving out as soon as I am 18 and I feel unsafe in this home. I lastly want to ask if this online post, as well as a previously deleted post with comments and screenshots, constitutes as legal evidence in the event that legal action is taken? Thank you.
Topic:
Juvenile and Youth Law

Answer:
 > My mother threatened to put me in a foster care home if I said anything or attempted to leave. She told me never to call the police or it would "end badly." I have no evidence.

Call CPS. Call the police. If you feel unsafe in your home LEAVE the home and call to the police. Answer #2: You don't deserve to be this situation, and there are lots of resources to help you. In what state do you live?

I recommend you call 800-962-2873 about your situation, just to be able to talk to someone who's trained. You're not obligated to do anything, but at least talk through your options with someone who can help you. Answer #3: You can call the ASPCA to intervene on behalf of the dogs, but get yourself safe first.


Title: My friend was served papers from her ex-husband for full custody of their daughter; what can she do?

Question:
I'm going to try and just give the facts as purely as I can without the drama.

Location: They married and divorced in WV, and the papers were served and filed in MD.

For the past five years they have shared custody of their daughter with little to no problem and he suddenly has decided to serve her papers for full custody. She needs to reply to his petition by mid-July with a lawyer, and every lawyer she has spoken to requires full payment of a retained up front, the amount varying from 5K-8K depending on the lawyer. She simply doesn't have the cash, and he will automatically gain full custody if she does not reply by mid-July.

What are her options?

(Also, I'm sorry if I used any terminology incorrectly.)
Topic:
Custody Divorce and Family

Answer:
 > What are her options?

She should beg or borrow the money to hire an attorney.  Some Legal Aid organizations will help with this sort of thing, for free.

Barring that, she can respond herself, without an attorney.  This is **not** recommended, but is better than doing nothing.


Title: [CA] Telemarketers refuse to identify themselves. Have called me despite being told to put me on a DNC. What can I do?

Question:
So, this telemarketing firm that's offering legal services for hispanics continues to call me, despite I've told them in the past to put me on a DNC. They only speak Spanish, and if I demand a supervisor, I get told 'No sorry. only speak spanish' and then the girl hangs up. I ask for the name of her business, same response, hung up on. I ask for a copy of their Do Not Call Policy, same response, hung up on.

Google the number brings up absolutely nothing at all. What can I do legally besides filing an FCC report (Did that yesterday)

Answer:
 Dunno, maybe contact your State Attorney General? If it's a scam, they'll be long gone before anyone bothers to investigate them. The only time I've heard of a company getting in trouble for this is that car warranty company that started spamming a Senator or Congressman's office, which got the government involved.

Best solution is to get a phone that can block numbers, and move on. I know it's frustrating, but getting anything done with this kind of thing is nearly impossible, with the government's apathy towards it.


Title: Slipped on public transport

Question:
Hey guys, so a little background to what happened. (Happened in Ireland btw)

(please excuse my grammar as i'm typing this as quick as possible)

A few weeks back I was stepping onto public transport on my way to college, as soon as my first foot made contact with the floor of the train it slipped due to the wet floor. This resulted in my rear foot shooting underneath me as a reflex to regain balance. This unfortunately resulted in me kicking the step on the train quite hard.

The pain was so severe that I could not sit down for a brief period of time. I eventually forced myself to sit down but a wave of extreme dizziness and nausea came over me. My vision became blurry and my head began to feel too heavy for my neck to support it.

I thought I was going to vomit and passout but luckily my girlfriend was with me so she accompanied me off the train at the very next stop. I was so disorientated that I left one of my gloves on board.

I later got in contact with customer service with an email detailing exactly what happened with pictures of my toe included. They responded by asking what stop it had happened at, where I boarded and what I was wearing so they could check the cctv. A few days later they told me they checked their cameras and they were sorry it happened.

That was it, they didnt even offer to refund me my train fair that was wasted or for the inconvenience of missing college that day. I'm just wondering if I have a case here and if its worth pursuing?

Heres pictures of my toe the day of the accident. Please excuse my ugly feet. https://imgur.com/a/VaQo9

And here are some pictures after the nail that fell off (GRAPHIC)
https://imgur.com/a/MWHfR

Answer: That sucks, but I don't know what you think could have been done to prevent it. Water is wet, and makes things slippery.


Title: US/Canadian Dual Citizen entering Canada with a DUI?

Question: Hey everybody, I have a quick question regarding entry into Canada with a DUI if you are a dual citizen. Regrettably, I was charged (but not yet convicted) with a DUI a few months ago, and I am planning to visit Toronto in the summer. I am a US citizen but also have my Canadian citizenship and also have a Canadian passport. I am confused about the proper way to use both passports safely to enter Canada and return to the US. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Answer: Use the passport of the country you're entering. You can enter and remain in Canada, yeah.


Title: Questions about marriage benefits, negatives, and processes/aspects to be considered for a very financially unequal couple in Illinois.

Question:
Hey /LegalAdvice,
Here's the rundown: My GF and I are considering getting married, and the possible financial implications are the reasons that are holding us back right now. She is a self-employed small business owner and I work in healthcare for a healthcare network.

&nbsp;
She has $150,000 in student loan debt, very little of which is Federal. She has no consumer debts.
I have about $200,000 saved between retirement an individual accounts with no student loan or consumer debt.

&nbsp;
Eventually we would like to buy a house together, but that's likely 2-5 years down the road.

&nbsp;
We plan to keep our own bank accounts and finances as separate as possible, with the exception of the house down the road. So our question for /LegalAdvice is what documents should we have and are there any key points to make sure are written in them? A Prenup? A Postnup? Other documents?

&nbsp;
We're already planning to speak with a lawyer, (and tax person) to have a prenup, (and possibly postnup?) written. We want to go in with a basic understanding of the situation, an idea of which documents to make sure get completed, and some good questions lined up. Thank you all very much!

Answer: You need two lawyers, not one. You each need to be represented by your own independent counsel in order to get in the ballpark of an enforceable prenuptial agreement.


Title: Is a foreigner protected by the 4th or 5th amendment if detained by police when visiting the United States?

Answer: Yep!Answer #2: Yes, they are. If they are to be prosecuted by a US court of law, then they are subject to the laws of the US.