Title: If I divorced my husband after being married for 19 years. Would I be entitled to 50 percent of the business. I live in California, He won’t let me do the billing or anything in the business. What are my rights. If we stayed married do I have any rights to help run it. 🤔

Question:
Topic:
Custody Divorce and Family

Answer:
 It will depend on too many things to determine here. If he founded the business during the marriage or you currently co-own it, you should be entitled to a share of the business, but not necessarily just be given 50% ownership and operating rights. Depending on your joint assets, you might negotiate a split where you're given other assets worth half of the value of the business and projected revenue, for example. Or, if you're unable to reach an agreement, a judge could rule the comoany should be sold and the profits divided between you.

A vast majority of divorces come down to a negotiated split rather than a judge deciding who gets what. There really is no way to approach it where you would be guaranteed the right to work alongside him running it.

Speak to your attorney about what you would be entitled to and what means the most to you and go from there.


Title: Getting sued after a car accident which was not my fault (CA)

Question:
About a year ago I was in the unfortunate situation of being T-boned by a car causing me to veer out of control and hit another car. The police report stated I was not at fault. The insurance of the car that hit me paid me and the other guy off. Didn't hear anything about it until just today. Me and my sister (owner of the car) were served. The other guy that was involved in the incident is suing us and the person who caused the accident. When the police report was done it stated I was not at fault it was the person who hit me that was at fault for the whole accident and her insurance had to pay for everything. As of right now we have no idea what to do, we will be going to a lawyer tomorrow to discuss what our options are. Help me people of /r/legaladvice. Thanks.

edit: also is there anyway to counter sue? This has really annoyed my sister and I.

Answer: You have insurance? Then why not speak to them? I'm not sure why you are talking to a lawyer at this time.


Title: NW Georgia - Can my Aunt be arrested if her son doesn't turn himself in?

Question: Okay so. Obviously a throwaway, but my aunt's son is on the run from the law. Understandably that is illegal and theres not much that can be done about that. However, North Georgia Drug Task Force has begun to hunt for him and the threatened my aunt today by saying that if he did not turn himself in by Monday then she would be facing time. She is terrified because she cant make him do anything and she feels like she is going to go to prison for something that she can not control. Is she actually in danger of facing time or were those just empty threats?

Answer: She’s not going to jail unless they can prove she was harboring him or assisting in his illegal activities.  That being said, if she is in contact with him she should stop that immediately.


Title: One month behind on mortgage payment

Question:
I am one month behind on my mortgage payment in my house I have lived in for 30 years.

So I keep getting letters from them demanding I give them my phone number to verify occupancy of my property(as required by insurer and investor guidelines)

If I don't provide that , they want to charge me the cost of the investigation.

I don't want them calling me and bothering about being one payment behind.

Plus they say they want to contact me about their special assistant programs to bring my loan current, which I know involves them wanting to know everything about me and my finances which is none of their business.

I have only been behind for a couple months and I have been paying the monthly late fee.

Is there any action I can take like demanding all and any past late payment charges I have made over the thirty years I have made to them?

Answer:
 > Is there any action I can take like demanding all and any past late payment charges I have made over the thirty years I have made to them?

Huh?!?!Answer #2: >Plus they say they want to contact me about their special assistant programs to bring my loan current, which I know involves them wanting to know everything about me and my finances which is none of their business.

It's absolutely their business, you're living in their house and delinquent on your contract.

Review the terms of your mortgage.


Title: What are the consequences to confessing to a crime you couldn’t have committed?

Question: For example, what if I confessed to killing Lee Harvey Oswald, despite not being alive at the time? I can’t imagine the consequences would include being prosecuted for the crime, but would there be other legal consequences?

Answer: NAL, but you’re telling the police something, that you know is false - that would be giving them a false statement


Title: [PA] magically appearing bench warrant

Question:
Throw away due to not wanting my little bro to find my Reddit account.

When I was younger, 21-22, my car was registered in my mom's name. This was used by her to maintain control over me. It actually became a huge issue, but that's not the point of this story.

My mom went to the court house on Friday to pay a ticket when she was informed she had a bench warrant in her name from 2013. This ticket is for an unpaid street sweeping violation at 2:35 am on Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013 in front of my parents house.

At the time, I lived and worked 45 minutes away with my new boyfriend. The night is actually memorable to me because it was my best friend's birthday. I worked a close-open 2 minutes from my apartment at the restaurant I am employed by, so I left work at midnight and returned at 5 am. In between I argued with my boyfriend then got like 2 hours of sleep. I remember this because it was my first day back after having had surgery, and my boyfriend and I made up on the way to my friend's birthday the next day. I also collaborated all this with Facebook posts (at the time, I was pretty into telling Facebook my every movement) and my work place is a giant corporation that can indeed trace back my hours worked from 3 years ago. I know that my car was not 45 minutes away at my parents.

To further complicate things, my parents received no mail about the ticket. Trust me, had they have, my mother would have called me (and the rest of my family) screaming. She was informed she was served with a warrant in 2013.

This is where it gets even weirder.

Firstly, I am the first to admit having issues with parking tickets. I paid them all off via the Pennsylvania magistrate's online website. This site showed every unpaid ticket in the state, including in both counties in this post. The warrant from 2013 never showed up on the site until this week (I'm looking for screen shots, since I screen shotted the website as things were paid as proof for my mother). Last year when she had a particularly bad day and called the police herself, a cop told me there were no warrants in her name. How does a supposedly three year old warrant suddenly appear? She's had several run ins with cops (as have I) with no mention of a warrant.

The weirdest part of all is their insistence she was served. The day they claimed to have served her was her sister's wedding. I think we'd all remember if that happened. Even crazier, the CONSTABLE WAS AT THE DAMN WEDDING (as a guest).

To wrap up this tale of wtf, my grandparents reviewed a letter detailing the court hearing next week (my mother plead not guilty and was given a hearing date with the judge). The letter was addressed to her, but somehow went to my grand parents (her in laws) house (an hour away). She has zero connection to that home whatsoever and no reason why mail would be sent there. How the hell did the magistrate get that information and why send it to that address? The address wasn't even correct, it was sent to an extremely rural area so the post lady was able to get it to my grandparents because there's only so many people who live on that road.

Something just smells extremely fishy about the whole thing.

Question: if my mom can prove I was in possession of the car rather than her, can I be charged in her place? The car in question was totaled in 2014 and I now have a new car, same registration, only transferred to me.

Where do we go from here? I'm leaning toward someone having made a mistake with paper work, but something just isn't adding up. My first question to my mother was who did she piss off, since she has a habit of not keeping her mouth shut.

Answer:
 Most of your story is not relevant. There is not some grand conspiracy to issue you or your mom (I'm still unclear if it was you or your mom) a bench warrant, and even if there were, you have no evidence that would stand up in court.  Paperwork errors are not uncommon, especially in smaller jurisdictions.

If there is an active warrant out for one of you, you need to consult with a local defense attorney as to your next steps. Be sure to bring proof of any and all payments for any tickets you may have paid.


Title: (SC, USA) receptionist at my daughter's therapist disclosed information.

Question:
This gets a bit more complicated than the title because said receptionist is my sister-in-law's husbands niece. My sister in law was already privy to the info but other people present were not and my wife and I did not want them to know.

All i really have to go on is what my sis-in-law was told about multiple kids that go there, my daughter being one of them.

We live in a small town and I don't know of any other place in this town to take her, her therapists are doing a good job and i don't want to make my daughter switch over this but I am no longer comfortable with the receptionist having any access to my daughters info, and she really shouldn't have access to anybody's info.

What are my options? My wife is ready to go into the office to complain but I don't think making a complaint to her immediate supervisor is the best way to go.

EDit: want to add that when I say my SIL is privy to the info I mean we also listed her as a contact on several forms that can be provided with info or provide info about my daughter as we are really close.

Answer:
 Disclosing confidential information of a patient is a misdemeanor in SC, barring certain circumstances. "Gossiping with my family" is not one of those circumstances. I would go in and complain, and if that doesn't work, speak to a lawyer. There's bound to be civil penalties as well, but I'm willing to bet just the threat of legal action will be enough to stop this.

Source: http://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t40c075.php (Section 40-75-190)


Title: [Ontario] Citizen baits sexual predator into meeting a fictitious 13 year old girl for sex. Citizen meets predator, then records him. Predator charged a week later with basically a slap on the wrist. Could the actions of this citizen have interfered with the Crown's ability to make a case?

Question:
This happened just this last week. There's a rather large upset in the community about this.

The ~~well-meaning citizen~~ idiot uploaded a video of the encounter to YouTube. Can it be linked here, or does the no-video-links also apply here?
Statement by the police force: http://www.police.windsor.on.ca/newsroom/news-update/august/Pages/August-9-2017-Update-1.aspx

Yesterday evening, August 8th, he got arrested, and today he was released.

Basically, the predator only got charged with *"Telecommunication with a person believed to be under 16 years for specific criminal offences"* and *"making available sexually explicit material to a person under or believed under 16 years for specific criminal offences."*

Clearly, the court of opinion would make one believe this is a clear-cut case of Child Luring, not these aforementioned charges. What could have happened? Could this ~~well-meaning citizen~~ idiot have screwed the Crown's ability to mount a proper case by going for Internet Brownie Points instead of just calling the police and having them handle the encounter?

Bonus points: Citizens arrest in Canada. Now-dead artifact of the old British system, or does it actually have a legal modern use?

Answer:
 This was no well-meaning citizen.  The first report of this to the police was from someone who viewed the video.  The person who received thee messages didn't call the police.  The guy who made the video didn't call the police.  They decided, instead, to get some views, maybe some fame.  They called out the police for doing nothing, but hadn't even reported the crime to them.

Then, they started a petition to get the guy arrested, because of course the only thing the police need to arrest a person is a bunch of people telling them to.  They held protests.  But what didn't they do?  REPORT THE FUCKING CRIME.

The scumbag who made that video didn't care if some kid got hurt while they were playing their games.  There have been cases where charges have been stayed against people who were the subject of similar videos, because the evidence was tainted.  So, did this "well-meaning citizen" make things harder for the police and prosecutors?  Of course he did.  And I can guarantee he doesn't care.


Title: Is this legal? Job listing posts that they want a female candidate.

Question:
Taken from a listing:

We are looking for a Receptionist:
Female, bilingual English and Spanish.

If I were to come in, ask about employment, and get turned down on the basis of I am not female - is that not discrimination?

Answer: It is discrimination.  Based on the state and number of employees, it could be legal discrimination.


Title: Delta Airlines Owe My Parents Around $4,000 (Virginia)

Question:
My parents had catered this airline company daily for years and in 2007 the airline company went bankrupt. They did not pay for the months of August and September 2007.  They owed around $7,000 and gave my parents around $3,000 in stock shares.  (171 shares of a $19 stock).  It has been almost 10 years and they have not paid the remaining 4k.  We have called them several times and a couple months ago they stated that they need a second approval on something.  They have never gotten back to us and now want us to call Fidelity.

What can I do here to receive the money for my parents?  They are not very good at english and I have to mediate between the two parties.  I will be calling Fidelity on Monday but not sure how I should approach it.

My father is passive and frugal so he doesn't want to hire a lawyer because the costs would outweight the payment.

Answer:
 If your parents accepted the stock as part of Delta's bankruptcy reorganization plan, there is going to be documentation somewhere. It's very likely they forgave the entirety of the debt when they accepted the stocks.

If there was a payment plan that was negotiated that Delta didn't follow through on, your parents' business will have to sue. If you are not affiliated with the business as an employee or owner, you probably can't do this for them.Answer #2: They went bankrupt. Were your parents included in the bankruptcy?


Title: [US] Who do companies like Cards against Huanity get to use people's names and trademarks?

Question: How is this legal?  Seems like they are unlikely to get permission from those companies.

Answer:
 You don't need permission to use a trademark in a context where it's not likely to cause confusion about endorsement, sponsorship or ownership.  I don't think anyone is confused in the context of Cards Against Humanity.

You also don't generally need permission to use the names of public figures, unless it's on a purely commercial item like a t-shirt.  A game is a creative work.


Title: [U.S.-Tx] Former employer trying to commit tax fraud, claiming I made $8,210 more than I actually did. Please advise.

Question:
A bit of backstory:
I am a full time student at university and I typically work through the summers. For summer of 2016 I was asked by a friend to come help his business out. He runs a small plumbing company in Texas. I worked for him for about 2 months and was paid $2,790 total for the 6 or 7 weeks I worked for him. I just received my 1099 misc from him on April 3, 2017. On it he claims that I made $11,000 while working for him. That’s a deficit of $8,210 that I never saw. We had a falling out over work one day because I was driving one of his work vans and I backed into a parked car and dented the bumper. He freaked out immediately saying that we were not insured on the vans. I had no clue I was not on his policy because I would have never gotten behind the wheel of that van in the first place. I have text screenshots printed off from that date where he asked me to commit insurance fraud by saying I hit the car with my own personal vehicle. When I said I wouldn’t do this, he became angry and said he will pay the cost out of pocket and then forward the bill on to me. I disputed this and he slung insults. I told him to wait till he called his own insurance to figure this out. The next morning he gave me a contract to sign, saying I was responsible for damages on a job site. I refused to sign and quit there on the spot. After I left he sent a barrage of texts which I still have, saying “I’ll send you your taxes since you’re so concerned about pay. And I will also make up the damages that you’ve done and you will be held responsible” - I never signed any contracts and I assumed that he was running a legit business. Now he has made good on his word and falsely claimed that I made $11,000 in 2 months. I have the contract he handed me to sign the day I quit, I have text messages time stamped where he tried to get me to commit insurance fraud, and I have printouts from the bank detailing all deposits and transactions in my checking and savings during my time working there.
What can I do to protect myself? Is there any course of action I can take against him?

I did not sign any contracts during the course of my working there.

I did not agree to cover damages.

Any advice would be much appreciated thank you!

Answer:
 Here's a nice brief overview on how to [deal with an erroneous 1099.](https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2015/01/28/disagree-with-an-irs-form-1099-heres-what-to-do/#49529e1e27a2)

Basically do your taxes and add an addendum to your incorrect 1099 stating the issue. You'll almost certainly be audited, and when you're audited bring all evidence you have of the actual amounts paid, as well as the interactions with your employer that indicate he intentionally doctored your 1099.


Title: Dog bite advice. Florida.

Question:
My Australian Shepherd is in training. The trainer, Mickey(the dog), my fiance, and I met at Home Depot for a lesson. Home Depot allows dogs regardless of whether or not they are service dogs. All dogs are allowed. Mickey, the trainer, and I were standing by the bathrooms, using the water fountain to fill a bowl for Mickey to get a drink. A man came out of the bathroom and got a little too close to Mickey, who does not like strangers. Mickey jumped up and “bit” him on the abdomen. It did not break the skin. The man was very upset and demanded we go up front to file an incident report. So we do.

I am now getting calls from a 3rd party representing Home Depot asking me for my home insurance information so they can go after my home insurance. I have a feeling that I don’t have to give them my information. What the heck is going on here??

Answer:
 Dog Law specialist here.

If your dog doesn’t like strangers, you’ve a responsibility to keep him away from them.

No scare quotes needed— your dog bit someone. Time to train the dog in places without random strangers. Answer #2: It is possible that Home Depot, or their insurer, reimbursed the man for the damages that occurred as a result of your failure to control your dog in a way that allows them to come after you to collect on the damages you would have owed the man directly.

>What the heck is going on here??

Your dog bit someone. It is your responsibility to control your dog. You are being held responsible for failing to do so.Answer #3: Well you don't have to. But then they will just sue you directly. Answer #4: What is going on - you took a dog that you know is aggressive to strangers to a public space. Your dog bit (no quotes needed) the guy. HD wants your insurance info so they can sue you if he sues them or to get reimbursed for his care.


Title: [PA] I'm directing a musical that has nudity in it at my college. Is there any danger the show could be censored?

Question:
I'm in south-central Pennsylvania, and we're getting ready to put on a production of Spring Awakening, which has some nudity in it, including one female who exposes her breasts, and one male who exposes his butt. The theatre club receives $14,000 a year from the Student Senate, which I believe is federal funding. The performances will be taking place in a theater that is on campus property.

Is there any risk school administrators could demand we do the show without nudity? This is a fairly conservative area, and while nothing has come up yet (and we've been fairly open about the show and its content so far), that does have me a bit concerned. I don't have a complete understanding of 1st Amendment principals in this particular area, and whether the school is allowed to shut down a production like this, even if it's at the college level.

Answer:
 Thats a question best asked to the school admin or head of the theater department or whatever.

Schools can make their own rules it doesnt have to be a law so go right to the source, this is a legit question to ask them


Title: [UT, US] (Debt) Settling old medical debt passed statute

Question:
I found some old medical debt recently. It's small, but probably had interest charged to it for 10 years (1.5% monthly, or 10% simple rate if not specified). They had billed the wrong insurance and sent the notice to a family members address so I only found out after it was in collections.

It has passed statute which is an affirmative defense in Utah. No one is calling or threatening. Is it worth tracking down and paying if I can afford it? Should I use a lawyer? What kind?

Answer: If the debt is time-barred, you do not need to pay it. But do make sure that it really is so, and don’t acknowledge the debt or you might restart the clock.


Title: A Tinder Match is Offering to Send Me Money

Question:
Obligatory throwaway...

Over the summer, I matched with a girl on tinder who was super nice, went to a university in my area, and was pretty good texting company. We followed eachother on social media (saw that some of my friends at the local university follow her) and would talk every now and then.

Very average conversations.

She would always tell me that she wants to send me money so I can, “have a good time on the weekends at school without having to worry about money and it makes me feel good being generous,” to which I declined. Recently, we would text once a week and she would continue to offer me money and I would give the same response of, “no I really do not need the money, but I appreciate you offering.”

Now, today I told her that if she really wanted to send me money, then she can. I do not necessarily feel comfortable having a random acquaintance send me money over Venmo. I was curious if she would actually send me money... and she did.

I did not cash the money in Venmo because I do not know if it is right or not to do so. I want to have the money readily available to dismiss if there was something wrong or it is necessarily illegal. This is pretty much a ‘sugar daddy’ situation, so I would like advice or any insight to situations like this.

If it is illegal, I am happy to report the Venmo and return the small transaction she sent me.

Answer:
 It's a scam, or she's a little nuts.

Either way, probably not a good idea.Answer #2: i suspect this more of a long-con and she’ll give you small amounts of money two or three times and then will suddenly have a financial “emergency” and request a much more significant “loan” from you (which you should obviously not make)

as far as i know venmo can’t reverse a payment to you once it’s been made and she appears to have given you a gift so i don’t think there’s any legal issue with accepting it but i would certainly be weary of her/her motives going forward

the other thing to consider with the “sugar baby” situation is that it’s often just a fancy way of saying prostitution. you obviously haven’t provided any sexual favors for payment but if she’s mentioned anything about being your sugar momma just be aware that could also be what she’s after


Title: I called a hospital to harass them and they rerouted me to their city’s police department. Can I get in trouble?

Question:
I was in a hospital in another state several states away from where I live and it was the most degrading and traumatic experience of my life.  I got a fake phone number for a different state than where I live, so to be clear, state I’m in, state hospital is in, state form where my fake number is.

So I have been harassing people who angered me via this fake phone number. I called them and called their employees racial slurs and said they should send a female doctor I saw back to Russia and then hung up.  Then I called back and told them I hope they die in the hurricane and rerouted me to the police department at which point I got a robovoice for their city’s police department.

I deleted my account for the app for the fake phone number which I used under a fake gmail name and deleted the app. Will the police actually care about this?

Location: Vermont

Answer: Yes, you can be charged with the crimes you committed.


Title: If a mother leaves her children with her parents and refuses to take them back, can the parents(grandparents) sue for child support without wanting custody?

Question:
So several months ago, a relative of mine left basically left her kids with her parents (the kids grandparents), and despite many pleas from the grandparents, the mother will not send any money for child support, nor come take them. The grandparents do not necessarily want custody, they have their own lives to live, nor do they want to give the kids up for adoption where they could end up in the care of crazy people, but they want the mother to be held responsible. I figure they could sue her, but the mother has no source of legitimate income (doesn't use her bank account).

Is there any way to hold the mother responsible? Get her arrested for child abandonment? Get a financial judgement against her, etc? What are the realistic options here.

If it matters, the grandparents live in NC, and the mother is currently living in VA, but is from NC, which is where the kids were born and so on. The mother has only been recently living in VA for a year now.

Answer: Pretty sure if the grandparents (as guardians) were to sign up for any sort of government assistance for the kids (food stamps, etc.), The state would automatically step in and go after her for child support (just as they would for a single parent having been abandoned by a spouse).


Title: My friend sent me 4 weed gummies in the mail...am I overreacting?

Question: She was a fucking idiot and put both our real names and addresses. What are the chances of us, namely me, being prosecuted over 4 gummies? Surely I would have the defense that I didn't know what I was being sent. And how would they even know? I didn't think dogs could sniff out weed in an edible but I could be wrong.

Answer:
 A couple questions immediately come to mind:

1) Is the package currently in the mail or have you received it already?

2) Have you been contacted by any agency, or are you just worried about the possibility of getting caught?

IANAL , but I highly doubt that any regular mail service (be it usps, fedex, etc) screens 100% of domestic mail with drug sniffing dogs. I would be surprised if they even test packages without first establishing probable cause.


Title: Unemployment, unpaid administrative leave, layed off but employer says I quit

Question:
I was told at a job they no longer had anything for me to do. They put me on unpaid administrative leave and I was not allowed to return to my job. I was told I could apply for unemployment which I did. Also that I could keep my employee status techinicality to be able to apply for jobs internally. But after 30 days my administrative leave would end and I'd be on my own.

I applied for unemployment, applied for several jobs internally and externally. Told my employer I may have found a job outside the company at which point they told me to send in a resignation letter. I called the unemployment department of the state and they said do not send in a resignation letter as I am not quitting. But now 4 months later my old employer replied to a request from the unemployment department about my end of job status and they checked the box that said quit and wrote next to it "found a new job" instead of layed off. A copy of the previous request the UI sent to the employer they replied with "reduced hours" "not physically working". I have no paperwork showing my laying off or anything. It was all signed in HR and I don't know how to prove anything.

And now the unemployment dept. is asking me why I lied on my unemployment application saying I was laid off and not put on leave? Am I going to jail? having to repay unemployment? what is going to happen. Edit for the bot: it's in Montana so I don't know if there is some law that applies.

Answer: Tell them the story you told us.


Title: (California) Neighbor is determined to enter our yard-even if it means doing so without our permission

Question:
Warning: Long AF. TL;DR at bottom

**Background**:

My family is renting out our previous home to another family (We don't know them) while we live in another city about 20 minutes away. The rented house has a yard that is mostly concrete with some planters around the edges. The only thing seperating houses is a continuous wall, of which the planters are connected to. The neighbor to one of our houses has a kitchen instead of a yard adjoined to the wall. They recently have had a leaking problem with their kitchen for the past five weeks. They thought the problem was with their sink and they asked experts to come to their house and see if there was a problem. They couldn't find a problem so the neighbors assumed that the problem was coming from my family's rented house's planter boxes since they are adjoined with the wall. Thus they came over 2 times to test if it was our planter boxes causing the leak by pouring huge amounts of water through the planter boxes. However, the first time they came over, they did so while the renters were out of the house and without the renters' or our permission (Which is technically trepassing isn't it?). My parents were kind of shocked but didn't want to seem like bad neighbors so they didn't bring that issue up with the neighbor. The second time the neighbors came over to the yard, they asked for permission so my father came over and watched them as they poured water down into the planters. They went back to their house and saw that the water level did increase so they assumed it was from our house. They provided several reasons for why it might be occuring: rain or sprinklers. The problem is that it hasn't been raining on the days that they've had water leaking (B/c we're in California) and the sprinklers have been broken for a long time and so the tenants have just been using dirty kitchen water to water the plants. They usually bring out the water in pots and pans and use them to water *all* the planter boxes, not just the ones that are next to the neighbors' house.

**The Problem**:

The neighbors decided to ignore all of the explanations we provided and scheduled a check on our yard and planter boxes by 3rd party companies to see "what the problem was with the planter boxes" (Their words not ours). The problem is that they just told us of this appointment a few days ago and it is scheduled next Monday from 11 AM to 12 PM. However, that day both the tenants are at work and my family is at work too. We have no time to spare to supervise the neighbors and the companies and don't even have the permission of the tenants. We have informed the neighbors of this and asked them if they can reschedule but they responded by saying that the next available spot is in the week after next which is unacceptable to them. They said that if we (The homeowners) and the tenants are unavailable and we don't give permission for the inspection, they will still carry it out regardless since they are under "emotional stress" (Their words not mine). We get that they have a problem but we don't want them to trespass on our property either. We don't want to make this into a big deal but if they insist on carrying out the inspection without our permission, we are thinking of informing the police of this. They are saying that they can enter the property to inspect if given a reasonable time frame, which they define as 24 or 48 hours beforehand. HOA is on their side too. What are our options now?

TL;DR: Neighbors have problem with our planter boxes so they're climbing over to do an inspection without our permission.

Edit: My parents just reminded me that the second time the neighbors came to the yard to see, they brought a plumber or something to inspect the planter boxes and water leakage. The plumber found nothing wrong with our planter boxes and concluded that the planter boxes were not the cause of the leakage. They caused some damage by digging big holes in the planters (Like shovel type holes) and didn't fill them back up.

Answer:
 "hey neighbor-e-no. Can you kindly fuck off? You do not have my permission to come onto my property. I will be filing a report with the police and if you or someone you hire enters my property without my permission (which I've entirely revoked here), then I will be pushing the police to charge you with trespassing. Thank you and good day". Answer #2: Get your tenants to fill a 5 gallon bucket with water and several bottles of green food coloring. Pour it into the planter tomorrow morning; if neighbors don't see evidence of colored water by Sunday night, they can save their planter inspection money and pound green sand.Answer #3: Depends on the HOA bylaws.

In general, this kind of activity is trespassing. But if it's permissible by the HOA, then they can try to assess the source o the water.

But they should have to repair any damage caused to the property, e.g. holes in the ground.

I would notify the neighbor he has 48 hours to give your parents a plan on how the property damage, the holes, will be repaired, on his dime. Check your HOA bylaws, if he can trespass, stick to the party line of , "don't know, not possible it's us, you're paying my damages."


Title: Can i use my HIPAA investigation report for a protective order?

Question: Basically as the title says Two colleagues stalked my wife's medical chart her whole pregnancy and started accessing our child's chart within the hour of birth. It should be noted they have never been part of their care. The HIPAA investigation is over confirming all the audit trails and which they had no business accessing. So can I use this report as evidence to obtain a protective order for months privacy breach's for stalking my family

Answer: Without knowing where you live, there's no way to give a certain answer, but it is doubtful that any state would allow a protective order in these circumstances. Protective orders are generally given only when there's been at least a credible threat of violence


Title: Company cannot require me to pay them back for training if nothing was discussed beforehand and I didn't sign anything, right?

Question:
I work for a company in California and have done a couple trainings for them. Nothing was mentioned beforehand in regards to me having to pay them a portion of it back if I left before X amount of time.

I'm leaving for a better company with more money and benefits, and I just have this sinking feeling that my boss (who turned out to be a complete a**hole) is gonna try and say something about how I owe him thousands when I tell him I'm leaving.

ANY information any of you may have that I can use as ammo and a quick "yeah buddy that's not how things work if I didn't sign anything" would be great and definitely decrease my level of anxiety about this whole thing.

Thank you!

Answer: There's no law that says that specifically but Contracts 101 says you don't create an obligation without offer and acceptance.  So if he tries that you say you never agreed to that and won't pay. If they take any part of your check over this, including any vacation pay you are owed, file a DLSE complaint right away.


Title: Comedian is using my photo on a billboard without my permission or release.

Question: I am in Canada. I took some photos during a comedy show I sent them in good faith and the comedian is now using it on a billboard to promote a show. What can I do?

Answer: Did you tell the comedian to stop?


Title: Texas traffic ticket for flashing headlights?

Question:
Hi all, in Houston, TX, my 70 year old father got a ticket today.   He drove through a speed trap, was not speeding, but flashed his headlights to warn oncoming drivers of the trap.    Unbeknownst to him, another cop was sitting about 20 yards away watching the whole drama, and pulled him over and gave him a ticket for flashing his lights.   He was furious and called me for help because I work in law enforcement (Probation).  I took a look at the ticket and it says, " Texas RD317 Unauthorized Use of Red/Blue Flashing Lights".

I am planning on fighting this for him, as he is not capable of it due to his age.   But he mentioned the cop said there is a new Texas Law in effect that allows cops to ticket for this flashing headlight behavior because "it blinds other drivers".

Now, I know damn well this cop just needs to meet his quota.   But I'm curious A) Is there a "new law" in Texas about this behavior?  If so, can someone direct me to where I go find out more?  B) If such a law exists, how is it the ticket can claim he used Red/Blue lights when he flashed his WHITE headlights and his vehicle (a family SUV) does not even have red/blue lights and C) How can a cop claim he is blinding other drivers when he is using instruments (headlights) built into every vehicle for the sole purpose of turning them on?

His argument is, "My dad taught me to do that.  I've always done it.   In essence, I was encouraging people to be safer and got punished for it by a cop with a grudge."

Any suggestions would be appreciated.   I'm planning on dragging this this whole thing into court to get a resolution.

Answer:
 It's probably not going to go well for you. Texas is pretty infamous in my experience with these types of tickets and attempts to fight them are usually unsuccessful.

With that said.... Different states weigh in differently on the issue. Florida, Ohio, Tennessee, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Utah have actually ruled that flashing lights is okay under the First Amendment. Arizona and Alaska strictly forbid the practice under any circumstance apparently because of safety.

> His argument is, "My dad taught me to do that. I've always done it. In essence, I was encouraging people to be safer and got punished for it by a cop with a grudge."

This argument will not go well. Ignorance is no excuse for breaking the law. My dad beat the shit out of us kids with his fists, but I don't think it'd go over well if I punched some toddler.

I would say **you** have little chance to get this ticket dismissed. However, a savvy traffic lawyer may have a shot. It's up to you how much you want to fight this.


Title: (NM) Awarding custody without forcing child support

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 No. Support is for the child.

Also, there is huge fraud going on here so he needs an attorney before doing anything. If she is getting welfare then he is suppose to be paying support to the state. Also, if they lived together and she got welfare without saying he was living there, more fraud. So he might be owing a shit ton to the state at this point.

Only go through an attorney at this point to decide what the best course of action is


Title: Can you forcibly de-tain someone until the police arrive if they enter your car and then assault you? [CA]

Question: I spend a lot of my free time driving along the high-ways because I like the freedom of the roads and I will usually give rides to any and ,all, hitch-hikers if they are going in direction as I am, but occasionally I will pick up some_one who seems fine when they get in but then sometimes they will say that I am taking them in the wrong direction and they want to get out or other complaints and they try to grab the wheel or the handbrake and usually by doing this they end danger my safety or actually go so far to physically assault me by trying to wrestle my hands from the steering wheel. At this point, I will pull over and push them out (I sometime keep their bags to teach them a lesson) and drive away, but I have recently installed a dashboard camera face inwards so I believe I would enough evidence to have an assault charge brought against some_one if they did something like this to - me - again. But I am not sure if I can physically (I am quite tall (6foot and 6) and stronger than most) detain them until police arrive and still be in good stand legally to have assault charges hold again-st them, does any body legal advice on this matter or what I can do to someone to hold them in place until police arrive?

Answer: Trolls are not allowed to detain people, no.


Title: Mom injured in police custody, smashed her head on pavement, broke her front tooth, and not taken for medical treatment. Advice?

Question:
My mother was at a friends house watching the Mayweather fight when a friend of hers got rowdy. The friend wanted a ride home and my mother had been drinking and refused to drive. The argument got heated and mom got hit by her friend and they started fighting. Small town, loud fight, police came. My mom was upset for hitting her friend and in distress she told the police that she had been drinking and to arrest her 3 times. They did.

When the officer handcuffed her he tightened the handcuffs very hard and it jerked her arm upward. Because of this, she lost her balance and, not having her hands free to brace herself, she hit her face off the pavement, got a gash on her face and on her forehead and broke her front tooth in half. She hit the ground so hard it knocked her out. Instead of being taken for medical treatment, they transported her, unconscious, directly to a holding cell where she awoke several hours later. She is charged with disorderly conduct.

She told the officers that she needed her medication for high blood-pressure and was denied, however, they did release her a few hours later on $40 bail.
My concern is whether or not the police are responsible for my mother's injuries. And what action, if any, should be filed against them if they are liable.  (Massachusetts)

TL;DR: Mom got injured in police custody, denied treatment and medication. Who is responsible?

Answer:
 > Because of this, she lost her balance

Wouldn't basic common sense dictate that it's *much* more likely that her losing her balance was a result of her drinking, and not the tightening of the handcuffs?!?

> My concern is whether or not the police are responsible for my mother's injuries.

Given your own admission that she was drunk, I'd say it's highly unlikely.


Title: Colorado-Helping Mom in CO with methed out sister that has POA, from across the country

Question: I live in Indiana and my mom lives in Colorado. She recently underwent back surgery and is recovering in physical rehabilitation center in the city where she lives (omitted because I suspect my niece is a redditor). My sister was a recovering meth addict, currently off the wagon. When my sister was clean my mom gave her power of attorney. Mostly because she was the only one close but also because she legitimately trusted her. This morning I recieved a very panicked phone call from Mom saying she thinks sis has gone off the wagon because she's getting bank alerts about withdraws. I'm trying to help her find a lawyer from across the country. What kind of lawyer should I look for? From what I could figure I was thinking Estate Planning? And in the meantime is there anything she could do from a hospital bed to secure her bank account. This is really hard for me because my mom, in her older age of 77, doesn't have the best memory or stamina and I can't help her like I'd like to from 18 hours away. On top of that, needless to say, I'm pretty emotional right now. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer:
 Contact the lawyer (presumably) who drafted the 1st POA, and inform them that you would like to revoke it.

If you can't find them, or didn't use one. An Estate / Elder Law lawyer would likely be appropiate


Title: Ebay case damaged my phone.

Question:
I don't know if this is the right subreddit for this kind of question. If it isn't, just message me so and I'll post elsewhere.

I have purchased and installed a red back cover on my phone as soon as it arrived in the mail. It was used for about a week until today. I wanted to show few relatives how the back of the phone felt. When I removed the cover, I was greeted by stains. I tried to clean it up with a small toothbrush and water with some dish soap, without any success.

**I messaged this to the Ebay seller;**

* Hello,
The case I received stained my device and I am unable to remove any marks left by your case. The back of my device has red stains all over. I let the device less than 10 hours total in my pockets since I work from home so humidity isn't the cause. The device sits on a desk about 24/7. What you sent me literally damaged my device, which I payed almost $500 CDN. There are no words to explain how I feel toward the situation and I expect a resolution.

**Then he replied this;**

* Sorry to hear that. It must be the coating is not very good. I have googled some methods on how to remove the red spot. First, you can try some essential oil, (It is one Chinese Oil used on human body, so it is harmless to the phone). If not OK, please try some Alcohol, or gas to wash the spot. After that, you may use some shampoo, to clean phone back. As a compensation, we are able to offer you one nice TPU case for this photo. It is without coating. Do you agree?

My question is, is there a way to get more than a case in return because what they sold me damaged my phone? I feel mad because the phone is less than 2 weeks old.

[Those](http://imgur.com/a/vXiRl) are the pictures of the phone along with the faulty case.

I payed via Paypal from a bank account if that's any help.

Edit: I am from Canada.
Topic:
Douche

Answer:
 I swear to god: why do people pay via paypal from a bank account? You have no protection.

OK - having said that, I think the seller is being reasonable. A stain on the back of your phone doesn't effect functionality or even any warranty you may have with regard to the phone.


Title: I'm not sure if this is a right sub, but is a debt collector supposed to identify himself?

Question:
I'm getting a call from someone called the Medical Business Bureau and the first thing they ask is for my social security number which I'm not comfortable with giving out so the call generally ends there.

I googled this and I believe it may be a debt collector but aren't they supposed to identify themselves before I give out my ss number?

I live in Illinois so I'm not familiar with laws and how these people operate so any feedback would help. Thanks

Answer:
 Good instincts. If a debt collector is legitimately contacting you, they do not need your SSN; your credit reporting information should already be in the package they have.

(And if they're a real debt collector and they really don't have your SSN and they want it, tell them to go blow a goat. It is not your problem that they do not know how to report you to a credit agency. This does not inherently free you of a debt that may be valid, but you aren't required to make it easy for them.)


Title: Is this housing discrimination?

Question:
[GA] I received a notice from my apartment's leasing office that they were raising the rent in the future and that they would be contacting me shortly for an appointment to discuss it. I went there and I was told that my rent was going to increase from 930 per month to 1045. I was a little surprised about it  because that's a more than 10% increase. The leasing guy then told me "well yeah some people we charge 830 per month and others we charge more". Unfortunately, I did not record him saying that. Even on their website it says that the rent is 860 per month if I were to check right now. Every unit in this apartment complex is a 2 bedroom, no studios or 1 bedrooms whatsoever. The leasing guy then tells me "you have 60 days left on your contract but I'll let it slide and let you leave early if you want" and gives me a look. He wants me to leave? I am asian and this apartment complex is almost 100% hispanic. I have heard  in the past and read the reviews online that they treat non hispanic people very poorly here. So, is this housing discrimination? I have no desire to stay here after being treated like this but I really want to do something about this. What should I do? What can I do?
Topic:
Landlord Tenant Housing

Answer:
 > So, is this housing discrimination?

Nothing you have mentioned here is evidence that this is illegal discrimination.  There are lots of real and legitimate reasons to charge different people different amounts to live in the same complex.

If you want to move, move.  You have the right to stay through the end of your lease, so if you want to do that you can.  Otherwise, it sounds as if he's willing to let you out early, which is also an option.


Title: Can I report possession of child porn and remain anonymous? NJ, MI, WY

Question:
I ran into a situation that I’m panicking about as you can tell from the title, but I’ll start from the beginning and hope that everything comes out ok. Apologies for anything that is worded weird or doesn’t make sense.

I met this guy on reddit about four or five years ago when he was looking to buy some computer parts. That was the main cause of our interaction, and I wouldn’t call him friend, just an acquaintance. He asks if I can get a specific part, I say yes or no and we go from there.

I’ve also never met this guy, the majority of our conversation was through a sktpe or discord text or voice chat.

A week ago, he’s making small talk while I try to find a case for him, and he tells me that he broke up with his girlfriend of a few years and if I’d be interested in getting a few pics that she’s sent to him over the years.

These pics include sets of pics that go from fully dressed to nude, masterbaition with and without toy,  lingere, some bondage type stuff, blowjobs, sex, and animated gifs. He also mentioned that he had made a sex tape if I happened to be interested in any of that.

I wasn’t, but this guy decides to send me a few sample low quality gifs of the sex tape. I checked them out because they were already there, and I’m looking at the girl in it, and she looked young to me, not ten or eleven young, but fifteen or sixteen young.

I asked for a better face pic, and with a pic that was of a much better quality, she still looked way to damn young. I didn’t give this guy a yes or no, but I told him that I would think about it. This is where he send me a screen shot of (what I think was) an image shack album with the urls and account name cropped out.

It was one of the sex video gifs, and he pointed out that there were several folders in the album and over 400 images. There was also the upload date which was in Jan of 2016.

I do wish I said no and stopped there, but I felt the need to dig because I wanted to find that this girl just looked young.

The digging that I did do was to go onto this guy’s face book page, I went through his friend’s list, found this girl, and her birthday was July 1999 which puts her at 16 when the gif was uploaded and this guy would’ve been 24.

My big question is what do I do? But I do have several other questions.

1 - Do I need to get a lawyer? I wasn’t aware of what the gifs were in terms of the ages of the people in them, but ignorance is not a defence. To me, this is the same as someone leaving a box at my house with heroin in it, but not telling me what’s inside.

2 - How do I report this? Me, the guy I sold computer parts to, and the girl are all in different states. I can’t really walk into my local police station with a usb and some info, I think that would lead to a bunch of really hard questions.

3 - Do I have enough information to turn this guy in? I have:

His full name, address I’ve sent parts to, previous address I’ve sent parts to, the sex gifs (his face is visible briefly in one), His reddit account name that has an old post about looking for help with meeting people online to have sex with them, his face book with some old pics, a twitch profile with video showing his face that is a few months old, and the screen shot showing the upload date of one of the gifs.

Her full name and face book profile showing her birthday.

I’m also not sure how much of the face book info will be visible with all the new privacy that’s been rolling out.

4 - Can I report this anonymously? I want to wash my hands of this as soon as possible, and I’ve debated wiping the hard drive.

5 - Is there anything else I need to keep in mind or do? I haven't done anything yet with this, but I do feel way in over my head so all advice is greatly appreciated.

Answer:
 Sure

https://report.cybertip.org/Answer #2: Don’t ask for any more images from him. You’re not a police officer, so report it now and stop communicating with him.


Title: Likelihood of modifying 50/50 divorce decree after co-parent is non-cooperative? (TX)

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 As long as he isn't neglecting or abusing your son, you will have an uphill battle changing the custody agreement without your ex's consent.  And from your own words, he sounds like a normal parent who drops his kids off at daycare (albeit with the grandparents instead of an actual daycare) and he has the grandparents babysit while he goes out.  Neither of those actions are in any way abnormal, abusive, or neglectful.

You should pay for a consult with your lawyer to be sure, but I really think you are in for an uphill battle that will end up making things worse for everyone.


Title: California custody question - Not married to father.

Question:
My sis has been in this relationship for about 5 years and they aren't married.  He isn't working currently and she is working part-time and going to school and they are living with his mother.  She's brought up the idea of them moving out of his moms house before to him and his immediate response was to assume she is going to do it with or without him so he threatens to hire the "best" lawyers to take their 3mo old away from her.

She wants to move out of state near my mother because she will have better job opportunities and help with taking care of the baby.  His mom doesn't help at all and as soon as she gets home from work/school the father passes the baby off to her.  She can't vaccinate her child either because he doesn't believe in it, he also doesn't like her to visit family.

Essentially she is scared and doesn't want to make things difficult but he does not want to do anything with his life while she wants to make a living for her daughter.  He does have quite a lot of savings from investments in the past I should mention (he wont even touch it to buy their daughter the necessities, our family has had to mail her diapers and formula), which is why she fears losing her daughter.  She wants him to have rights still but she also wants to leave the state where she knows she can find a full time job with benefits and where the location is cheaper in housing.  She also would have my mother who would help her.

I guess her question is what would be the best course of action in this situation?

Answer: If it were me, I would get the hell out of there with the kid, hire a lawyer and file for custody.  And get the kid vaccinated, she doesn't need his permission as soon as it's medically recommended.


Title: My daughter was born with birth defects after her mother took generic Prozac at her OB/GYN's advice. Because the generic drug manufacturer is required to match the brand name's label we can't sue the generic manufacturer. Can't sue the brand name manufacturer because it wasn't their product.

Question:
(Location: Virginia)
My daughter was born with a heart defect (mitral valve prolapse) she also was born with an intellectual disability (formerly known as mental retardation) and club foot.  Studies have linked each of the above conditions to prozac being taken during pregnancy.

When we reached out to several lawyers regarding our potential case many lawyers refused our case because my wife took generic prozac and there is a law/regulation which requires generic drug manufacturers to match the brand name's label.  Because of this, generic drug manufacturers can't be held accountable for their labels.  We also can't sue the Brand name drug manufacturer because my wife didn't take their product.

While I did finally find a lawyer who would take our case, the case has been in their hands for 2 years with no results and they recently shared that they are basically just holding the case until the laws/regulations change.

Does anyone have any advice?

While there is no way to prove that my daughter wouldn't have been born without these defects if my wife hadn't taken prozac.  My wife and I will likely have to pay for speech therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy for the rest of my daughters life.  We also run the risk and potentially having to pay for surgery for the heart defect in the long-term.  If there is any chance that we can get even a little money to help my wife and I care for our daughter I feel like I have to try.

Answer:
 *While there is no way to prove that my daughter wouldn't have been born without these defects if my wife hadn't taken prozac*

It doesn't matter who you sue, you have no case. Sometimes bad things happen to good people, and it's not necessarily anyone's fault.Answer #2: I am assuming that the OB who prescribed it is not being sued because the benefits of taking fluoxetine during the pregnancy outweighed the risks and there was an informed consent process documented?


Title: When is rent due in Maryland? [MD]

Question:
We just signed a lease in PG County Maryland. The owner's agent made the process really stressful. We already paid the security deposit but we are not moving until 11/21

The lease states that we are to pay the prorated rate on 11/21 and a full month on 12/1

The agent for the owner is now saying we have to pay a full month in 11/15!!!! Is this legal? When is our rent due?

Answer: Do what the lease says. You're *both* legally bound to it.


Title: I didn't sign a lease with my current landlord, But I will soon have a new landlord who wants to raise my rent

Question: I am currently renting a house from a family friend with two roommates and my dog, due to our prior relationship we never signed a lease, However he is selling the house because  to get his money out. Our new landlord want us to sign a lease that will raise our rent, requires us to get renters insurance, and allows no animals. Can the new landlord do this? BTW I live in St. Louis Missouri

Answer:
 Yes, the new landlord can do this.

It's actually on your old landlord to give you sufficient notice of this.  If you did not have a lease there is no binding documentation to enforce, so there is no wrong-doing here.


Title: Reasoning with officer.

Question:
I just read online that if you can convince the officer to drop the charges you can get your case thrown out.

Ordinarily I wouldn't even think to go this route, but my arresting officer mirandized me and after uttered something like I wouldn't be charged with this. (Still he was somewhat vague about this.)

This happened over a week ago and I was already arraigned on the case. Is it possible that if I talked to him and in the best case convinced him to not charge me would still have control over eliminating my misdemeanor?

Answer: No, the DA presses charges against you you not the officer. If the officer testifies in your favor it may help you, but "reasoning" with him is not necessarily going to get your case dropped. Trying to communicate with him further may actually hurt you.


Title: Assault charges for a slap

Question: My daughter (18) slapped a 17 year old boy when he made an inappropriate comment that upset her. This was about 6 months ago. His parents are now talking about filing assault charges. They say he had a red handprint on his face. I wasn’t told about it until just recently. She acknowledged doing it but says it wasn’t hard enough to turn his face red and he went on with the rest of the afternoon at the arcade they were at and said nothing else about it. Can they really charge her with assault and would it be bigger trouble because he was 17 and she was 18?

Answer: Slapping him was assault.


Title: [NV] Separated Wife Refusing Child Visitation

Question:
State = Nevada

Throwaway account. Posting for advice not really for myself, but for my boyfriend.

He's currently married but separated, divorce pending, and he shares a 2-year-old son with his soon-to-be-ex-wife.

They haven't yet gotten any court-mandated rules in place regarding shared custody, child support, etc., but he gives her money freely each month, pays all of their child's medical and daycare expenses. She has their son Mon-Fri, he has him Friday night through Sunday night.

Apparently, from what he's heard from mutual friends, she's working with an Attorney and attempting to build a case against him to file for sole custody of their child, which isn't going to happen, as he's stable, has a safe environment to care for his son on the weekends when he has him, has a stable job and makes more than enough money to support himself and his child, etc.

He received a text message from her this morning stating that he is not allowed to have his son this weekend if I will be present. That he's not going to have him at all if I'm going to be near her child. She's actually threatened to call the police on me a couple of weekends ago just for being in the same house with him and his son, saying that I don't have her consent to be near her child, and that I'm not welcome in that house (he lives apart from her with two roommates, both of which clarified that I am absolutely welcome to be there).

I feel like she's doing this just to push his buttons and get a negative reaction from him for ammunition in court when the time comes, as up to this point he's been nothing but amicable and civil towards her, but is this actually something she can dictate outside of the courtroom? And if he were to disregard her threats and have me around while he has their son, would that be detrimental to his defense in court for custody? Can she actually refuse him visitation with their child without a court mandate stating such?

I don't want to be away from them this weekend, I actually love spending time with the little guy, but I also don't want to stir anything up, especially if it could end up being harmful to my boyfriend from a legal standpoint.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Answer:
 Your boyfriend needs an attorney.

>  but is this actually something she can dictate outside of the courtroom?

No, but there is no court order that says she needs to provide the child for visitation.

> And if he were to disregard her threats and have me around while he has their son, would that be detrimental to his defense in court for custody?

It could be. It sounds like she at least thinks that she has a reason to keep you away from the child. You can expect these reasons to be brought up in court. Since she has an attorney, it's likely that the attorney is choreographing her actions at this point (she'd be stupid to make these demands without his input).

> Can she actually refuse him visitation with their child without a court mandate stating such?

Yes.

For the purposes of the custody hearing, your boyfriend needs to have laser sharp focus and attention on providing for the needs and well being of the child, even if that means putting your relationship on hold, and you making yourself scarce if need be.

This is all just very general, based on no knowledge of you, your boyfriend, his wife, or any of ya'lls backgrounds.

Your boyfriend needs an attorney.


Title: [MD] Am I seriously going to be forced to buy this used car? No insurance, car still in lot, no down payment.

Question: Signed all paperwork for a used car and we agreed to $3000 down payment but only gave the financier $100 and did not leave the dealership with the car because I don't have insurance. Called my agent and dealership and they said I'm still bound to pay for the car. Others say since I never left with the car and did not pay the full down payment that I can still back out. I don't know who is right and who is wrong! Ready to take legal action if possible.

Answer:
 If you have already signed the paperwork, then the deal is done. Yes, you will need to adhere to the terms of the paperwork you have already signed.

Do you have a copy of the signed paperwork? Read through it and see if there is a clause that permits you to terminate the purchase with little or no penalty. There probably isn't, but it's worth reading it to be sure. Otherwise, you can certainly try to work this out with the dealer, but the dealer will have to mutually agree to cancel the sale, and he is not required to do so.


Title: NY - Abusive Brother threatening to falsely accuse me of crimes unless I stay away from his children and ex-wife.

Question:
My brother and sister-in-law are in a messy divorce. Custody is a big battle because my brother is a psychological abuser and it's obviously tough to prove. I've even made posts in my history about wanting to stay away from my brother and sister in law because their relationship was toxic.

Okay- straight to the point. In the past six months, my brother has threatened to cut me off from his children (I'm by far their favorite aunt and the youngest's favorite person). When I ignore him he cites a specific law I am breaking. I continue to ignore. I've typically followed up by calling a DV advice hotline to see and continued ignoring him. I do not contact him. He only knows I see them via second hand facebook or if the kids talk about me. They've learned not to bring me up because he 'gets really angry'.

First time the wife and children were with my in my home - he was supposed to be getting served with an Order of Protection, but he wasn't at home getting it, he was at my house harassing his wife and kids who were too scared to go outside. He said "If you don't send my kids out that will be the last time you ever see them." I calmly and rationally explained, via text message, things were high emotion/ high stakes, the children were safe with their mother, I wasn't breaking a law, please leave us alone. He threatened me with the police. (His statement was I was holding the kids hostage and committing custodial interference). Their mother was with me terrified, and there's no custody agreement in place. So .. I wasn't. After he didn't leave for an hour I called the police. He left right before they got there. She filed a report, but it didn't go anywhere.

Then over the summer the children were permitted to go on family vacation with my family under the guardian ad litem's condition I drove them, not him. (He's a dangerous driver). The oldest was cornered and threatened by him on vacation, I, with the Guardian Ad litems permission in a pre-written letter- drove the oldest child home an evening earlier than agreed upon. Big scene was made where my brother attempted to block my car in, and my parents had to come out and told him to back off.

He's made passive comments about how I've broken the law (I haven't) to intimidate me a few times. Directly threatened like 3-4 times depending on how loosely 'threat' is used. Usually he just states this information, so it's not phrased as an explicit threat, just an implied one.

 I've called a legal hotline each time and they've agreed I haven't broken the law. His lack of calling the cops leads me to believe he knows he doesn't have a case.

Yesterday he got mad about me seeing the children on Christmas (On the wife's time not his; with her invitation). He said;

"Please stay away from my kids.... You understand that you drove off secretively from [vacation]with my kids with no permission to do so. I have a text from [exwife] saying she had no idea you were leaving with them.     That's pretty serious."

So, first, I didn't leave secretly. I told the grandparents and had a letter from the guardian stating that I could take the children home early if it were their wish. Which it was.

*I'm sick of this quasi-extortion crap.* Their mother wants me in her and the children's life. And I know this is an attempt to isolate her. (I live nearish so I support the wife and kids when I can, plus they were married a very long time I'm very close with her and the children).

What legal action can I take? This is all via text so I can screenshot the evidence for police or the children's lawyers. Or for her lawyer, I believe this action is definitely against her as well-  because since I'm being nice her to her he is attacking me. If I stopped helping her contacting her, he'd stop threatening me.

 Also, brother has pending plea deal for violating the order of protection several times. Can I get this information to the ADA making the recommendation? Even if it doesn't amount to criminal behavior, it should be taken into consideration right?

We live in separate counties so my report the first night last time didn't make it to his jurisdiction. By the time I called, they said technically I couldn't do that- only his wife could as she made the initial report. And it technically was before the order was served so there's a record by police he threatened me, but it wasn't enough to do anything with.

Thank you.

Answer:
 He's free to go back to court to try and amend the custody decree to restrict who his co-parent can bring his kids around. Unless he can make a case that you're in some way a danger, or that you're deliberately working to alienate his kids from him, he won't get far, but ultimately the issue is between him and his coparent.

If he continues to show up at your home, you could call the cops and have them warn him off of trespassing or stalking. If he continues to watch your home or show up uninvited even after that, a restraining order may be an option. Otherwise, the block button is probably your best friend.

> I have a text from [exwife] saying she had no idea you were leaving with them.

You may want to speak to his ex-wife about this. I assume you did actually have her consent, but this is the kind of allegation you want to get ahead of by having her explain her position in writing. Having done that, he's free to eat dirt.


Title: Hooking up with a 17 year old

Question: Me and this girl have been texting for quite a while she's 17 and I'm 19 tomorrow she wants to come over. If one thing leads to another will I go to jail? I'm in Texas. I understand no picture taking because that is a whole other charge but legally can we have consensual sex without me being punished for it.

Answer: It's legal.


Title: Automatic gate hit my car. Who's liable for damages? (Alb, NM)

Question:
So I was visiting my mom, who's trailer park has a security gate. There are signs posted saying one car at a time. Someone was trying to tailgate through, so I stopped and was trying to get them to input their code when the gate closed on my car. Estimated damage is $407. Their security guard saw the whole thing, and submitted an incident report to management. They have signs stating they are not responsible for damages. But they DON'T have signs saying there is a timed delay to get through the gate and to move forward.

What do you think? Is it worth pursuing damages from management? A simple sign stating do not stop would have prevented this. Or even some foam zip tied to the gate would've stopped the damage.  Thanks!

Answer:
 >A simple sign stating do not stop would have prevented this.

They shouldn't really need to tell you not to park your car under an automatic gate, the timer is why they have a one car at a time policy.


Title: (Las Vegas NV) Landlord posted bogus 5 day detainer on my door. What should I do?

Question:
I rent out a bedroom in a house. Been here for less than a month. On the 13th, the LL taped a "three-day notice to quit for nuisance, waste, assigning/subletting unlawful business, or drug violation" to my door. She did not serve it properly and she entirely made up the complaint on the notice, claiming verbal abuse and violence and claiming she was afraid for her life (completely fabricated, plus she has a habit of entering my room whenever she feels like without giving notice, which irks me).
Today, the 17th, (LESS than 3 judicial days later), she taped a "five-day notice of unlawful detainer" to my door. This one is also improperly served.
I can't tell if she's crazy, trying to scam me out of my rent money, or just mean and bored. I've literally done nothing to warrant any of this.
She's doing essentially everything wrong as far as the paperwork goes. I feel harassed and would love to move just to get out of the situation but can't quite swing it at this time. What do you guys think, should I just ignore these notices? Should I sue HER? I interact with her as little as possible and mainly just use the room to sleep when I'm not out working.

Really appreciate advice here. I'm not too worried because I feel that she's behaving in a ridiculous manner, but I want to make sure the courts also see it that way. I don't think she's filed either of these notices so far with the courts in any fashion.

Answer:
 Improperly served why, because it wasn’t handed to you? You can still be served without it being handed to you. You obviously have received it or you wouldn’t be here. Landlords can do this to whomever they want. Your recourse is to go to court as directed. A judge will decide if there is merit to the allegations. Question for you - now that this has happened, why do you want to continue living there? You should get them to sign a statement where you agree to leave peacefully and they agree the allegations were not based in fact. Then leaveAnswer #2: Service of notice would have been effective if they posted it on door, and mailed it to you, so you would have an argument that service is ineffective based on what you said.

Otherwise, landlord seems to be following procedure for a Nevada eviction per nuisance or illegal activity - this does not mean she automatically wins.

Your best option here is to file an affidavit/answer at the county court.  Below website is a link for walking through process/preparing affidavit.

https://www.civillawselfhelpcenter.org/self-help/evictions-housing/evictions/information-for-tenants/89-responding-to-an-eviction-notice

I don’t do Nevada law, practice tenancy law, etc, blah blah...   above is not legal advice.


Title: Representing Myself In an Unlawful Detainer Trial. Advise me. If you want.

Question:
So I subleased to a guy,(lets call him Derp) who was leasing a home. Along with a couple of other people. This Derp had the rent paid up till may of this year. 6 months of a 9 month lease or at least this is what the property manager is claiming others say the lease was for a year but no one knows for sure. Derp didn't live in the home, worked in a different city not to far from here.

Around the end of may(actually the last day of may) the property manager comes to us, the current tenants, living in the house, that his lease was void and that if we wanted to we could start a new lease with her. At this point, I don't understand what's going on, because it doesn't seem like what she is doing is legal but don't check because, hey she's a property manager she should know what she's doing right. But we move forward with it. Derp is currently out of country, and says he'll deal with it when he gets back.

So the property manager changes the lock so Derp is no longer able to come in and tells us to call the police if he does. The property manager then checks our credentials makes sure that we are renters that she wants to rent too. And is ready to sign a lease with us. When we have the money ready to pay with the new tenants for the new lease she decides she doesn't want to rent to us due to some house drama. Messages us that we have three days to leave the house or she will call the police and have us thrown out. She repeatedly threatens us and some of the tenants are scared and run off because this is something they don't want to deal with. Then after she knows that some of the tenants are no longer there she serves us with a three day pay or quit.

At this point I do my research and find out that, her lease with Derp is not void. There's a due process that she needed to follow before she does that. A 30 day fix or quit. So she tried to double lease the place when she attempted to lease with us. No one has a copy of the lease neither Derp or the landlord, BUT the landlord did show me a copy of the lease with Derp so I don't know why she said that she doesn't have one. She locked out the main tenant, Derp. And her refusing to accept rent was valid if we were squatters and didn't hold a lease but we did hold the lease so she should've accepted it. And she scared off the tenants. Then asked for the money.

This is all I've gotten so far. I'm currently in the process of doing research and preparing my case. I'd love some advice, on how to prepare, how to present yourself, how the court room procedure is, or what an opening statement is composed of, anything really that anyone is willing to contribute. OR if what I'm thinking is even correct.

Thank you, before hand everyone. Reddit don't fail me now.

Answer:
 I'm not trying to be a jerk.

Really.

But this sort of comes across as you saying, "Hey, Reddit- can you teach me how to be a lawyer online real quick?  Skip that part about three years of law school and the really hard test, and just tell me all the things a lawyer would need to know to do lawyer stuff in the courtroom."

Because if that's what you're asking, then you need to get a lawyer because no one can teach you the things you need to know real fast on reddit and representing yourself is nearly always a terrible idea.


Title: I got scammed $1200 USD from my "Employer"

Question:
About two weeks ago I got an email from an Employer through Indeed.com. This job was for a personal assistant that could run errands for him while he was out of town, for $500 a week. Thinking nothing of it, I accepted it and was “hired”.

Yesterday, my first task was to buy office supplies and furniture for a new office he was setting up. He mailed me a check for $2,450 and told me to use that money to buy the stuff, with my first week’s pay included. I was told to go to the bank and get a money order sent to the supplier, but at this point, the check was still being processed in my bank. This morning he texted me and said that instead of a money order, the supplier wanted it in eBay gift cards instead. So I went to Safeway bought $1,200 worth of eBay gift cards, using my own money, thinking that I will just get my money back when the check goes through.

I went home, scratched the gift cards, and then sent him the codes. Shortly after I got an email from my bank saying that the check was bounced. I told him about it and he said to shred the check and he will wire me the money instead. This was when I realized that I've been scammed so I filed a police report. I also went to the bank to see if it was fraud check, but they said there was money in it and someone else tried to deposit the same check two days ago. The police told me to wait for the bank to investigate. He is still texting me things he wants me to do tomorrow such as pick up a shipment for him. I asked about getting $1,200 back and he said he'll give it through direct deposit when I give him my bank account number. I don't feel comfortable giving it to him.

He doesn't know that I know that this job is a scam, and I've been playing along with it. I know this was a stupid mistake by me but is there anything I can do to get my money back?

Location: California

TLDR;

Employer gave me a check to buy something, I bought it before the check was processed, then check turned out to be fake.

Answer:
 You have been scammed.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/bgpe8d/rscams_common_scam_master_post/

Read the fake check scam - you went for the "job offer" variation of it.

And please consider reading /r/Scams to prevent future losses.Answer #2: You're never getting your money back. The scam is popular because that's impossible. Learn from this lesson and move on.


Title: Sugar daddy's wife wants to hire a private investigator against me

Question:
To give some background information, I'm a college student in California who is of low income and I needed help with my college tuition. I've held two jobs at once while being a full time student to fund my education, but that reflected on my grades. My friend told me about Seeking Arrangements which is a website to find sugar daddies. I felt wrong signing up for it, and still do now, but I really needed the help. So I went against my better judgement and did it.

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Now I'll go into the details of our relationship. I've been meeting up with him for a year now and I did not know he was involved with his wife. What he had told me was that he has a wife, however they're not really together and they're mutually separated, but not divorced. I thought this to be reasonable because he is older, and his wife is Asian. I am Asian as well so I know how important image is to family, so it makes sense they wouldn't divorce. The foundation of our relationship was never sexual. At first when we began messaging, he said and i quote,

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"I'm hoping to meet someone with whom I can develop a steady, monogamous relationship characterized by genuine warmth and affection, friendship, respect, and trust. In a word. A girlfriend/lover. I would also like to be of real help and support a nice young person, both emotionally and financially."

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He offered a $2000 a month allowance or "scholarship" as he called it if we were to be in this type of relationship. He never wanted to see it as a transaction, but instead an older person giving gifts to a younger college aged person in need of help. And this is what it was, I got paid every month and we'd meet up around 3-4 times a month. He was always kind to me, gave me financial and emotional advice and he was good company. I genuinely enjoyed being around him, so it did feel like a relationship to me.

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For the first few months, nothing was sexual, but around the 3rd or 4th month of our relationship, we had sex at a hotel. We had sex maybe around 3 times. So this is what I am concerned about. Would this be considered prostitution?

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He sent me a voicemail  a few days ago telling me that his wife found out and said not to reply to any messages from him or about him. I just got a message from him saying "My wife wants to meet up with you" and I am pretty sure either his wife is reading his messages, or she sent the message because it said "It's John" and that was the fake alias he used on the website. So I think he told her that I don't know his real name. The wife (who I didn't really know about) found out and now wants to meet up with me, get the money back, and tell me how wrong I was for doing this. And she said if I don't reply by the end of the week, then she will hire a private investigator against me. I am willing to give the money back if it was hers, however I was and still am convinced that the money was all his. I feel bad for the wife, and I didn't know she was in the picture, but I do need the money for tuition so I'm not sure what to do.

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Is anything I did illegal? If anything was, I'm willing to give the money back to avoid any legal issues, but a problem I have is that I already spent around half of it on my tuition. Thank you to anyone reading this.

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TLDR: Was a sugar baby, wife found out. She wants the money back and to meet me or else she will hire  a private investigator.

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Answer: Just stop communicating with him and move on. This type of relationship is not necessarily illegal, given the fact that you didn't have sex in exchange for money. Still though, it's best to just avoid the drama.


Title: How can I secure my project from my employer?

Question:
I am a software developer and work for a software company. My contract explicitly says that anything I do, either during business hours or after, belongs to the company. Now I want to try to make a project with friends, but I'm not sure what to do with the mentioned contract. Even if they find out that I work on something, I can't imagine they can really figure out on what exactly (of course given that I never use their computers/networks/etc).

Can I own the project without officially producing any code? Can I register domains on my name? Is there anything I can do to somehow secure this project from my employer?

US, New York

Thanks!

Answer: You'd need to consult an in-person attorney because the answer you need is going to be heavily dependent on what the contract actually says. Nobody who hasn't read it is going to have a reliable answer for you.


Title: Friend owes me $10K, moved and bought a luxury car instead of paying me back

Question:
Do I have any recourse when someone promises to pay me back at a certain time, but then uses that money for something else? There was no contract or formally written agreement, but I have proof in the form of text messages. We live in California.

Back in April I helped a close friend get back on his feet with $10K. He was going through a rough divorce, had lost his job and then had health problems from all the stress. He's like a brother to me and I was also thinking about his kids (ages 3 and 7), so I was happy to help him.

Given his circumstances, I wasn't expecting him to pay me back any time soon or at all. Nevertheless he always promised that he would when he got back on his feet.

By June he got a new, well-paying job. I knew it would take him a while to be financially stable again, but he promised that once he got his 6-month commissions and bonuses, he would pay me back. He even gave me a post-dated check in good faith.

Today I found out that he received said commissions and bonuses -- totaling $18K -- a couple weeks before Christmas. He hasn't mentioned the money or paying me back, and then I saw on his social media that he used it to buy a new Audi, move to a nicer place and on Christmas gifts.

When I asked him about it, he said not to cash the check yet because he doesn't have enough, which tells me he either forgot or wasn't planning on paying me back at all.

I'm fortunate enough that it's not going to kill me if he does or doesn't pay me back, but $10K is not a small sum and it's wrong that he promised to pay me back and instead used it on a luxury car, etc.

I don't think I have any recourse because there's always that risk when you help someone financially, but I thought I'd ask here anyway.

Thanks everyone.

Answer: If you have texts saying he will pay you back, and a post-dated check, you have sufficient writing to enforce the loan.


Title: Registered under fake details in online betting and they wont give me the money

Question:
So here's the situation:

I created an account on an online betting site with fake name and stuff. Before that was totally fine since you could just withdraw money okay. Now they want to verify my account though. I wrote them that i was using my sisters account and therefore can't verify it after that they didn't write me back anymore and locked my account.

I live in Germany and its 180€ so a lot for me :S Anybody had similar occurrences ?

Thanks
Topic:
Consumer Law

Answer:
 Did you use fake information to get around laws?  Like, are you too young to do this yourself?

They almost certainly don't have to release the money to you if you used fraud when you set up the account.


Title: I am being treated with rabies vaccine (Received first round last night) do I need to notify my place of employment?

Question:
The doctor said I would be safe to continue working (though I would be in a lot of pain), while finishing the vaccine rounds. The doctor didn’t say if I needed to notify my place of employment. Also, I can’t call my hospital because they are very, very terrible and don’t like talking to people.
Topic:
Employment Law

Answer: No, you don't need to tell your workplace.  Honestly, I didn't find I was any pain at all, and while some people feel pain it's not a big deal for most.  If you want to take a sick day you'll obviously have to abide by your workplace's protocol for that.


Title: If I were to open a vegan restaurant in Canada, and I have a vegan sandwich called "the belly crusader" but is essentially all the ingredients of a big mac, except a vegan pattie. Would I be in legal trouble if I did this?

Answer: Do you mean the ingredients of a Big Mac like a bun, lettuce, tomato, onion and some sauce or do you mean some kind of proprietary McDonald's formula?  Obviously the former is fine, McDonald's doesn't own the concept of a hamburger.  The latter might be an issue, but I struggle to imagine what kind of formula we might be talking about here.


Title: Sunday premium pay on Massachusetts? Why?

Question:
Just found out about this. Not mad, love it, I deserve it for working on such crazy and horrible conditions like a one man army on Sundays. (They'll get it solved, they'll have 2 people in the future)

[https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/pay-administration/fact-sheets/sunday-premium-pay/](https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/pay-administration/fact-sheets/sunday-premium-pay/)

The thing is, I don't get it, why is this a law? can someone explain?

(Sorry if the answer is in the link, I glossed over half of it. I am way too tired and hungry from work+college homework to slowly read through it)

edit: I work for a private company, a well known private company where I get minimum salary when it's not Sunday, I don't work for the government or the police or anything like that. I was advised on my deleted post to include this detail

edit2: Retail

Answer: It isn't a law. It's a policy of the Office of Personnel Management that applies only to some employees of the federal government.


Title: Fell for a scam. What can I do to get my money back?

Question:
First, yes I know I'm an idiot. Lesson learned.

What happened: I met a girl on a dating app. We talked for a while and eventually switched over to Snapchat. Things got sexual. She convinced me to pay for her premium Snapchat and too meet up. As soon as I paid her through cashapp she blocked me and I cannot contact her.

I tried getting cashapp support to help, but they refuse to do anything and insist that I resolve it with the recipient or dispute it with my bank. I started a dispute with my bank but they denied the dispute and are not refunding the payment.

Is there anything I can do to get my money back or is this the cost of learned not to fall for scams like this?

Answer: Nope this will just go in the books and lesson learnedAnswer #2: Guess what, it wasn’t even a girl you were “talking sexual” to.Answer #3: Chalk it up as a cost of doing business.Answer #4: Nobody's going to refund you for the sex you paid for and didn't get. Learn from it.


Title: I got an email saying i there was a fakeID reported that I tried to use? [Illinois]

Question:
I got an email saying that there was a fake Id reported that I attempted to use. I was wondering what do I do in this situation, I just sent the officer an email stating that this situation is a mistake.

was given two options:
Option A: pay a 330 dollar city fine
Option B: i will continue my investigation and then once i have probable cause i will put it on your criminal record.

I was caught for using a fake ID last year at uni, and I received the same email from the same Officer. Last year I went down to the station and went through Option A and that fake id was turned into the sec of state. I know for a fact that I did not use a fake id in this incident. It is a mistake. I was wondering if this prior occurrence will have any affect on the outcome?

Answer:
 It's a scam. They wouldn't contact you by email.Answer #2: Unlike the other commenters here, I don't think that it's definitely a "scam", at least by the normal definition. Apparently, officers in Champaign, IL do handle these situations in this manner. We've had two other posts on this. [Post 1](https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/4bvn5n/fake_id_uiuc/) / [Post 2](https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/22k0ve/fake_id_confiscated_by_campus_bar_a_couple_months/).

Contacting an attorney and evaluating your options may be a good idea. You certainly shouldn't respond any further or reach out to the officer, but I wouldn't immediately write it off as a scam attempt. While it's possible that it is, if it's sent from a seemingly legitimate e-mail and a real phone number is provided, I wouldn't say that it's certain.

For what it's worth, the fine is $330. It likely is a scare tactic and an attempt to get you to crack and give him what he needs, but not necessarily a baseless scam in my opinion.


Title: Job Question

Question:
I know someone that works for staples. She is asked every single night to stay late at work even though the store closes at 10 and she is scheduled until 10:30, she is asked to stay even after 10:30. I explained to her that she is allowed to say no, and there is nothing they can do about it.

She is worried that she will be fired. She lives in an at-will state, so technically they could fire her for anything, but they law requires a 24 hour notice before changing her schedule, which is technically what is happening.

What do you think?
Topic:
Employment Law

Answer:
 > I explained to her that she is allowed to say no, and there is nothing they can do about it.

She is allowed to say no, and they are allowed to fire her for it.


Title: Won small claims court

Question:
I won in court against a mechanic shop in fl
What are my options to collect the cash?

Answer:
First, I would contact the mechanic and ask for the money. If they refuse or get the runaround, then you can have the sheriff execute on the judgement. See the [Florida website](http://dos.myflorida.com/sunbiz/forms/judgment-lien/collect-judgment/) for details.

If you know where they bank, you can have the sheriff seize funds in their bank account. You can also have the sheriff go to their shop, seize their goods (tools, computers, shop truck, etc.) and sell them at auction. You get the cash from the sale up to your judgement plus reimbursement for the costs of having the sheriff go there, plus another $500 for your time and trouble.


Title: Subpoena to witness the day AFTER I start a job in another country

Question:
I received a subpoena to appear as a witness in a theft I reported. The trouble is, the trial date (which may be delayed) is the day after I am scheduled and planning to start a job in another country, thousands of miles away. I am approved by that country's government to start that date, but no later. I tried to call the prosecutors office but they're all out this week due to the holidays. I'll call them first thing Monday morning, but my question is:

Do I have any options? Written or recorded testimony? Change in dates?

Answer: The answer will depend entirely on the prosecutor.


Title: How is substance consumption not protected by the 1st amendment

Answer:
 I mean. . . *Everything* is freedom of expression at some level. Robbing my neighbor at gunpoint last night was just my way of expressing my desire for anarchy.

Put the bong away for a few days, dude. It's doing things to your head.


Title: [Georgia] Nanny paid under the table has filed unemployment. What do we do now?

Question:
I'm posting for my office mate who's not a redditor yet...
She had a full time nanny for 6 months that she paid cash under the table.  Long story short, the nanny did some very odd behavior and called out on it.  The nanny offered to resign, and after a few days was taken up on it.

Now my officemate has received a call from the Dept of Labor asking if the Nanny was an employee and requesting unemployment.

There's no documentation on her firing, but they have a hiring document.

So now there's two issues.  With Dept of Labor being involved, do they have to go through the process of paying all the taxes?  The Nanny doesn't seem to have much ground to win unemployment.  But I don't see a way to fight that battle without getting busted on the tax part.

Thoughts?  Comments outside of they shouldn't have done it under the table?  Thanks for any input.

Answer:
 I'm guessing she's probably going to be busted on the tax part regardless, as the nanny has reported her employment there.

[A quote from this article](http://www.dailyfinance.com/on/are-you-still-paying-your-babysitter-under-the-table/) (which isn't about Georgia specifically but the US in general):

> If your former employee provides her work history to state or federal agencies to collect benefits, the gig is up. By not accepting your duties and obligations as a household employer, not only are you hurting your former employee's ability to obtain these important government benefits, you are also setting yourself up for fines, penalties, back taxes and interest. In certain cases, penalties can include losing professional licenses, which should make lawyers, accountants, doctors and dentists particularly attentive to this issue. Aspiring government officials and politicians have also lost out.