Title: Chemical burns from a pedicure

Question:
[Montana, United States ]
I got a pedi on my birthday and got a callous removal treatment, I'd never had one before. The nail tech got some of the acid for callous removal on my legs and they are now healed, but I have scarring on both of my legs. One of them is indented and I will have these for the rest of my life. It also caused my heel to split. I had to use medical grade new skin to glue it back together, I had to do this several times over the course of a week,and had to leave work for two shifts because it was too painful to walk. After I realized what had happened ( I'll leave out the gory details) I called them and they asked me to come in so they could look at it and treat it. They refunded my money and gave me gift certificates for future services. Fast forward a couple months later, my chemical burns are healed, so I went into have a polish change. I got a shellac manicure and it was chipped off in less than two days, they usually last 2 weeks. I called them and left a message about it and sent them a pm. They aren't responding to my messages and It's really infuriating . I understand accidents happen in the beauty Industry.  Now that it's shorts season I've been having people ask me what happened to my legs. That aren't huge, but ones deeply indented and where the chemical burns are have no feeling. The fact that they didn't respond to my voicemail or email infuriated me especially since they were pretty professional about handling the first incident. Sure I didn't pay out of pocket for the manicure,but it was compensation for the chemical burns, I guess? Anyways my sister and a couple of friends are surprised I haven't filed a suit against them for the scarring and missed work. Obviously I won't ever go back again and I'm wondering what course if any I should take. I don't want anyone else to go there and have the same experience. Someone suggested I post here for some guidance.

Answer:
 Did you get a report from the doctor stating that they were chemical burns?

You can report them to the board of barbers and cosmetologists  / health department.


Title: (Iowa) My fiancees phone was stolen by a minor and she would like to press charges.

Question: She left it in the dog park, I called it trying to find it and ended up talking to a woman who's son (13-14yr old) had found the phone. I picked it up from her when her son was being interrogated by a police officer for whatever else he had been doing. I discovered upon return the phone was locked with a passcode that we didn't set up. Not jumping to conclusions I mentioned that I couldn't unlock it. The mom immediately starts chewing the kid out, asking him what the code was and he repeatedly denied it. I went home and after looking at it some more realized he must have done it. Called her, she got the code out of him, and I told her I would let it slide as long as we got the code back. He deleted all of her information from her phone and obviously had intent to steal. I am uncertain what to do but despite what I promised, my fiancee still firmly wants to press charges. Is this right, especially since I told her I wouldn't proceed with those actions? If it is, how do I go about handling this situation?

Answer: She doesn't get to "press charges". The police can do so if they choose but it's not her call.Answer #2: District attorneys press charges, not Rando Citizen. You can file a police report. It's up to the state from there.


Title: Employer treats employee as indentured servant?

Question:
So I started a job somewhat recently \(IL, USA\) and I've learned something that makes me really angry and uncomfortable about a long\-time employee here.

I'll try to be as concise as possible, but a lot goes into it. Basically the owner of the business has a full\-time employee that they do not "pay." The employee has been working at this business for over a decade, and around a few years ago, got swindled into a very troubling agreement. It started with a car, which was "given" to them because they found them self without transportation and unable to get to work. Then, some time afterwards they tried to move to a more affordable neighborhood. When the employee went to put their two weeks in and move, the owner then offered to "cover" the employees rent and utilities at a property that the owner owned. All of this and less than $100 a month spending money is given to her instead of a proper paycheck.

They way it has been working for them, is that the owner "pays" the employee, but the owner has them sign each paycheck back over to the business owner. They have never seen a pay stub, and are not shown how much each paycheck is before signing it over to the owner. The owner takes all of their tax information and does their taxes for the employee, and then takes any sort of tax return to "apply" towards the employees "debt." The employee, however, has never been told what the amount of the "debt" is with the car or the rent on the apartment.

They are technically an hourly employee, but doesn't know what she gets hourly, and doesn't punch in or out, and if the employee takes a day off due to illness or some other issue, they then have to work a 6th or 7th day the following week. They have had to resort to working a side job for spending money, as they're allotted less than $50 every two weeks from their "paycheck." The apartment, their utilities, the car payment are in the owner's name, and the paychecks go into the owner's bank, not the employees. This means they have little to no means of establishing any sort of credit. The employee wants to do something about this, but is afraid they'll lose their home, and their car, and obviously their job! What the hell is going on here and what the hell can this employee do to save themselves?!? Is this indentured servitude, entrapment\(?\) or what? It cannot be legal.
Topic:
Landlord Tenant Housing

Answer:
 They can quit. Slavery is illegal.

Answer #2: I bet you anything that once the value of the housing is calculated he is well under minimum wage. This "debt" is total nonsense. This is a classic method to keep people in slavery similar to the old sharecropping system just updated to cities.

Unfortunately, OP you don't have standing to make the wage claim. This guy needs to work up the bravery to stand up own his own, do his own taxes, etc. Answer #3: Is this employee mentally incapacitated in some way? Adult protective services may be a venue.Answer #4: They need to see an actual lawyer. My concern is the employee signing off on fake taxes and being liable. Try getting copies of the returns from the IRS.


Title: Boss says he won't pay my vacation day this week because I'm out sick, is that legal?

Question:
Sorry for the throwaway but several people at my work use reddit regularly and know my main account.

This week I am supposed to get July 3rd off, paid. However, I came down with a serious infection (I can't get too specific 'cause it's a somewhat rare illness and could identify me) this week. I have been to the doctor, I have paperwork verifying that I have an infectious condition and shouldn't be at work right now.

My boss informed me this morning that he does not pay for holidays off if you aren't at work in the days before the holiday, meaning that because I'm sick this week I won't get paid for the 3rd. Is this legal? I spoke to some friends who thought that it wasn't legal but I'm not sure.

If it's not legal, is there any real recourse I can take?

Thanks.

Answer: Yes, that is legal.  There's no requirement that you be paid for holiday closures in the US, and companies can put restrictions on it if they do pay them out.


Title: Working 12+ hours without a lunch break (Colorado)

Question:
I am a veterinary technician in Colorado. I routinely work long 10-13 hour days with no lunch breaks. I went back through my time card and in the year 2019 I have taken TWO lunch breaks. I brought this up to management and how it seems illegal that we don’t get time for lunch breaks. The response was that I need to be “clocking out” for paid lunch breaks during my shift if I don’t have time to take an actual lunch break. Their argument was- I am not going 12 straight hours without food, I am just not getting a break. Granted I am eating during my shifts when I get two seconds- but I’m not sure eating a handful of popcorn here and a bite of sandwich there and running to the break room to microwave something frozen really quick between appointments counts as eating... At what point is not getting a break illegal? Does “clocking out” for a paid working lunch really count in place of an actual break legally?
Topic:
Employment Law

Answer:
 https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdle/breaks

Here are the relevant Colorado regulations on the issue. You should get 2 lunch breaks for a shift that last between 10 and 15 hours. Unless there is some reason that it is impractical for your employer to give you a break you need 2 meal breaks.

Is being a vet tech the kind of job where you can’t be away from for 30 minutes at a time?


Title: TX - Does equal income cancel out alimony?

Question:
So me and my, soon to be ex, wife have decided it was time to get a divorce. Our kids are grown and the house is paid off. I am willing to move out and live with a buddy of mine so she can keep the house.

Both of us work for the same company, albeit different offices, working the same job function, and make the same pay. We are both salary and our checks match pretty much exactly each week with the obvious sick day exclusions. (Less than 40 hours of work a week returns a prorated check)

We both decided it was over and are looking to get a divorce. MY friends are trying to warn me and tell me my wife may get alimony payments. Can she do this? I thought that whoever made more got alimony payments? If both of us make the same does that mean I default to pay the alimony?

Answer:
 Alimony is unlikely.

Friends are typically poor sources of legal advice.

Not getting your share of the house's equity isn't a great call. It may seem like a good idea now to avoid conflict or guilt, but future you will not thank you for it. Can she buy you out instead (for example, you retain more of your retirement savings)?


Title: Pulled over and given a ticket for expired inspection sticker, but it wasn't expired! NJ

Question:
On Friday morning I was on my way to an appointment, on my way there a police officer was stopping people for a mobile inspection station. I had taken my car to be inspected at the DMV 3 weeks ago, it failed for emissions, and I had a "rejected" sticker over my (now) expired inspection sticker. Because I had the rejected sticker though, I had until March 31 to have all repairs made and get it reinspected. My car was scheduled to go into the shop on Friday evening to be fixed, I had to wait until my disability check came in before I could afford the repairs.

I explain all of this to the officer and he told me I still needed to go through the mobile inspection and they would update my rejected sticker to give me another 30 days. I was annoyed, but what are you gonna do, right?

So, I pull down the side street where the mobile inspection is and a 2nd officer takes my license, registration, and insurance info. I explained the same thing to this officer as I did the first. He said it was fine and he just had to run my info. He's in his truck for a while and when he comes out, he hands me a $130 ticket for "expired inspection." I remind him, that my inspection isn't expired and I still have time to get my repairs and get it reinspected. He tells me that I can call the number on the back of the ticket and talk to someone there.

Obviously, I was pissed off at this point, but since I was already late for my appointment and I already had one ticket, I didn't want to press my luck.

What do I do now? Will I have to go to court? If so, will I have to pay court costs, even if my ticket gets waived? Is there any way to avoid court costs? I don't even know how much court costs are.

I'm disabled and have a hard time getting around, so sitting in court for however long, while doable, will be a hardship for me because of my condition. There's also the money situation, I literally have no money to spare.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

On a side note, what the hell is the point of a mobile inspection station if they don't verify the "rejected" stickers!?!?! They have a bar code as well as numerical code, so the officer should have been able to verify that I still had time.

Answer:
 Rejected inspection doesnt extend your original sticker, so if it's rejected and already expired it's still an expired sticker.

https://www.state.nj.us/mvc/inspection/failedinsp.htm


Title: In 2013 I was falsely accused. I was arrested and charged with DV Assault 4, a misdemeanor, and subsequently my case was "dismissed with prejudice". My arrest and charge still shows on background checks. Is there any way to totally clean my record?

Question: No infractions of any kind since then. This all happened in Bellevue, King County, Washington State

Answer: FWIW, Washington has[ new legislation beginning next week](https://www.jacksonlewis.com/publication/washington-ban-box-law-limits-criminal-background-inquiries) that prohibits employers from asking about your criminal background in the initial stages of employment. I'm not sure in what context you are concerned about background checks, but it shouldn't be an issue in employment. (I'm not familiar with firearm laws in WA, but I believe some states do consider domestic violence arrests even without convictions in license issuance so that aspect may stick with you).


Title: I'm going to report my uncle for rape

Question:
He didn't. Bored of my threads yet reddit? This will be the last.

My uncle wishes to be my guardian. If I say that he raped me when I was 12, what are the chances that the judge will not appoint him as my guardian?

There's nothing to prove that he did or that he did not. Everyone will say that he didn't, but how would they possibly know the truth?

Would this be good enough to at least make it not possible for him to be my guardian?

Answer:
 No.  But it would make it more likely that you will be found to be mentally ill, for considering this a viable option.

I know you don't like to hear this, but you need help. You are lucky, you have money & family, and you can get the help you need.

Get help.  Get better.  Become independent.  In that order.  Because any other order won't work.


Title: [international] Can I use this Pokemon images on my website?

Question:
I'm planning to build a website where users can keep track of Pokemons they've "captured" on Blockchain. I was wondering if it is possible to use Pokemon names and [these images](https://www.iconfinder.com/iconsets/151-1), since Nintendo is incredibly protective. I'm mostly worried about Nintendo US.

Thanks a lot.
(Fuck you Pokemon Company.)

Answer:
 Unless you have a license, you would be infringing on the owner's copyright.

And if you don't like the company that is creating the intellectual property, play a different game. Sheesh. They don't owe you anything. Answer #2: > I was wondering if it is possible to use Pokemon names and these images

No. At least not without a proper license, which you almost certainly won't get. Answer #3: Definitely not if you intend to earn money with the website. ~~Probably not if you don't intend to earn money (fan-site) and manage to fly under the radar.~~ It is infringement.

Consult an attorney specialized in intellectual property if you want to find out ~~for sure~~ if you have room to wiggle. No one on this sub can provide you with an 100% sure answer.


Title: Employer says we are not to discuss or disclose our benefits with another category of employees. (MS)

Question:
Nonprofit. They have three different sets of handbooks for three different categories of employees ( executive staff, salaried administrative employees, and then hourly direct care providers that work in the field.)

We use to have one big handbooks and all the same benefits but they found that cumbersome and costly so they recent changed to this. They provide certain rules and benefits to each category differently. Some people don't get the same as the other categories. Such as leave time, flex time, etc.

The only problem is that we are barred from talking about it with employees outside of our category. We can't share our handbooks. They are saying it could cause problems in our teamwork models and that it could result in a corrective action if we did it on purpose. We are also barred from seeing handbooks outside of our category. (I know because I've sit in during leadership meetings).

I know that employers can't keep employees from having a discussion related to wages, but does that include benefits since they are considered a part of our salary?

Answer: Benefits are considered part of your compensation, so yes that would generally be a protected activity.Answer #2: Benefits are treated similarly to salary by the NLRA, and your employer can't throw a blanket prohibition on discussing them.  But they can regulate the sharing of employer owned materials for confidentiality reasons, and can place reasonable, restrictions on when and how you discuss things (i.e. you can't have a 4 hours discussion about pay fairness in the middle of the day and not get your work done).


Title: Could I sue if someone sells a gift I give someone else?

Question:
So I really want to buy two iPod touches for my boyfriend's 2 daughters, who are too young for real phones, so they can text or call their dad and me whenever they want when they're with their mom. I'm worried that, if I spend $400 on the ipods, she will take them from her daughters and sell them (she is obsessed with money and she would hate the idea of her daughters being able to contact us because she hates us). If she does, is there anything legally I could do about it? It would be a gift for her daughters, not her. Would it help if I said they were mine and that I let them use them?
State: Minnesota

Answer: Once a gift is given, you no longer have any control over it.  You could, conceivably, draw up a contract with the mother denying her the right to re-sell - but she has no requirement to sign it.


Title: (Michigan) Arrested for possession of marijuana on college campus. Will legalization in November help my case?

Question:
I am an eighteen year old student who has never run into trouble with the law before. Earlier this evening I opened a jar of weed in my dorm room at the University of Michigan. DPSS (housing security) knocked on my door and asked that I surrender all my weed. I complied and gave them everything that I had (~10 grams). They then called university police, who arrested me and processed me at the station.

The officer who arrested me mentioned that the weed will be sent in for testing which could take months. If Michigan legalizes cannabis use in November, will it have any significant bearing on my case?

Right now I plan to contact student legal services and tell my parents on Monday when they open. I haven't received any citation or paperwork, how will I be contacted when charges are pressed?

Besides contacting student legal, are there any other steps I should take? I'm really stressing out about this. What sort of consequences am I likely facing? Thanks so so much for any help.

Answer:
 Not sure of legal implications, but the U can and does make their own rules you agree to abide by when you live in student housing, and that includes no illegal substances such as marijuana. You may or may not get into serious legal trouble, but you will almost certainly be found in violation of housing rules and that could carry consequences. Check your housing agreement for specific rules and potential consequences of marijuana possession.

And for what it is worth, you are not required to open your door for DPSS.


Title: [US-NV] Employer telling me he considers me to have resigned, but I never did. I'm either fired or I quit, is one better than the other and how do I fight for that status?

Question:
Hi everyone, sorry if this isn't the right sub, but I'm not sure where to go.

I missed part of a shift and the whole next one due to a family emergency. I gave notice both times that this would be happening. My boss texted me today before I was to go in tomorrow that I was considered to have resigned.

I understand he can fire me without cause, so why is he saying I quit? How does this benefit him or hurt me?

What can I do to help my situation?

Thank you.

Answer:
 Tell him that you did not resign, and let him fire you. Then apply for unemployment. If he contests your application, tell the unemployment examiner that the absence was a one time situation due to a family emergency and not a pattern of misconduct. Point to your prior excellent attendance record, etc.

If your initial unemployment claim is denied, appeal. In some states contested unemployment claims are commonly denied the first time but then granted on appeal. The appeals level usually has better trained and experienced claims workers.

I'm not sure about NV in particular, but in most states a single 36 hr period of missed shifts would not rise to the level of disqualifying misconduct for unemployment purposes. This is particularly true in your case because these weren't no-shows. You told your boss you'd have to miss work because of the family issue.

Good luck!Answer #2: If you quit you receive no unemployment.


Title: [Indiana] Field worker here: employer has required me to work my last three weekends straight, out of state. I technically qualify as a professional, and my salary is more than $55,000 a year. Am I eligible for any sort of compensation for all of this time working without any time off?

Answer: you are entitled to your salary


Title: Can I get in trouble for providing a fake emergency contact?

Question:
(If relevant, this is in Victoria, Australia)

I've tried Googling and searching here, but can't find an answer.

Basically I need to rent but have no family will to help me or friends. Can I legally get in trouble if I am caught providing a fake name/address as an emergency contact? Thank you

Answer: You can likely just write N/A in the spot.


Title: [FL] Landlord threatening my mom, requesting 3 months of rent without contract right now or we will be thrown out

Question:
My family and I have been in this apartment for approximately 4 years. For the first 3 years we've dealt with landlord A, apparently he was just running things and collecting money for the actual Landlord (I'll just call her landlord B) because B was in another country or something.

So for the past 9 months we've been dealing with landlord B with issues left and right. E.g:

1) we'd always pay on the first. Someone would come to our place on the 1st and collect the check, but twice has she called us up, saying our check bounced and that we now owed more.

2) there's significant water damage to the apartment on the roof, some holes on the wall, washer/dryer does not work, slight mold in the kitchen sink and most likely in the walls, and landlord B (or A) has never attempted to fix these things. Her excuse was that she believed the association would come fix it eventually.

3) last month on the 29th, a couple of days before rent is due, landlord B ambushed my mom coming from work, and proceeded to YELL at her, at the top of her lungs, saying that we owed $4500 (our rent is 1200/month), because her car broke down and she needs the money and if we don't have it by the 30th (still a day before rent is due) she is going to kick us out. Oh, and our two dogs would raise rent another $300 a month. I wasn't physically there, but I was told all my neighbors were outside, and police were called on landlord. She was practically harassing and threatening my mother.

We're moving out soon. What can this person end up pulling, and what can we do?

Answer:
 1) If you bounce your check you *do* owe more.

2) See below regarding Florida's implied warranty of habitability:

>  If the landlord materially fails to comply with s. 83.51(1) or material provisions of the rental agreement within 7 days after delivery of written notice by the tenant specifying the noncompliance and indicating the intention of the tenant to terminate the rental agreement by reason thereof, the tenant may terminate the rental agreement.  If the tenant remains in possession the rent is reduced by an amount proportional to the loss of utility of the premises.  Tenant may also enforce the landlord’s obligations by filing suit for damages.

3) Why does she believe your mom owes that much?


Title: Can you "accidentally drop something" in a crosswalk.

Question:
I live in a CA city which is a strong contender for containing the most obnoxious drivers. Four lane crosswalk, I'm walking across carrying a baseball, let's say. A few cars slow down to let me cross (which alone is a miracle) but some asshole, normally in some kind of luxury car, will inevitably speed through the crosswalk, traveling 35 in a 25 mph zone.

Now as I understand it California state law says that you stop when a pedestrian is already in a crosswalk. I have the right of way. What if when that asshole is speeding his 3000 lb Audi through my right of way. What if in the path of my crosswalk I just happened to toss my ball in the air and, lo and behold, it lands smack in the middle of the Audi's windshield right in the middle of the crosswalk during his illegal manuver?

Who would be at fault for the terribly damaged windshield? The 3000 lb speeding car through my right of way? Or the 10 mph ball speeding through my right of way?

Answer:
 Sort of related: Some guy changed lanes without signaling, can I follow him home and murder him?Answer #2: Since you have this already planned out and intend on damaging the Audi, you are responsible.Answer #3: Do you think anyone would buy your story that it was an accident?Answer #4: This is a type of question that gets asked a lot. Basically: "My co-worker is stealing my lunch, can I put rat poison in it?"

If you intend to cause harm, you are going to be held responsible. The other person committing a crime doesn't automatically negate that.
Answer #5: The driver would hopefully be ticketed for running the crosswalk. You would also be responsible for the windshield, even if it was an "accident." If they determined it was on purpose, you could even face criminal charges/fines.


Title: Disclose mental illness to landlord?

Question: We've rented an apt. in San Francisco for many years and are covered by rent control protections. Because our rent is now below market, our landlord has become very hostile and is now documenting every tiny thing they think we do wrong in an attempt to pursue a just cause eviction. Landlord found out that the police were called to our apartment recently, and sent a letter expressing "concern for our safety and the safety of other tenants." My wife was hospitalized that night and subsequently diagnosed with multiple mental illnesses including anxiety, neurosis, and depression. The landlord's letter also referenced other "noise & safety complaints" supposedly lodged against us by former tenants, none of which the landlord has disclosed to us before. Should we disclose my wife's mental illness to our landlord? (She doesn't want to but agreed to throw it out for advice.) Does her disability give us any protection against these complaints? The night the police were called, she was over-reacting to an email from the landlord complaining about how we bagged our garbage, and most of her recent episodes seem to be triggered by interactions with the landlord. All I see online about mentally ill tenants is about reasonable accommodation. We have no problem paying the rent, don't need a service dog, etc. Thank you!!!

Answer:
 Lots of things here.  First, it is completely unreasonable to expect the landlord never to send you communication.  You (as a unit) will NEED to have interactions with the landlord.  That being said, it is completely reasonable to ask the landlord to communicate ONLY with you and allow you to relay these communications to your wife.  You do not need to provide her diagnosis.  "My wife is experiencing medical problems, and we are trying to shield her from stress.  Please direct all future communications to me at <phone number> or <email>, and I will make sure to relay the information to her as necessary."

As for the police visit, it depends on what they were responding to.  If it is something that could reasonably be seen as a safety issue for other tenants, the LL's concerns are legitimate.  I would be very sure it does not happen again as it is a nuisance.

In general, the Landlord sounds pretty reasonable.  They are asking you to be reasonably quiet, keep things safe, and bag garbage correctly.  Having a mental illness does not entitle you to be disruptively loud, create unsafe conditions for others, or create health hazards with your garbage.  If you and/or your wife are unable to abide by reasonable rules for living in close quarters with others, you may need to look into other living arrangements.


Title: [US - CA] I have some questions about passports, identity theft, and being a minor.

Question:
Yesterday, I found out that my younger brother (17) stole my driver's license a few months ago. I assumed that I had lost/misplaced it, so I got a new one months ago. I'm 19, so he stole it so he could buy cigarettes. Last weekend, he was walking around in public with an open container of beer. Probably drunk but I don't know the details. A police officer stopped him and somehow my brother ended up giving the cop my old driver's license. He pretended to be me. I now have that on my record. Again, I don't know the details of what happened, but I think he was ordered to pay a fine. My parents told me what happened after he confessed to them (they know I wouldn't do that and they're paying for his lawyer/fines, so he had to tell them).

I was planning to go out of the country in June (week long trip), so I was going to apply for a passport this week (mine expired). The passport application doesn't include any questions about your criminal history so I thought it didn't matter. My parents talked to a lawyer today about clearing my name and said it would take a few weeks, and that I should wait to apply for a passport until after this is over. I don't have time for that and I'm still not entirely clear on whether or not this will affect my application.

I really want to go on the trip. If I apply for a passport this week like I planned, will it get rejected because of this? Will it affect my ability to leave the country? What's going to happen to my brother? Is there anything I can do to clear my name faster?

Answer: I doubt this would affect your ability to get a passport.  Unless you have failed to appear for a warrant or owe child support, you have the right to leave the country.


Title: [New York] Friend broke up with her girlfriend and the ex is threatening suicide. Can she get into any trouble if she doesn't do anything?

Answer: No. She should call the police if she gives her a direct threat.Answer #2: No. But call 911 if in doubt.


Title: Will not letting my ex see our daughter due to his not having a car or safe place to watch her reflect poorly on me in a custody hearing? (WA)

Question:
I recently broke up with my ex boyfriend because of his recurring drug use. Classic story- extensive drug abuse before I was pregnant, promises to stop when the baby was born, explosive relapse when she was 2 months old, more promises, and now a relapse at 7 months old. I'm done with it. He isn't addicted to one drug specifically, just likes to get high on anything convenient. This recent time he was smoking heroin.

A perfect world for me would be us both being stable and sharing custody amicably. However, the risk of him using during his time with her is obviously a concern for me. On top of that, he doesn't have a car to pick her up and doesn't have anywhere to watch her. He's living with his mom now, but she's having some kind of mental breakdown and refuses to have to baby in her home (I'm not arguing). I've tried really hard to work around all of this. He has come with us to the grocery store and other errands, and has watched the baby at my home while I was at work with my brother supervising.

On Saturday we planned to have him watch the baby at my house while I catch up on chores and do homework. Right after I picked him up we got in an argument and he asked me to take him back to his mom's. I'm honestly fed up with him, he's told me he's been doing shrooms to "help with his meditation" and in general just hasn't made any effort to improve himself or see our daughter. I'm tired of being the one to organize his time with her while he just does the same shit he always has.

I want to file a parenting plan. I know Washington rarely files full custody, but is there a way I can ensure he has a safe place to watch her and perhaps drug tests before he's granted visitation? He's also now painting me as the "bad guy" who won't let him see his kid, is this situation going to reflect poorly on me in front of a judge? His parents both have money and I want to cover all my bases in case he gets them to hire him an attorney. Any help is much appreciated!

Topic:
Custody Divorce and Family

Answer:
 You can bring up your concerns to the judge. Ideally, you should hire a lawyer to handle a custody agreement and a child support agreement.

In the meantime, show that you are trying to make things work by continuing to allow him to come to your home for visitation if he wants. Don’t go pick him up, he can find a ride if it’s important.


Title: [Utah] An attorney took my divorce case, and payment, months ago and is now near impossible to reach. What now?

Question:
Since our meeting, I have made 20+ phone calls to the man over a span of a couple months to ascertain where we are with my case. He is never in the office and almost never returns my phone calls. He has responded twice and the status is always "I need to draft up this paperwork and send it over to his attorney." He also refuses to have me come to the office to look over any paperwork and says I don't have to sign anything because it's all digital now. I am concerned. What do I do now? I'd rather attempt to handle it myself and know what's going on than be in the dark. I am now receiving documents from my ex's attorney that are contesting certain paragraphs of the divorce, and I cannot get a hold of my attorney.
Topic:
Custody Divorce and Family

Answer:
 Unless the Utah Bar has some weird rules, clients generally have a right to their own file, whether it is paper or digital. Send your attorney a letter (by email) and copy his paralegal. Tell him you want a copy of every document in your file. Tell him you would also like to make an appointment with him to discuss your case once you have received your copy of the file. It is always good practice for the attorney to copy the client on everything so this type of situation doesn't happen.

You can always go to the courthouse to view it's file to see what has been done in your case. Some courts have information online now, but I don't know if you are able to review the contents of documents in your jurisdiction.

Finally, you can file a complaint with the Utah Bar. You would have to look online or call to start that process. This is a drastic step and should be the last one after you have tried everything else.


Title: Mortgage company hasn't paid my homeowners insurance. Is this breach of contract and if so, can i use that as leverage to get out of them managing my escrow?

Question:
Hello legaladvice, I am hoping someone here can give me some guidance. This story is also hopefully some useful info for someone looking to buy their first home as not everything goes as expected.

My mortgage was sold from Waterstone (A rated) to Seneca (F rated) about 6 months or so ago, i have been in the house for about 10 months.

I put 20% down when i bought the house and ended up with a monthly payment of $740 which was $560 on the mortgage and $180 for escrow ($50 ins/$130 tax)

Come tax time in November, i find out they hadn't compensated for the full amount of my taxes due, in case anyone doesn't know you are responsible for the full years tax even if you haven't been there for a year.

This wasn't too big a deal because i know that stuff happens, i just didn't know it would be around $1020. The company had to pay the difference (total tax bill was around $2500) and divided the $1020 up across the next 12 months of payments.

Well, just my luck we had a tax increase in our county take effect which added an additional $75 dollars a month to my bill. So my monthly bill has gone up a total of $160 after 8 months of being here.

Now, i was thinking this wont be an issue because now that the first year is paid, all this will be offset by my homestead exemption that has now gone through (you cant get it your first year in the home in FL), the tax collectors website says my new estimated tax bill for next year will be $1250 which more than completely offsets the tax increase the county imposed.

Well, after several email correspondences, Seneca refuses to acknowledge the new estimate and will only withhold based on the previous years tax bill which was $2500, until the new "official" estimate comes out in November.

All in all my $750 monthly payment went to $910 a month within 8 months of me living here. $160 extra is A LOT of money as i have a wife that does not work, a 1 year old daughter, and another on the way.

I requested that i pay them the $1020 out of my tax return for the missing difference and that they let me manage my escrow so that i can compensate for what they are unwilling to acknowledge. They just kept saying "oh, well you'll just get a check back for the difference when we pay the taxes next year." I'm sorry but fuck you very much, that is unacceptable that you see the issue and think everyone just has an extra $160 lying around so you wont do anything about it because it will "work itself out in a year".

Well, i had given up after that and a month or 2 went by, i worked some extra overtime to compensate, fortunately my company is good about letting us work as much as we want, still not happy about missing quality time with the little one.

Today, i got a letter in the mail from my homeowners insurance company saying they are canceling our insurance because they have not received their payment. I remember reading this was a common thing with Seneca as literally all their reviews were negative and mostly tax and insurance related.

My questions to anyone who may know is: Is what they are doing a breach of contract, such that i can get out of the escrow part of it? If so, how would i go about doing that? Also, should i pay the insurance they are not paying before it gets canceled and a sink hole swallows my house the next day? Id be willing to pay a lawyer and spend a little money just to get free of these people, they are an awful company.

Thank you for any advice you can give.

Answer:
 IANAL and I can't give you legal advice, but with regards to this:

> should i pay the insurance they are not paying before it gets canceled and a sink hole swallows my house the next day

1000% YES. If something happens to your house (or to someone visiting your house) and you don't have homeowner's insurance you could be seriously fucked over financially.

You can always go back and get Seneca to fix their shit and pay you back for it later (or you can sue if they don't make you whole) but do NOT go another second without homeowner's insurance if you can possibly help it.

Pardon my language, but the thought of not having homeowner's insurance gave me a small fit.


Title: [CA] A friend has a temporary restraining order filed against him that's preventing him from going to school.

Question: A friend of mine recently had a domestic restraining order filed against him by his ex who broke up with him. Looking over the forms, it was discovered that she requested that he be restrained from going 100 yards from her home, car, work, and school. They both attend the same college though. The question below asks if restraining the individual from these locations still allows the accused to attend their own school or work, to which she wrote no, because they attend the same college. The issue is that the judge marked that all restrictions were granted, rather than partially granted partially denied, until the court date, which is a little less than 3 weeks away. Today he went back home to be with his family as not to run the risk of running into her, but now he is unable to go to school or work (which is on campus) until the court date, which may prevent him from graduating in June. Is there anything he can do to work around this?

Answer: He can call his lawyer and ask if there's anything he can do or if he's misunderstood somehow, but I'm betting the soonest anything changes is three weeks.


Title: Do I necessarily need a state ID card if I have a valid driver's license?

Question: I have ID and license to drive in the same state (IL). My birthday is coming soon, and my state ID is going to expire then this year. My driver's license is good until 2020. Is it all right to keep using my driver's license as form of identification or must I still need to keep a valid state ID?

Answer: State ID cards are almost exclusively used by people without driver’s licenses, and it would be downright bizzare to renew a non-driver’s ID when you have a driver’s license. Almost everyone uses their driver’s license as their primary form of government-issued ID.Answer #2: There's no situation where a state ID card is preferable over a driver's license. About the only reason you'd want a non-expired state ID is if, for whatever reason, you ended up filling out a form that requires two valid photo IDs. It's uncommon, but it does happen. (Personally, I use my DL plus either passport or CAC)


Title: [California] Contract with a suspicious business

Question:
I own a tiny California company performing engineering services.  I have been contacted by a small Californian corporation that wishes to hire me.

I am looking for pointers on how to deal with this suspicious company.

I have been in contact with a representative by email and by video conference.   I have once meet this representative of the company in person.  He has emailed me a proposed contract he wants me sign.  I want to do this work and the compensation is reasonable.

I have checked with the California Secretary of State and this company has current registration and was formed in 2011.

Why I am suspicious:

1) I have not been provided with the company's physical address, FAX number, or telephone number.  All of these items are missing from the proposed contract.

2) When I meet the representative in person, he did not have a business card and I did not meet him in an office.  I met him in the building's break room.  His company's name was not listed on the building's directory.

3) I have no proof that this representative works for the company and if he is authorized to sign contracts.

4) He wants to sign, scan, and email the contract.  I do not know if a scanned signature is legal.

UPDATE:  I have been emailing him some questions concerning the contract including asking for their address and telephone number.  He has not answered any of my questions, but he now wants to drop this contract because of my "lack of interest in performing the work".  I have no idea what happened.  Something isn't right.  I am glad I did not sign the contract.

Answer: Wow that sounds fishy. The Secretary of State should have an address, no? Personally I would verify more, but plan on running away.


Title: Is it legal to use prescription drugs for other-than-prescribed purposes? [Massachusetts]

Question:
I haven't been charged or anything, but I didn't know any place better to ask.

Let's say you get prescribed pain medicine (maybe Vicodin or Percocet) by your dentist for recovery from a tooth extraction, and 6 months later, you fall down the stairs and hurt your back.  Would it be legal for you to use any leftover pills that you were lawfully prescribed for an other-than-intended use?

Answer: It's not illegal to take prescription pills that have been prescribed to you. However if you fell and are in a lot of pain you need to go to the doctor.


Title: Gym tried to steal $1000 from me but got caught.

Question:
I went into a local (Toronto, Canada to be specific) gym to sign up for a 1 year membership. I signed a contract for 2 months free membership, and $22.50+ tax twice per month for 10 months. My contract included 1 free personal training session/assessment from one of their personal trainers.

After the free session I explained to the trainer that I have a lot of injuries and complications due to lupus. This trainer assured me that he was capable of helping me and working within my limitations so that I could come out of it in better health and shape. I signed up with that trainer for 48 personal training sessions at  $75+ tax per session. In the first 8 weeks I was doing physiotherapy in conjunction with working with my trainer. During this time I used up 16 of my 48 sessions and made great progress.

Now 8 weeks in my trainer goes MIA. He is cancelling appointments and I am pursuing him to reschedule and most of my text messages go unanswered. During this next 8 week period I manage to get to train me exactly 4 times. I text him things like: "Can we reschedule?", "I'm starting to lose motivation without you and have been in the gym in almost 2 weeks.", "Are you ever coming back?".

Just after Christmas I went in to speak to the Front Desk Manager about cancelling my personal training sessions. I was tired of chasing down my trainer, but more importantly I was angry that after already paying them $1500+ tax, the progress I had made was down the drain and that money was lost. I was told that to cancel the contract I had to "buy my way out of it", meaning I had to pay for half of my remaining sessions to get out of the contract. At this point I asked, to be sure, how many sessions I had remaining. I was told that I had 15 sessions remaining. So let's do some basic math...I purchased 48 sessions, used 20 sessions, and had 15 remaining?

After some investigation we learned that my trainer, during his 2 month absence, was charging for sessions that we never had. Basically he stole 13 sessions from me at $75+ tax per session meaning with taxes he stole over $1000. Thankfully I have all of the text logs to prove that these sessions were indeed stolen and unused by me. At this point without making too much fuss, as I wanted to actually continue using this gym and didn't want to burn and bridges, all I wanted to do was cancel my remain personal training contract. I am totally paid up for what sessions I did use so the balance owing is $0. I just wanted to quietly cancel and go about training solo with my membership.

The manager at this gym told me ok, we will cancel the remaining of the contract and if you ever want to try personal training again let me know. I went to the front desk to sign some paperwork saying as much. At that point the front desk called head office to notify them to which head office said no, I had to buy my way out of the contract.

Am I crazy? Does this not sound absurd to anyone else? They say they have not breached the contract, but is stealing from a client not a breach of contract? I have since written to head office and I have been given the same response, I must buy my way out.

My question is what rights do I have, if any? If I cancel the payment how will this dispute affect me?

EDIT: They have offered me another trainer to finish out my sessions, I am just not happy with that outcome. I want out of the contract. The fact is I'm on a lower income with a physical disability and a single mom. It was a huge leap of faith and sacrifice financially for me to even sign up for this. I am also not comfortable going to that gym and seeing the trainer who tried to steal from me.

**TL;DR My trainer stole over $1000 from me, got caught. Now I want to cancel contract but I'm being told I have to pay them to cancel.**

Answer: I don't think its stealing yet cause they can still offer you training (unless its only with that trainer) but fact remains they are in breach and you should be allowed to leave altogther. That said you need to review your contract to see exactly what you paid for and what your remedies are for breach.Answer #2: You should negotiate for your properly tabulated unused sessions with a new trainer of your choosing, plus a couple free sessions for your trouble on the billing issue.  That strikes me as a good outcome for you at this point if you bond with a new trainer.


Title: Ex won't return my TV, is civil court right for me?

Question:
September 2015 I let my my girlfriend at the time use my TV at her new apartment because I hated going over there and having nothing to do. We broke up in October 2015 and she wouldn't return the tv. She then moved and I have been trying to get the TV back ever since. It's been over a year now and I fed up trying to get it back so I started a civil court case in Oregon trying to get it back.

I submitted the case yesterday and today it got accepted. I'm sueing for  $650 for the TV plus another $100 for the small tv I bought off craigslist to replace the tv totaling to $750. Is this worth my time to go through all this or will it help at all? I just want the TV back tbh and don't really care about the money.

Thanks.

Answer: Assuming you're entitled to anything, it's either the depreciated value of the old tv or the $100 you paid for a replacement -- not both.


Title: [KY] Roadblock set up in neighboring county to check for papers

Question: A nearby county that I travel to fairly frequently set up a roadblock to check for papers (registration, insurance, license, immigration documents). Is this actually legal? I thought there would need to be probable cause to pull someone over for these kinds of things.

Answer:
 DUI checkpoints are legal in some states (not all!) - for public safety reasons.  Immigration checkpoints are legal within 100 miles of the border, but I don't think Kentucky is within 100 miles of any border, or even the ocean. Paperwork checkpoints aren't legal anywhere, as far as I know.

EDIT: None of this would necessarily stop the police from doing it, but it would subsequently be found unconstitutional.


Title: [WA] Clusterfuck, Ex Violating Protection Order, 3 Prior Violations - Concerned about custody as I'm pregnant with his child.

Question:
So I [20F] am 23 weeks (almost 5 months) pregnant with my ex's [36M] child. On Dec 16th I noped the fuck out of the relationship after finding proof of him cheating...this is after supporting him and his 2 kids for a year.

Anywho, on Dec 20 I get a Temporary Order of Protection put in place because he has called my work, my maternity home, turned my phone into a paperweight, called my parents back home in Illinois, and went thru my phone and started contacting my co-workers. Dec 22nd he gets served. Violates it and put in Jail 23- 26. Gets out. Breaks it the 31st, police don't arrest him (probably because they're busy with other things). On Jan 3rd (court to finalize Order of Protection) he's arrested for the 2nd Violation and the Temporary Order turns Permanent.  He's in Jail from the 3- 4. On Jan 7th he violates it again and is in Jail until the 9th.

Now he is still violating the Order of Protection but it's not under his name or his original phone number so I cannot "prove" it is him. Is there anyway that I can in fact trace IP Addresses and shit like that so he can leave me alone? He is very advanced tech wise... I've had to change my number and change emails multiple times now because of him. He also has control of 4 of my email addresses and I don't know how to get them back. He has sent me messages stating that he has control over them but will not return them. If there is a service I will pay for it...I just want him to leave me the hell alone.

I am just trying to make sure he 1) leaves me alone and 2) gets adequate punishment for his actions... But I cannot prove it's him! The judge told me to stay on top of things and let authorities know when he breaks it. I'm doing my best but his tech skills are better than mine.

Another thing is I'm very concerned about is custody when my child is born. I am not trying to be vengeful when I say I don't want him to see my child at all...I just think he's 100% unsafe for my child to be around. He's been unemployed since September 2015, he doesn't pay child support to his 1st Baby Momma, I have the restraining order against him, he has a past of Domestic Violence against me, and he has a history of drug use.  He has custody of one child and obviously doesn't care about him because he keeps on going in and out of jail because he won't stop bothering me. What can I do to make sure that I have the strongest case possible for No Visitation? Of course I want my child to have a father but not one who is extremely unsafe and unhinged.

I was the one who made the stupid decision to stay in an abusive relationship but I have taken all the steps to get out. I do not want my bad decisions having a negative impact on my child, what are my options? Thanks in advance.

And I'm sorry this is all over the place, I'm very pregnant and very stressed.

Answer: As far as your email accounts go, if there is even a slight possibility he had unsupervised access to your computer or smartphone, you may want to bring your devices to an IT professional to determine if he has loaded a keylogger or other spyware onto them...


Title: (MA) My previous employer owes me $1300, but claims he does not have the money to pay.

Question:
I worked for a small business for a few months (Oct. '14-Feb. '15) doing both web developing and video editing work. The contract between me and my employer was never put in writing but clearly expressed and agreed upon verbally. To add to this, the business consisted of 3 employees including myself, so there was always a third party witnessing every interaction. This company films videos of student athletes applying to college and it was my responsibility to both film and edit the videos, as well as manage the website. For the web design I was payed a monthly salary, and videos were based on commission. The problem arose when after just a month or two, the payments fell behind and I was not receiving my pay in time, and eventually not at all. Over the next couple of months, my employer owed me about $3600 total. $1800 for both the web design and video editing. In February, I finally decided I'd had enough and quit, expecting him to pay what he owed me at the time. After some negotiation he informed me that he did not have enough money to pay me for all my work and demanded that I choose which job I'd rather get paid for. I reluctantly chose the video payment since I had a feeling he would not pay and it was easy to prove that I edited the videos. I informed him that I wanted to be paid the remainder by March 15th, more than a month later and he agreed.Up until a few days ago, (June 9th) I had received 500 of the total $1800. At that point, I was informed by his other employee that he did not have any money to pay me for the rest of my work. I am not sure if I have enough to put together a case in small claims court considering it was only a verbal contract. I do, however, have the support of the third party employee as well as several text messages discussing the exact amount that I am owed.

Edit: I should also add that all of the work I did was paid under the table in cash. I don't know if that will become a problem if I choose to proceed.

Answer:
 ~~Go to small claims court.~~

Actually, wait. Were you being paid as an employee or a contractor? If you were being paid as an employee, contact the department of labor. Otherwise, small claims court.Answer #2: Small claims court?


Title: My employer overpaid me, I REFUSE to sign a letter acknowledging this...

Question:
My employer sent an email a day or two ago to anyone who had worked overtime claiming that we had been overpaid.

When the alleged overpayment took place, it was during an end of the month check which included incentive. My hours weren't 100% consistent, but if I compare this incentive check with the prior month's there's about 100 dollar difference, which is hardly noticeable as overtime hours have varied a slightly.

They claim they overpaid me by a little over $400.00; they informed us via letter today and asked us to sign. There were no details as to how they came to this conclusion. And the managers seemed like they were in a rush to collect all of the signatures, even though the letter tells us who to return it to and there is no stated deadline, although it's obvious they will want it back in time to process payroll for the last pay period in the month.

I decided I wouldn't sign until I got the an explanation of how they came to their conclusion. I went to HR and inquired. I was told Payroll would send me details of how they came to that conclusion.

I feel as though I will be hassled a bit for the letter tomorrow by one of the managers that my concerns will be downplayed. I'm almost willing to bet I was the only person that didn't just sign and hand it over.

As far as I'm concerned, while the managers were instructed to collect the letters, the issue is between the company and it has nothing to do with them.
I am more than willing to return the amount without any resistance or retaliation as long as they can show me what happened. I don't feel it's fair to expect me to immediately sign something saying I acknowledge they overpaid me by that amount when I can't clearly see where it occurred.
I'll happily sign the letter after they give me the details and everything checks out.

Am I going about this the correct way? Is there anything I'm overlooking? Also, do I have to comply with their request for my signature immediately?

Topic:
Employment Law

Answer: Your location matters. Keep in mind, if they did overpay you, you owe them that money. Review your pay stub and hours yourself, and make sure an overpayment didn’t happen.


Title: (Texas) car dealership returned my mother's car back to here without any water in the radiator. Over tightened oil filter causing it to lose all oil.

Question: Quoted a fixed price of 400 for a noisy power steering pump, then tripled the price on pick-up. Made her wait an additional forty minutes while they were "topping off all the fluids". All on the same visit. Car is still running, but she could've lost the whole thing if she wasn't as observant as she is. Is there any thing she can do against all the altercations towards her. She never brought it up to the dealership in fear of retaliation. Thank you for any advice.

Answer:
 If the dealership itself proves recalcitrant, contacting the automaker themselves at the corporate level can sometimes result in a resolution. The corporate office is conscious of how these situations can reflect badly on their brand, and may intervene to force the dealership to correct the problem.

If the car wasn't damaged that probably just means they'll offer you a free fluid change and oil filter, but if they performed and billed her for services she never agreed to that's something I would bring the automaker's attention to, as well.

I wouldn't be afraid of retaliation by the dealership, what could they possibly do to her that wouldn't further endanger their business' standing with the corporate office?

If they're a franchise dealership, (IE their name is say Somewheresville Ford, Bob's Downtown GM, etc. ) they need a license from the automaker to, well, *exist*. That means they are justifiably afraid of pissing off the company that granted them that license.


Title: (Mississippi) Hired at a job only to find out the offer was an elaborate prank by a supposed "friend."

Question:
About a month ago, I received an interview invitation from a company I was very interested in and from what appeared to be a legitimate recruiter. After a phone interview, I was given the job along with a pay increase. I had to make a few purchases before the start date and also had to give notice at my other job.

Well, turns out my "friend" had set the whole thing up and the not only was the job offer fake, the company had never heard of me. Luckily I was able to keep my other job, but I am obviously hurt and embarrassed. I told a lot of people about the offer and now I look like a liar. The friend doesn't know that I know it was him.

What should I do now?

Answer:
 I would tell that company that your friend is pretending to represent them.Answer #2: You may be able to sue the friend under a promissory estoppel claim for the purchases, if the purchases were necessary for the new "job."Answer #3: Definitely not a friend. What an ass. Sorry this happened to you.

Depending on how much money you spent, you might be able to recoup it from small claims, but I am not a lawyer, so I am not totally sure about that.Answer #4: Just out of curiosity, do you have any idea what the motive would be for doing something like this?  Was it revenge?  I can't see what would cause a person to intentionally ruin someone's life unless it was for really malicious reasons or the friend is mentally disturbed.Answer #5: >The friend doesn't know that I know it was him.

>What should I do now?

In the words of every relationships board ever:

Sever.


Title: Rent to own, is there any expectation of privacy?

Question: Quick question, my friend has been using a rent to own service where he has rented two computers. His previous rental PC was returned and he upgraded to a better rental PC, two months later he was contacted by a random person by email saying he bought the PC from the rental place, and that he has access to everything on the hard drive and needs his microsoft password as its still locked by my friends key. Beyond the fact that my friend wasn't aware he needed to wipe, beyond deleting individual files wouldn't there be a expectation of privacy? Are they legally liable for exposing my friends sensitive data, to potential dangers by not wiping something they will pass off to another?

Answer:
 > Are they legally liable for exposing my friends sensitive data

Not really.  Your friend gave away his sensitive data on his own. The rent-to-own place isn't responsible for protecting data they did not ask for, did not store, and did not process.


Title: Roomate refusing to move out

Question:
This is in Athens-Clarke County, Georgia. So basically she hasn't paid rent in 2 months, for July or August. She hasn't paid utilities in this time either. My legal roommates and I rent the property from a property management company. When one of my roommates decided to move out I found someone online to cover the difference, without being on the lease. This makes me her landlord in my county. My property management company tried to evict her and it was overruled because I needed to be the plaintiff. I have no proof that she hasn't paid because she always paid in cash and then I brought in the cash to the management company. Before the case was dismissed she believed an eviction would be on her record and told me she did not mean to fight it by inputting an answer. I asked her permission to record our conversation, stating she would not show up at the courthouse and did not want to fight the eviction. She also said that she should be out by Friday, the 25th of this month. Does this recording hold any grounds to have her out quicker than a 60 day notice? I also have the original ad stating from April 1st-July 1st and a text from her stating she only wanted to stay until July. If none of this will help me evict her ASAP how should I deliver a 60 day notice and set up a rent and utilities payment plan that shows if she has or hasn't  (like checks or something?)

Thanks in advance for the advice. This has turned into a hellish situation. Any references on your advice would be appreciated, as I need to be absolutely certain before I make my next move.

Answer:
 Look, what you don't want to do is to get to court and then they throw it out again because you're trying to bootstrap effective notice. Notice her the way your state's law dictates that notice should be given. It's most likely in writing. If it is, go the extra mile and spend $6 to have it sent to the apartment certified so there's absolutely no argument that she didn't receive the notice. A little work up front will save you a lot of time on the back end.

You don't really need to have proof that she isn't paying. She's a month-to-month tenant because she never signed a lease. You only have to give her sufficient notice to evict. You don't need a reason why you're evicting her, except that you're not evicting her because she's in some protected class.


Title: My wife owns a car but doesn't have insurance /her license

Question:
So my wife has a car that she owns. No insurance company seems willing to cover her out here because she doesn't have her license yet. This car is for her to learn to drive on. I have it insured under my name thinking that will keep her from getting a sr22. Now I'm not sure that's enough. Currently she's not driving it where there are cars. There's a large empty parking lot near my home that she practices with me in the car.
What I want to know is, do we have to turn in her license plate until she has her license or so we need to transfer ownership to me?
Or can she own a car but let someone else drive it / insure it?
Topic:
Traffic and Parking

Answer: Not a Lawyer. The most likely answer here is get her a Learner's Permit, they cost very little and as long as you're driving with her and have the vehicle insured under your policy, it shouldn't matter much whose name is on the title.


Title: My mum controls a bank account with my name on it, where a weekly allowance from my biological father gets paid into, however, I don’t directly receive this money. Any advice?

Question:
Hey,
I just wanted advice on something! I am 21 years old and until I finish university, my father pays a weekly child allowance into this account that is in my name. However, I have no control over this account. I pay for my rent in university and my manage my own financial problems. Although my mum helps pay for my car insurance, which isn’t a lot compared to how much she gets a week from my father.

What I don’t understand is, she’s using this money for herself. Sometimes she’ll give me the odd 20 euro for fuel, but that’s about it. Now that my brother has a full time job, and is now finished uni my mother no longer gets any allowance for him.

I feel like I’m being selfish but like shouldn’t this be some of my money? Shouldn’t I have control over this account? I feel like my mum is using it to keep her and my brother, even though he has a full time job and is living from home now. Like I’m 21 years old, shouldn’t it be me getting the money to help pay for my car and my rent?

Also, I don’t have a relationship with my father as he never wanted to know anything about me. So it’s not as if I can ask for it to be paid into my account.
Any advice?

Answer:
 Is this a court-ordered amount? If so, what does the court order say about who gets the money?

Is this "child support" or an optional allowance that Dad gives you?

If this isn't a court-ordered support, you should be able to contact Dad and get him to send the money directly to you.

See, either Dad is being ordered by the courts to send Mom money, in which case, he has no option where to send it. Also, child support always goes to the custodial parent, not the child. If it's a voluntary payment/gift to you, Dad can send it where he wants. If it's the latter, the simplest solution is to set up your own account.


Title: Ex Employer Accusing me of theft.

Question:
I quit my job almost two weeks ago with no notice. I went in the following day to drop off my key and receive my last paycheck. She said she was going to pay me on the normal pay day. A few days later she texts me asking about clients and then asks about where the petty cash was. I had told her about two weeks before I quit where it was when she asked. Because of this, I chose to not respond.

Today, I called to know when I should come in for my check. She accused me of stealing the petty cash of $200.00 and said she would not give me my check until she has spoken with a lawyer and the police. I called her bluff and went to the police myself and explained the situation. An officer went with me to my old work and talked between me and my boss and was able to get me my check. He had said that she will probably be filing for theft charges against me.

My problem with this is; I worked there for over a year. I worked with another girl for the first 8 months, then alone for the rest. The petty cash had gone missing twice during that time, not including this most recent.

Petty cash was held in a deposit zipper bag, in an insecure drawer in the front of the office. Whenever a customer needs change, we openly open the drawer and get the change and customers are left alone in the front often.

The second time money went missing, I had caught my boss taking it. This was after the other girl left. She and I had taken the cash and hid it in a drawer in back and did not tell our boss because we had suspicions. I walked in back one day and saw my boss open the drawer and find it, then put it in her pocket. She didn't notice me and didn't say anything until a month later when she asked where the money was. I explained that I saw her take it and she said that it was for her daughter.

So, I know I didn't take the money, my boss has a history of taking the money, the money is never secure and we do not have any cameras. We log the money on a notepad every night, but I never did because I was lazy. And whenever my boss would close she never would log it either.

I'm just wondering what I should do if anything because of this?

Edit: I live in Florida
Topic:
Criminal Law

Answer:
 Don't talk to the police without an attorney.  If all they have is her accusation and no other evidence, then there's very little chance they'll charge you with anything.  If they do, get an attorney.  Answer #2: > So, I know I didn't take the money, my boss has a history of taking the money, the money is never secure and we do not have any cameras.

They have to prove you took the money.  You don't have to prove that you didn't take it.  However, as the saying goes, anything you say can and likely will be used against you.

I don't think suspicion of theft is a reason for her to withhold pay from you.  If she hasn't paid you, then you should file a complaint about that.


Title: Roommate gave his house key to a stranger (his friend that I’ve never met) to take care of his cat because we are having conflicts.

Question: I live in Denver Colorado, I have been a tenant at my current house for 3 years now, my current roommate has been living here for just 1 year now.  When I say conflicts in the tittle I mean at the begging of March (about 3 weeks ago), I told him that his part of the lease will not be renewed and he will have to move out.  The land lord trusts me more than him so she is fine with not extending his lease for another year.  I gave him 3 months to move out, past the termination period of the lease because I thought it was too cruel to kick him out in the middle of the school semester.  There are many reason I've decided to kick him out; the biggest ones are he never helps clean the house, never helps do the yard work, has no respect for others, doesn't take very good care of his cat, etc...  Ever since I had the talk with him 3 weeks ago he has totally shunned me.  we haven't spoken since, he just stays in his room and avoids me at all cost.  Now comes the big problem and the reason I'm on this help sub reddit.  I wake up to a note saying, "I will be gone for a week, I gave my house key to a friend so they can take care of my cat".  That's all it said, I have taken care of his cat before so that is not the problem, I think he is doing this just to spite me.  This makes me very uneasy knowing at any point someone I have never met has a key to my house and could come in at any point.  I’ve looked over my lease agreement and it does not say anything specifically regarding a circumstance like this but it does say "The tenants shall not assign or sublet said premises or allow any other person to occupy the leased premises without landlord consent".  I hope I can get some help, or at least a 3rd parties opinion.  Thanks.

Answer: He's allowed to give someone else a key to take care of his cat.


Title: I lied on FASFA. What do I do now?

Question:
I procrastinated and ended up filling out my FASFA application literally right now. I tried to finish the application before the 12 am deadline.

I didn’t have the proper papers handy. I had my parents information but not mine. I worked in 2017. It was my first year working. I did not have my 2017 W-2 wage and tax statement handy on me. I went crazy looking for it. I couldn’t find it. My job is obviously closed. I didn’t know what to do.

On the question where it asked how much I made in 2017 I put $0.00 even though I did earn money. I’m shaking. I can’t even function. I don’t want to get fined any money. I don’t want to got to jail. I don’t know what to do. My parents will kill me. I literally procrastinated until the last second. All of my parents information is correct except mine. What do I do. Should I call the offices and tell them?

Answer: You can go in and update the form with the information you now have and your school will keep the original filing date.


Title: I was arrested for playing UNO! (and also unlawful entry)

Question:
So here's what happened, from the very beginning. The arrest occurred in Virginia.

I had just finished my school finals, and four of my friends all decided we wanted to hang out. It was around 9pm at the time and nobody really want to host at their house, for various reasons, mostly because family was sleeping.

We decided to go hang out and walk around the local high school track, just to go talk, and possibly play UNO out on the field. We walked around for a bit, and quickly realized it would be way too cold to play out on the field, (I know, that sounds really dumb , but we really did just want to play UNO).

We started walking back towards the car, when two of my friends ran ahead and hid behind one of the school trailers. They discovered that the trailer was unlocked and tried to hide inside to scare us. They failed in scaring us, but then we all had the smart idea to play UNO in the warm trailer.

After playing three rounds, we decided to start heading out. One of my friends opened the trailer door and immediately saw the school security car drive past. We regrouped and stood outside of the trailer deciding our next move. We made the decision to walk out casually, without hiding anything. Immediately we were told to put our hands in the air, and shortly after a little more then 10 cop cars showed up, including a helicopter. No I'm not joking about that last part, they actually sent a helicopter. We were handcuffed for a little more then an hour sitting on the freezing concrete.

Now here are some details:
- Absolutely nothing was damaged, no locks were broken, nothing was stolen. We had our UNO game and that's all. Furthermore, we're all upstanding citizens with nothing to hide and no criminal records at all.
- All of us are above the age of 18
- The door to the trailer was unlocked, but in our stupidness we forgot that there's such thing as a silent alarm, which is why the cops were sent.
- No, none of us were doing drugs, or drinking alcohol, we were completely sober except for our own stupidity.
- We are all currently being charged with unlawful entry

I know, it was an extremely poor decision, and you might be wondering why a bunch of college age kids would be hanging around a highschool anyways. Honestly, I don't have an answer for that other than it seemed like a good place to walk around and hangout at the time. If you have any advice for how I, and my friends should continue it would be much appreciated, I really do not want this to go on my permanent record as I'm an IT major and this will severely hurt my chances of ever getting a security clearance.

*If you have any advice for how I should continue, and what I should be expecting at court please let me know.

Thanks so much, cheers

Answer:
 You need to hire a criminal defense attorney. You want to get into some type of diversion program so that if you behave the charge is dismissed. Otherwise your college education could be worthless.
Answer #2: Do you have a question? You committed a crime, and now you are being charged with a crime. Get a lawyer, take the best deal you can get, and try to learn from this experience. Answer #3: What exactly were you charged with? Jurisdiction and code citation matter here-- a lot.


Title: Can Child support legally do this?

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 > I'm sure they can't just do that can they?

depending on the situation, possibly, yes.

* if he is found to be deliberately working under his earning potential for the purposes of dodging child support (for example, a medical doctor working in a fast food joint), the court can figure out what a reasonable income *should be* and order child support based on that, instead of actual income.
* if he is not working full-time, the court may figure out what full time work would earn and compute based on that.
* if he is behind on payments, additional money may be withheld to make up for the old debt.
* if he didn't show up to court, anything could happen without him being represented.

so, yeah, there are all kinds of situations that can fuck you up with child support. and of course, being california, all kinds of things go sideways because of your stupid insane property values.


Title: Friend wants to use my address for a court form

Question:
One of my friends recently got in some trouble asked if he could use my address for his court forum. He lives with his parents and mentioned something about if he uses that address they take his parents income into account for something?

Thanks in advance!

Answer: The correct answer to the question "Will you help me lie to a court?" is always "No."Answer #2: NO do not do this.Answer #3: The form itself is likely to contain some language to the effect of "I solemnly swear that all of this is true to the best of my knowledge". If your friend puts your address on their form it really doesn't have much to do with you. It's their choice to (potentially) commit fraud by declaring they reside where they don't so your permission for them to lie isn't going to waive the lie in a court of law. Answer #4: No.  You don't want to conspire to fraud.


Title: [Quebec] Condo bylaws do not allow to purchase new dog, is there a way around this?

Question:
Hi all,
The condo I own allows for dogs to visit & to be grandfathered in when new residents move in, however once your pet passes away you cannot get a new one. We are currently in a situation where our dog has passed away and we would like to get a new one without having to move. I emailed the administration asking for permission and they said "no since those are the rules of the condo". Is there any possible way around this? It's just crazy to us that dogs can visit and live here, but only under certain conditions. Other domestic animals can be re-purchased without issue.

Here are the regulations as stated in the condo bylaws:
1) Any new owner moving into the building, already in possession of a dog, is permitted to keep it, but owners are not permitted to acquire a new or replacement dog once they are residents in the building.
2) No animal, other than domestic, can be kept inside an exclusive area. Any domestic animal considered harmful by the administration may not, at the sole discretion of the latter, be kept inside an exclusive area. Residents (co-owners or tenants), who keep an animal considered dangerous inside their exclusive area, shall be compelled to rid themselves of this animal within two weeks of receipt of a written notice from the administration.

The other relevant bylaws are about cleaning up after pets, etc.

Since there is no statement regarding animals who visit, we were wondering if we could purchase a dog under someone else's name and claim we are taking care of the dog for someone else? Someone in our building took care of their son's dog for 6 months once without any issues.

Any advice? Could they take legal action against us/force us to give up the dog?

Many thanks!

Answer:
 >  Since there is no statement regarding animals who visit, we were wondering if we could purchase a dog under someone else's name and claim we are taking care of the dog for someone else?

No because that's not a visiting dog. That would be your dog in a clear attempt to get around the rule you knew about and agreed to.
Why would you buy a property with a rule like that if you weren't willing to follow it?


Title: [Missouri] Wife got in trouble for shoplifting - lots of shennanigans follow

Question:
Earlier this year, my wife was caught stealing less than $50 of merchandise from Wal-Mart.  We settled the civil damages claim and no criminal charges were filed against her.  Her employer, Walgreens, had a Loss Prevention guy come in last month and tell her that they knew about the incident, that they legally couldn't tell her how they knew, and she had to fill out some kind of statement about it.  She lost her job over it 2 weeks later.

How they found out about this seems fishy to me, and that they legally can't tell her how they find out seems suspect to me.  Also, apparently one of her former co-workers apparently also has found out about it, and is telling all of her other former co-workers about it.  Is there something like a cease and desist that can be employed here?  She was never brought up on criminal charges, as far as the law is concerned, she is a non-offender.  I'm sure that whatever database that Wal-Mart uses to keep their shoplifter information in is shared by Walgreens, but just a random floor associate shouldn't know that information, it seems like some kind of breach in protocol...
Topic:
Criminal Law

Answer:
 > Also, apparently one of her former co-workers apparently also has found out about it, and is telling all of her other former co-workers about it. Is there something like a cease and desist that can be employed here?

It sounds like the former coworker is telling the truth, which is perfectly legal.Answer #2: > I'm sure that whatever database that Wal-Mart uses to keep their shoplifter information in is shared by Walgreens,

I have never heard of any such database.

Your wife is a thief, and people are allowed to tell others she was caught shoplifting.


Title: Ex-Husband recorded phone call without telling me.

Question:
As the title states. I am just wondering the legality of this. He did not tell me he was recording until months later and has sent me the recording.

At the time of the phone call, I was in California and he was in Washington.

Answer:
 Both CA and WA are two party recording states meaning he violated the law

CA:
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN&sectionNum=632.

WA:
https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=9.73.030

Save the communication where he sent you the recording and go to your local police.  They may or may not pursue this.
Answer #2: Both Washington and California are "two-party consent" states meaning someone recording a conversation needs the consent of *all* parties to the conversation in order for the recording to be legal.

So him recording your telephone conversation without your consent and/or knowledge was illegal.  What you want to do about that is up to you.Answer #3: Ianal.

California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Washington—all parties involved need to consent before one of them can record the conversation.

There are some exceptions to the two-party consent rules. In California, for example, you can record a conversation without the other person knowing if you believe it will collect evidence of a serious crime. There are also exceptions to two-person consent when there's no "reasonable expectation of privacy." For example, a conversation at a legislative hearing could be recorded without informing all parties, since recording things is what people do in legislative hearings. Same with public speeches, shouting matches on the street, or any other scenario where you simply can't expect privacy. In Hawaii which is generally a one-party state, but requires two-party consent if the recording device is installed in a private place.

If one of these exceptions apply then your husband may not have broken the law.

Edit: Michigan is not an all party state after a legal ruling. Hawaii note added.


Title: [MO] Evicted without notice, lost material possessions.

Question:
So back in May I was evicted from my rental home for not paying rent. As far as I can tell (for Missouri), I was supposed to be served a paper and have 72 hours to get my stuff out. Instead I randomly come home one night after work and all of my possessions are on the side of the street. I'm told it's still "my stuff" for 24 hours...even though it's on the street for anyone to grab (laughable...). If it matters, he also hired my neighbors to help his handyman to clean it out and from other neighbors I learned that they supposedly took my PC and microwave directly from my house to theirs. (I filed a police report on this.)

The rental company and landlord I had were already a pretty seedy bunch and heard nothing but bad things about them...so anyway, I was wondering if I have a shot in court sueing them? Also, since the sheriffs office was involved and allowed it to happen, could I sue them as well?

I have all texts from the landlord, call logs, and pictures of all my stuff on the sidewalk + house door being screwed shut.

Answer:
 So, if the Sheriff was there, it is more than likely that you had already been evicted several days earlier and that the Sheriff was merely serving the writ of execution.

You mentioned in another comment that you had been ordered by the court to pay the rent. I can almost guarantee that you read that paper incorrectly.  Courts don't issue orders like that in Missouri. I'm guessing that you were served with an eviction suit, you didn't show up, and the LL was given a default judgment for the property.  Then, when you did not move out after receiving the order of eviction,  the court issued a writ of execution; that would order the sheriff to go to the home and physically remove you and the property while the LL changed the locks. I can't absolutely say for certain,  but the time line and details match something that I've seen several times during my practice.

If your stuff has been stolen (and your things being put outside is perfectly legal) then you may consider filing a police report or filing suit in small claims. But I will say that you have little shot of either amounting to much unless you have proof your neighbors took your PC or other property and won't give it back.


Title: Doctor-Patient Confidintiality agreement.

Question:
I have a question regarding my confidintiality agreement with my psychiatrist. I am a 21 year old male living in the state of Texas.

Backstory: I was the victim of a gun crime a few months ago(went straight through both of my legs all. All healed up now in case you were wondering). Because of this my mother came to me and came up with an agreement with me because of my inability to keep a roof over my head for pretty much my whole entire adult life. The agreement was that if I went to school, kept a job, went to see a psychiatrist followed all of his prescriptions and stopped smoking weed that she would pay for my legal bills and my living expenses.

Now the problem I'm having with my psych is that I've seen him twice and in those two sessions I've had hes talked to me maybe an hour total. The rest of the time spent was talking to my mother alone. I disagree with his diagnosis and the prescriptions he has put me on but my mom will not allow me to stop taking them because it was in our deal that I would follow all meds that he prescribed.  I've never signed a release for her to know any of my treatment details at all. She knows all of my prescriptions that I'm taking and maybe a lot more, I'm not sure what he has said to her alone. He has continued to talk to her without my wishes and will not allow me to see him alone. Today I called him and told him I would not allow my mother to be at any of my appointments. His response was that because she is supporting me that she will continue to be invovled in all treatment. Ten mins later I got a call from my mother saying that he had called her and told her about the conversation we had and that if I did not go to my pysch appointment she would take away my aparment from me.

Do I have grounds for a suit? If so what evidence should I gather to prove it?

Topic:
Contracts

Answer:
 Please ask the doctor to produce a copy of the release you signed giving him/her permission to speak to your mother.

It's not unusual to sign one of these and then forget about it.

Alternatively you can make a complaint about a HIPAA violation
http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/psa/complaint/
Answer #2: You may have cause for a suit, but you don't seem to have any damages. So, bringing a lawsuit would be a waste of time and money.

You could follow /u/sleeperinutah 's suggestion and file a HIPPA complaint that may or may not get the doctor in trouble.

Your other option would be to talk with your mother about the fact that you are uncomfortable talking with this particular psychiatrist and would like to try someone else, because you feel you would receive better treatment. Reminder her that the goal is to get treatment that works, not to go to a doctor that tries to solve your problems by upgrading your weed habit to a prescription pill habit because you can't talk to him comfortably, so he won't know what is going on.

Good luck. I hope you can find a doctor that gives you treatment that helps.


Title: (California) Trying to press charges against teacher for defamation

Question: [deleted]

Answer: Defamation is not a crime, so you wouldn't be getting anyone "locked up for as long as possible." You need to show you suffered harm and damages. Do you have either?Answer #2: Well, you do post in /r/trees and your username is SWIM. I'd say teacher has you dead to rights.


Title: Does a 14-year-old have legal rights to their own property

Question:
my younger brother is 14 years old and he bought an old iPod 6 without our parents knowing. he got this money from working and everything was legal (money earned legally and the old iPod was not stolen or anything)  our parents found it out and tried to take it from him and claim it as theirs. I was wondering if my brother had legal rights to it or since he is a minor if he has no say in what happens to it or where it goes
Topic:
Juvenile and Youth Law

Answer: He *owns* it but because he's a minor his parents have the ability to parent him, which includes managing *his* property.


Title: Went to deposit $220 cash into Chase, now it's war. Texas

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 Chase can close your account for nearly any reason they want, including "they just don't like you".

If you want a better answer, ask a better and more complete question.


Title: Girlfriend left with daughter, Ontario, Canada

Question:
Hello and sorry to bother the people of reddit,

I was at work Tuesday night and sitting down to my first break and looked at my cell phone and noticed I had a few messages from her.

The jist of what she was saying is that she packed up most of her stuff and was taking our daughter to her parents because apparently we where not working out.

Come to find out the next day she had signed up for pof.com and was getting a lot of attention from the guys on there then at home. She was at a guys house the Monday night having beers only so she says before she told me she was leaving on Tuesday.

Now its Friday she isnt enjoying living at home and wants me to move out of the apartment she works maybe 11 hours a week and is going to be a few months wait for Ontario Works.

im just wondering what grounds does she have for anything that she is asking for, am I in the wrong to say no, go live with your parents and find another job and I'll just take my daughter on weekends? What about child support, alimony and that stuff we where together for 6 years I dont really know what to do on the financial side.

Thank you for the advice.

Answer:
 1.  If you are on the lease/rental agreement of the apartment, or if you own or co-own it, you have no obligation to move out.

2.  If she didn't completely move out, she also has no obligation to move out.

3.  Whoever is not on the lease/rental agreement/deed can be given appropriate notice by the other person, to move out.  Probably 30 or 60 days, depending.

4.  She has no obligation to give you parenting time without a legal agreement (and vice versa).  So file for shared custody now if that's your goal.

5.  There will certainly be child support, and quite possibly spousal support as well, depending on her skill set and the age of the child, and so on.  You can find guidelines [here](https://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/english/family/divorce/support/spousal.php).

6.  Do look for a lawyer.  Even if you end up not needing one because you get back together, it's better to talk to an actual professional in your actual jurisdiction, who knows what's what.


Title: Female,20, Gay in Richmond, VA. Someone's life could have been ruined today. I don't know what to do next.

Question:
Hello Reddit. This is an ugly story that happened about 30 minutes ago. Why my age, gender, and sexuality? Well. This all started on a dating site called OkCupid.

I was looking at my views when I saw someone has messaged me, and visited my profile. Now, she was gorgeous, and had dropped a note in my inbox telling me that I looked beautiful and hoped I was having a nice day. I of course returned the sentiment and messaged her back. We talked for a bit, and then the conversation turned a bit strange (but, it's OKC. I'm not unused to this).

'I want you to force me to come out. I'm closeted gay and I'm so submissive that I'm scared to come out.'

Alright, I think to myself. This could be fun.

We talked a while. She asked me to cuss at her. To be dominant and tell her what to do. Then that's when it got scary.

'I want you to out me to my school.'

I thought she was joking. I played along. I found her on her school website. Then she actually started begging me to out her to the school. I refused. Told her she didn't tell me what to do. She told me she was out sick today. She then stopped messaging me, told me she was driving back from the doctor. So during this time, I dug a little deeper. Her pictures didn't match. She's married, not single. I think if it had been someone a little bit dumber than me, a woman's life could have been ruined today. She wanted me to email, call parents, teachers, her boss, etc. This person is still texting me and calling me.

What should I do Reddit? I'm scared to do much because it could implicate me and cause me issues. I need advice. I emailed the teacher in question.

Edit: Thanks for all the replies. I thought it was illegal to impersonate a person and I thought he acting like the person could be slander but I didn't know if I should call the police. I'm into the dominant/submissive thing which is why I thought it would be fun, until I saw what she was doing. SO BUGGER OFF ON MY SEXUAL PREFERENCES. But thanks for the legal advice.

Edit 2: The person deleted their account but they are still calling. I'm a liiiittle nervous.

Edit 3: Forgot to add that said teacher has a husband and child. Found her on Facebook. I will also update this if the teacher contacts me back. Thank you all!

Answer:
 I don't think you need legal advice.

I think you did the right thing emailing the teacher.  You might also report the profile on OkCupid, explain that you found this account suspicious, like it wasn't really the person, and was being used to harass the person.  Answer #2: At this point nothing criminal has happened. The police can't do anything about it.

So, your best bet is to block the profile (or possibly report it to OkCupid as false) and no longer accept texts and calls from that person. Chances are it's some kid with an axe to grind who doesn't realize how much damage things like this could cause.Answer #3: >  happened about 30 minutes ago.

30 min? Don't worry about it.* I am willing to bet that this is a student. Give the teacher, all the information you have so she can not only protect herself (the kid could potentially move onto something that is really dangerous, like a request to be raped) but find the culprit. If the kid is texting you there is a phone number that starts a trail that leads to somewhere unless the kid is bright enough to figure out how to be anonymous.

Are you obligated to do so? Probably not, but who knows what will happen next. Meanwhile block the kid and move on.

*You may have an issue if you sent nudes of yourself or sexted the kid, but that is easily defensible as you thought you were speaking to an adult and appeared to have dropped all contact once you discovered the ruse.Answer #4: Block and ignore.