Title: South Carolina. Posting for a friend who can't. They're trying to find any way to get out of the custody of their abusive and neglectful parents. Any advice is appreciated.

Question:
Hello r/legaladvice, I hope this post is in the right place, and that you could shed some light on a complex issue my friend is suffering through. I can't explain it as well as they can, so i'll simply paste over their summarization of recent events and how they've been treated, edited only for ambiguity. Also forgive me for the formatting, I'm on mobile.

I'm fifteen and I live in South Carolina. I have a neurological condition that causes me to be in constant pain, and along with that I have anxiety, depression, and a well managed case of agoraphobia. I lived with my parents my entire life up until recently, when they kicked me out. The reason they kicked me out is because I told my therapist about my recent health and how I was feeling neglected and sort of scared (mainly from the fact that I had been struggling to breathe for eight hours, and had tunnel vision and whatnot. But they pretty much ignored me, and now they deny I even told them that I had a problem. An older relative had to take me to the ER that night because my oxygen was really low). When they kicked me out they told me I was selfish and ungrateful, and that I wasn't welcome in their home. So they sent me to live with some relatives for a while. This upset me, obviously, but unfortunately I couldn't take care of the anxiety because I didn't have any medicine. My mother and I have been prescribed a few of the same medicines, namely muscle relaxers and anxiety pills and she often took them for herself. She rarely let me take them unless I was extremely sick (and last time I was extremely sick, she didn't let me). So I didn't have any of my prescribed anxiety medicine because my mother took it. My mom and I have had a lot of problems though. She says that I am a selfish bitch who only thinks about myself, and that I'm a terrible child, and that I warp things in my mind because I'm sick. If you asked her about any of these things, she would deny them. But my counselor and other doctors have told me that I'm not twisting things in my mind. They've seen enough of my mother to know that I'm not the entire problem at least. For seven years I have been waiting on my mother hand and foot, despite the fact that I am currently suffering from a nerve condition that makes it painful to walk. I make her food and drinks and bring her everything, and if I refuse I'm called lazy and selfish and ungrateful. I also took over the mother role for my younger sibling for 4 years. My mom was dead to the world for almost four years between her own health problems and the medicines she took. But when I stepped up to take care of them, my mother would accuse me of physically abusing them, and of trying to steal my sibling away from her. This also ties into how my mother insults me almost daily, even now that she's kicked me out. She threatens to yank me back into her home, and she threatens to kill herself or leave us because of me, and she threatens to kick me out/cut me off financially/make my life hell/prevent me from ever leaving/etc. If I do anything to displease her. Even though I've been kicked out, she still calls me to threaten me and to make ridiculous insults. My dad just allows her to do whatever she wants, and my mother has turned so many people against me. I want to know if there is any way I can become an emancipated youth, or if I can be placed in the custody of the relatives I'm currently staying with. I will turn sixteen in a months time. Thank you for any help you can provide.

And that about wraps it up. Any advice you can offer on this situation would be very helpful. They are still in high school, trying to graduate ASAP, and have been offered a job by one of the relatives they're staying with. Thank you in advance for any help you can offer. They're already looking into consulting a lawyer.

EDIT: Thanks for all of your help everyone. We're going to try and get CPS involved and they say that their doctor, PT, and the relatives they're staying with will all vouch for them. The PT in particular has been documenting the neglect, so hopefully this will all work out. Thank you again.

Answer: Call CPS like now...


Title: Three pronged outlet wasn't grounded and fried my computer.

Question:
So I've been renting a place in Oregon for a year now and recently my computer kicked the bucket ranging in $1300 of damages. Some parts were salvageable. I couldn't figure out went wrong. I bought new parts and a fancy surge protector. My surge protector has an led that detects proper grounding. When I plugged it into the outlet that I used for my PC, the led did not light up. Interesting, I thought it could've been a bad surge protector, but sure enough the led lights up when plugged into the washing machine's outlet.
I have a strong reason to believe the non-grounded outlet is to blame and therefore the home owners.
I'm not really knowledgeable about this topic, but from what I understand, the home owners did not do an electrical inspection prior to leasing this place out.
An ungrounded 3 pronged outlet doesn't follow electrical code and Is a hazard for both people and machine's.

Do you guys think its right for me to ask for compensation for my computer?

Answer: Do you have renter's insurance? If you do, make a claim. I'll defer to more knowledgable people on the grounding issue, but if you have been using the outlet with the computer for a year without issues, that seems to be some evidence the outlet was not the cause of the problem.


Title: What does Scalia's death mean for pending cases?

Question:
Specifically Whole Women's Health v. Hellerstadt?
Topic:
Megathread

Answer:
 So as not to clog up the subreddit with another Scalia thread, I'll ask a related question here:

Could Obama nominate himself to the post and resign upon confirmation? Or would he have to resign immediately and have Biden nominate him?Answer #2: Mods I think this thread could be worth stickying


Title: [US] I pulled a bad prank on someone, what do I do?

Question:
I made a fake kik account using the name of a character, to mess with my friend, saying a couple of his not so well hidden secrets to him. Only him.  Then I pretended I knew him, which I did. Now he's telling me that some guy is stalking his kik, and got pictures of him (Not true, I only sent texts), and then deleted them, so there's no proof. I still have the messages on my phone, so I can prove that I didn't send any pictures, and that what he is saying it's false. Can I be charged?

Tldr

I pranked a friend by making a fake kik and then telling him stuff that almost the whole grade knows, now he is fudging the story and told his dad, but deleted the messages.

Also the kik was on a burner phone, which I've had nothing to do with so I thought it would be funny, but now I might be fucked.

I'm in Virginia

Answer: Stop being a shithead and just throw that phone out. If this somehow gets back to you, say nothing and contact a criminal defense attorney if you're contacted by the police.


Title: Highway off ramp accident...not enough distance to reduce speed.

Question: I had a vehicle accident on 07/11/2019 at about 8:38 p.m. while driving eastbound on I-10 in Tucson, Arizona taking the 264A exit to Palo Verde.  I hit the brakes trying to slow down for a sharp off ramp turn, locking my brakes and hitting a traffic sign that scratched and dented my front left fender.  The speed limit was 65mph on I-10 which I believe I was going at or below.  There was an advisory sign to reduce speed to 25mph approximately 300ft to 450ft before the turn (depending on how you determine where the turn starts).  I am thinking that maybe the highway authority (ADOT?) did not allow an adequate distance for slowing down for this turn.  I was hoping this forum could give me their opinion and maybe attorney recommendations if you think I have a case?  I have dash cam video of the incident as well.

Answer:
 It is the operator's responsibility to navigate the roadway at a safe speed.

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> There was an advisory sign to reduce speed to 25mph approximately 300ft to 450ft before the turn

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At 60 miles and hour you are travelling at 88 feet per second. You had 4 seconds (assuming no deceleration) once you PASSED the sign (which you should have seen from several hundred feet away) to reduce speed to approximately 25 miles per hour as the sign warned. An average car can go from 60 to 0 in approximately 4.6 seconds.

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I fail to see how this is anyone's fault but your own.


Title: My apartment's AC is not efficient but the manager refuse to improve it

Question: I live in Arizona. As you may know, it's really hot here in summer. Nowadays it usually takes 3 hours in the morning to cool my 2b2b apartment from 90 to 83, which in my opinion is not acceptable. I talked with the manager and they said it's common. What do you guys think? Is there some standard I can refer and convince them to improve it?

Answer:
 >Nowadays it usually takes 3 hours in the morning to cool my 2b2b apartment from 90 to 83

Are you shutting the AC off at night and turning it back on every morning?


Title: Trying to sue a company that sold public school information, and the company contract stated that the information need to be erased and eliminated.

Question:
I used to work for a company, lets call it CompanyRed. Now CompanyRed is a recycling company. When I worked for them, they were getting computers by a public school system to be recycled. And the contract stated that all information on the Hard Drives needed to be removed. Now, I was told by the company to sell the computers. Problem is, I was never told to erase the information. I was just told to sell them. As weeks went by, I probably sold 80 computers. They later asked me if I erased the information (When I say "Information" it also means software and basically a format of the hard drive) I said no. Turns out that the owner of the CompanyRed said that the contact said to remove all information. Basically I sold computers that had Software bought by the Public school system to people in the community. The owner of CompanyRed said, "I just hope they never find out or they could sue us" and laughed and left. I found one of the hard drives that has the school software and information. I'm guessing I forgot to give it to them to scrap it. Now this person also breached a contract that I had with them. I was wondering, and it might sound stupid and crazy. But if it works, it could land CompanyRed in serious water. If I was to talk with a lawyer and tell them the story, and show him the hard drive (Which has the school information inside it) and tell him "Look, I have this, which shows that the company breached the contract. Is there any way to talk with someone in the school system that might be interested in suing CompanyRed?" Could I also be getting anything if the School systems does decide to sue, and would like it for them to team up with me?

Feel free to ask me any questions. Ill be awake all night.

For for my bad English, still learning.

Answer: You want to ask the school system for a finder's fee for their lawsuit against your employer? This is not a good idea. It's fairly clever in that it just manages to not be extortion or solicitation of bribery, but still a bad idea. If you want to help out the school, do so. They're not in a position to give you a cut of their damages, it just doesn't work that way.


Title: (VA) Apartment wants me to move out now

Question:
I signed a notice to vacate and I told them I wanted to move out on the original move out date October 8th. Unfortunately I signed it a little too late so I was responsible for rent until October 23rd. I told my roommate that she didn't have to move out until then. I've already moved out because of a new job.

The apartment complex called me yesterday and said that they had someone moving in October 17th and asked why haven't I turned in my keys. My roommate isn't able to move out until the weekend and the apartment complex said that we could be responsible for the new tenant's hotel costs and stuff. Would I be legally responsible for their stuff or is the apartment complex trying to bully us into moving out? The complex never notified us of someone moving in on the 17th if that helps at all.

Answer: Inform complex you paid until 23rd ergo you have right to unit until 23rd and the 24th is when you will surrender. Inform the you have no liability to the new tenant's cost as any contract that promised delivery before the 24th would be illegal as they willingly accepted your rent unit the 23rd and you have no liability concerning any future tenants as the right to become a holdover tenant is codified at § 55-248.37 in the Code of Virgina which limits a landlord's remedies not to shift liability for future tenants only actual damages forwhich hotel costs of a 3rd party do not include.


Title: Can I be sued over an Unofficial Facebook page comment?

Question:
Hello /r/legaladvice!

First post in this subreddit looking for some help. I work for a religious organization that has never claimed the unofficial Facebook page that was generated in our organization's name, address, and phone number. It is listed as "unofficial" at the ribbon on the top. We are not very social media savvy so we never even thought to pursue such a page let alone claim the pre-exisiting one. Many members of our local community were aware of this page and posted in it frequently but our administration never got involved with it.

So on this page are a couple new posts that defame a member of our local community and there is concern over an action of libel. I does not seem to me that we could ever be held liable for anything on this page despite it existing in our name due to the "unofficial" stamp that it bears. Is it true that any such case would just be dismissed with prejudice or do we need to actually prepare for some sort of litigation?

We are taking action to assume the page as our own, clean it up and moderate it or delete it moving forward. But we need to know if we are responsible for it in some weird, shifty, lawyer kind of way.

Thanks for you help! If you can provide links to relevant legal material that I can share with our administration I would greatly appreciate it.

EDIT: Our location is Tennessee. Thanks for the reminder bot!

Answer: You may be sued for anything at anytime by anyone. I shall now read your post to determine if more should be said.


Title: (MI) Visiting MI and charged with driving on an expired MI license, but I moved to CA and have a valid CA license. Did my public defender screw me?

Question:
TL;DR: court appointed attorney had back room discussion with the prosecutor before my pretrial. Prosecutor then amended the charge from Driving on expired license to No Ops on persons (which still seemed easy to defend). Did my PD screw me?

Sorry. This is long with several phases and probably too many tangents.

Phase 1)

I moved from MI to California 8 years prior to when I was pulled over. I have a valid license that doesn't expire until my birthday the next year. I was visiting my parents in Michigan during a break (I was in university) and got pulled over in my dad's car for speeding.

I have a CA driver's license *and* I have a CA state issued ID card. I flew to MI and had my license in my backpack, in the backseat of the car I was driving. I had my state issued ID on my persons. When the officer approached I told him 'here's my ID, I'll have to grab my license from my bag behind me'. He said the ID was fine, and I assumed he'd be able to see that I have a valid license using info from my ID - especially since in CA, IDs and driver license have the SAME number.

He came back and gave me a ticket for driving on an expired (MI) license and speeding. My MI license expired like 6 years prior, and I've lived in CA with a CA license for 8 years at this point. He said they're both civil infractions, and checked the civil infraction box on the ticket for each. I should've showed him my license then, but I was very nervous and just wanted to leave. I rarely get pulled over and I was going 21 MPH above the speed limit (91 in a 70) plus I was running late to a dentist appointment (a relative is my dentist, I make an appointment everytime i'm in town). So I figured right after my appointment I will go to the court to clear up this misunderstanding.

A couple hours later, I go to the court with the ticket and my driver's license. That's when I find out that it's a misdemeanor and am told I have to go to my arraignment first, in two weeks. Or, I could just pay the fine. Well, i'm a broke college student and not pleading guilty to a misdemeanor, paying $300+ and whatever points on my license for something i'm not guilty of. I'd rather pay $300 on a flight to come back and fight this.

After some research I was able to contact the prosecutor and explained my situation. They said tell it to the judge.

Ok, but arraignment was on a Wednesday, so I requested to have it moved to a Monday or Friday since I would have to travel and miss class. Wednesday would be awfully brutal. No go. So, I no showed, graduated a year later, and then headed back to court to take care of this which now included a bench warrant for a no show.

Phase 2)

I graduated in August (had summer class requirements) I drove from CA to the MI court house. It's the friday before labor day around 4pm. I asked the clerk at the cashier window my options. She said I could go up right now. I didn't know what "go up" meant, but unfortunately, after agreeing, I found out it meant go up to see the judge. I didn't know you could just go up to see a goddam judge, I thought they had dockets and shit.

Well, I entered a courtroom *wearing shorts and a t shirt* an hour before a holiday weekend. Don't wear shorts when going in front of a judge, I even knew this. The judge didn't hear a word from me, she just wanted me to pay cash bond right then. I didn't have cash, so I was thrown in county jail.

Rode in the paddy wagon to every district courthouse picking up criminals first. Then when we got to county jail, I was immediately called out as "the bitch" upon arrival. I protested "I-I-i'm not the bitch" to which the guard told me to shut up. I was Fucking Pissed Off at this point and I said 'you shut up'. Four cops jump me then drag me to a solo cell. Luckily I got bonded out later that day.

Phase 3)

I have my arraignment for the initial charge. I pled not guilty and I ask for a court appointed attorney. The judge even said, I quote, "he's a good attorney" when we were given my "counsels" name. (Seems unethical for the judge to endorse, but whatever)

He was terrible and lazy. I talked to him briefly on the phone two times before my court date. I summed up my evidence to him,  thinking this is an open and shut case. **Charge**: expired license. **Defense**: here's my license that has been valid for the past 8 years.

I got to court at 8:00am for my pretrial scheduled for 8:30. He showed at 11:30. I'm panicked and upset at this point. And the first thing he says is, "my assistant asked you to call me and you never called me". Uh, are you for real? We've had 2 conversations already. And he obviously isn't prepared.

I've also showed my license to anyone that'll look at this point. And now, it expired 2 months ago. I hand it to my lawyer who scoffs, 'but this is expired'. No shit! We talked about this already! It's still evidence, check the dates. This also means, I have no valid physical license however, because I couldn't renew my CA license due to the charges in MI and my "MI license" is now suspended.

He told me I have a bad attitude. No shit, i'm pissed that i'm at court for this bullshit, i'm pissed my license is suspended, i'm pissed he has no idea what's going on, i'm pissed he's 3 hours late, i'm still pissed someone called me "the bitch" IN JAIL, and that cops jumped me after.

**THEN**, he goes in some room with the prosecutor. When he comes out, he says *"ok, they are going to amend the charge to No Ops on persons"* (driving without having my license on me). Still a misdemeanor. The new misdemeanor charge...

>MVC 257.311: The licensee shall have his or her operator's or chauffeur's license, or the receipt described in section 311a, in his or her immediate possession at all times when operating a motor vehicle, and shall display the same upon demand of any police officer...

I argued to my PD that it was in my immediate possession, just as much as if the judge herself carried her license in her purse. (Tough to impossible to prove though, but I was still confident. I'm a good person with no criminal history or tickets after all).

My PD advised that if I fight this, which I planned to do, the judge would put me in jail for the maximum. Then, because he obviously wasn't interested in defending me (too much work for him I guess), and he was just interested in having me plea (easy work for him), I told him he's no longer my attorney. **You're fired**

I get called in to see the judge moments later and he followed. She asked if I was coerced into a plea and I said yes. He's threatening that you will put me in jail for the maximum if I take this to trial and lose. (In my mind, there's still no way I lose, not in front of a jury)

He objected, obviously. Meanwhile, why the fuck is he even still here with me? I'm still way too nervous to think straight and my parents came for the fun too. They talked me into following my PDs advice.

Well... I ended up pleading no contest and got 100 hours community service and over $1,000 in fines.

Phase 4)

My question for r/legaladvice

Did my PD also fuck me? What did they do in that back room? Can I appeal? What's the statute of limitations to appeal?

This has me so fucked. I worked hard turning my life around and beyond all odds graduated from a top university in pre law. This ordeal literally gave me PTSD and I decided against law school after all of this and seeing what bullshit the system is.

Here's the kicker... This happened 8 years ago (and still gets me going). I was pulled over in May '09, "graduated" in August '10, jailed August '10, court was November '10. I didn't complete my community service and I carried a suspended license until 2013 at which point I found an attorney who knew the judge to help me out and I paid for some bullshit online community service letter. It's all behind me now, but I can't help but feel like if I had an attorney who carried out their obligation from the start that I wouldn't have lost so much time, money and sanity.

Of course I also carry blame. I could've paid the fine and pled guilty from the start, even if it was bullshit. Or I could've taken time off from school and gone to court to fight it before becoming a no show. Or I could've just reached into my backpack and handed over my license from the start.

The best advice is probably to move on. I mostly have, but this still haunts me and if there's is some justice that can be had for former me, I want to know - whether I'd act on it or not - before the window closes.

Answer:
 When you plead guilty, you unfortunately are bound by this unless certain conditions are met. Do some googling for conditions allowing plea withdrawal and also consult with a criminal defense attorney in Michigan.
Bright side is that if you wait a while, you may qualify for expungement.


Title: Friend Quitting School illegally. (Georgia)

Question:
I am friends with this girl who was a 7th grader last year and was supposed to enter 8th this year. She was held back a little while ago and so all us are now freshmen and she's stuck in middle school. Her parents don't care much. They don't live in a normal neighborhood, but in a house kind of deep in the woods where you wouldn't expect to see one. She just smokes pot all day and hangs out with a bad crowd. This year she says she's doing "homeschooling" online. I know for a fact her parents haven't contacted school officials or taken any official steps to be in a online program. Her cousin (15) did the same thing a while back and hasn't gone to school of any kind the past few years. I know she wont do anything. Any way of the schools or boe finding out? I hate to see someone ruin they're lives like this. Any way I can do something?

Edit; also, what repercussions would occur if the system did find out? What would happen?

Answer:
 >Any way of the schools or boe finding out?

Yeah, you tell them. Talk to your principle, a teacher, the school's counselor. They should know what to do in regards to truancy. That's all you can and should do.

Maybe call CPS? Child protective services. But the school would handle that too if they found things to be a major problem in their investigation.Answer #2: Georgia requires a notice of intent to homeschool and that parents maintain records of attendance. It also requires standardized tests every three years.
http://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-and-Assessment/Pages/Home-Schools.aspx

If they are not doing this, then they are not "homeschooling," she is truant, and you can report them.

Now, the homeschooling rules are pretty lax and education is only compulsory to age 16, so there's not a whole lot that can actually be done. But it's worth a try.


Title: My employer is pressuring me to resign. What can I do?

Question:
My employer gave me two options
1) Take 30 days to find a new job whether internally or externally. If i choose this route I will sign document from legal that after 30 days if I don’t have a new job I will have to resign.

2) Put in disciplinary action on my job expectations with both soft and hard skills. If I do not meet the standards I will then be fired.

What is my best course of action? My job is in PA, USA with big box software company. I have been a high performer for over two years but have struggled this year (entire team has) because of bad management.

Prior to this I emailed my manager requesting a lateral move because of team dynamics and how dysfunctional it was. I didn’t think they’d try and fire me over it.
Topic:
Employment Law

Answer:
 Resigning virtually always hurts your chances at unemployment. Being bad at your job doesn’t.

Legally there’s no other issue here. The decision is up to you.


Title: In Maryland, can a parking space block off part of a driveway legally?

Question:
Our landlady paints her own parking spaces onto the lot that she owns, and people in town homes on another property have to drive through her lot to get to their homes.

Recently a car parked in one of the parking spaces for the apartments was backed into by a car leaving the town homes.

The parking space happens to be about a quarter of the way into the narrow drive for the townhomes though.

Would the person backing into the car be at fault or would the parking spot location be taken into account?

http://imgur.com/a/6OAagxC

Answer:
 The person who hit the car is going to be liable, while that parking spot may not be legal, that doesn’t absolve drivers of the obligation to not hit a parked car.Answer #2: You are most always at fault when **you** hit something, especially if it wasn't moving, irrelevant if its illegal or not.

Answer #3: In addition to what others have said, I'd also consider the public safety angle: by permitting vehicular access to be blocked (or at least, causing it to narrow it to the extent that emergency service vehicles like firetrucks or ambulances cannot get through), it could constitute a violation of city ordinances. Some cities also have further laws stipulating a certain square footage of extra lot required per parking stall, to prevent unnecessary risk of collision due to tight confines, or to prevent unfair treatment of van/truck drivers over compact cars. Call up your local fire marshal or government hall to inquire about codes and enforcement. I would also imagine her insurance providers might also be *very* interested to know if she is increasing the risk of accidents that occur on the property, though I don't know how you would go about finding them.


Title: An auction house gave me a high valuation for my antique items, then after shipping- a low estimate before the auction, and then sold them for a final very low price. Any recourse?

Question:
I had in my possession 4 antique violin bows. I gave them to an auction house for antique musical instruments in the UK.

For two of my bows, one of their professionals gave me an estimate on their free valuation service for 1000-1500 £ for one and 1200-1800 £ for the other.

I shipped all four to them. Before the auction date they sent me a pre-sale notification document showing they had grouped the four bows into two lots: one with three bows containing the bow supposedly worth 1000-1500 £ with an estimate for 100-200 £ and the other lot with the 1200-1800 £ bow for 100-200 £.

The two lots sold for 30£ and 60£, respectively....

If feel cheated, anything I can do?

Answer:
 Try /r/legaladviceUK

You could speak to a solicitor if you want, but it's going to be a "highly unlikely" from me.

It'll depend on the exact wording of what you signed, but I'd be incredibly shocked if the valuations you were provided didn't contain all sorts of qualifications about how they were subject to change and don't represent what will actually be achieved at auction.

This is a slightly more extreme that normal example - but it's common for stuff like this to happen. Often the field evaluation is done by somebody with general experience but before the auction they "call in their friend who knows about violin bows" and get a more accurate estimate.

And the auction house has little to no control over what people are actually going to be prepared to bid - they should have however provided you with the option to put a reserve on the items (i.e. a minimum amount that needs to be bid or the items will be passed in)


Title: Ripped off by hotel

Question: [deleted]

Answer: You need to retype this entire post and refrain from using run-on sentences. If you're old enough to reserve a hotel room, you're old enough to communicate like an adult.Answer #2: I can honestly say I have no idea what I just read. Please clarify and state your location.


Title: Boyfriend arrested for DWI in Texas, BAC 0.15 or higher.

Question:
Hi Reddit. Longtime lurker, first time poster. I apologize in advance if this post seems a little all over the place, I'm still in shock and literally shaking because I'm so scared right now.
I just found out my boyfriend was arrested around 2:30 am for driving drunk. I think he may have ran a red light, but I'm not sure at all since I wasn't with him. He was on the phone with his roommate and mentioned running a red light, and that was the last we heard from him.
I was home studying and had a gut feeling that something was wrong, he had been drunk texting me but a coworker took his phone and assured me that he would drive him home. Obviously he didn't, I have no idea what happened to him. Anyways, I felt weird about it all so I called my boyfriend several times and finally somebody answered. I asked who it was, and the police man on the other line basically told me to stop calling, he was going to jail.
6 hours later and his dad thankfully stepped in and agreed to pay the bail of $1600.
All I know right now is that his blood alcohol content was .15 or higher. I looked up the DWI laws in Texas and saw that this is a class A misdemeanor with up to 1 year in jail.
Now I'm terrified. I've never dealt with anything like this and have no idea what to do. This is his first DWI and first arrest, I'm just scared that he could possible serve jail time.
I know I'm rambling, I'm sorry. Anyways, if anyone could give me any kind of advice, or who I could go to for advice I would really appreciate it. I live in the San Antonio area if that helps. Thank you.

Answer: He needs a good lawyer. The lawyer should be able to help him reach a plea deal, which might mean he won't serve jail time. But if he was also on the phone at the time, that would add a whole other element. Beg and borrow to get him a lawyer.


Title: I've unwillingly become the center piece of a local culture war. Is there any way I could stop this?

Question:
Hello guys, I don't really know anything about my legal options and don't have any money for a lawyer and a friend suggested this place. Please assume I don't know anything about the law because I probably don't

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Anyways, here's my situation. I go to a very small liberal arts college in California. You probably have not heard of it. Anyways, I'm single and I found a cute girl on Tinder. We talked for a bit and decided to meet up.

When we did it was not what I was expecting. All her photos were skinny but when she came in she was very obese and followed by her friend who for whatever reason was recording her. I asked if she was the girl I met on Tinder and she said yes. I told her she wasnt as skinny as her photos and she said they were from 2-3 years ago when she was skinny. I told her that I wasn't really interested anymore and she started making a scene asking why I really didn't want to date her. I told her that it was because she catfished me but she insisted it was really because she was fat and kept pressing it. So then I turned to her and basically said yes, I do not want to date you because you're fat and if your Tinder was accurate I never would have swiped right. I then turned towards the door and left as she continued to call me "fatphobic" and a bigot. She didn't follow me out the door if that's relevant

Anyways when I woke up the next day I had a bunch of notifications on social media and a bunch of texts. As it turns out her friend was making a video of me and they posted the video to Facebook as an example of the "Rampant Fatphobia on Campus". The comment section was a shitshow of people both defending and attacking me for various reasons and everyone tagging me. People were flooding my social media with support for my actions or hate.

I was even stopped on campus multiple times as I was recognized and people gave me an earful about what they thought about the situation. Either how I was a "fatphobic pig", how i did a "good job triggering the Libs" or how "you can have dating preferences but leaving a date like that is rude". This wasn't a huge issue mind you as I only got stopped 5-6 times that day, but meh

I was hopeful that it would die down and people would forget about it, but it got worse. Apparently someone in some English class gave some speech about "PC culture ruining campus" which conveniently used me as an example and revived the whole debate about it me. It's gotten even worse instead of better, as a local newspaper as well as some smaller right and left wing news sites/blogs have picked up on it. Thankfully I'm not on Breitbart or Jezebel yet, but I'm terrified, the situation isn't blowing over, it's intensifying. People in fairly small town \*outside\* the college have started to recognize me, the video she posted has a ton of views and someone reposted it to YouTube where it has less views but still a lot. I'm terrified that aforementioned Breitbart or Jezebel \*will\* pick up on it

&#x200B;

The thing is I don't want to be a center of some sort of culture war. I don't want to be remembered as the guy who rejected some fat girl. I don't want to have my social media flooded with mentions on if what I did was justified. I don't want news articles about me. I just want the nice private life I had before all this

&#x200B;

 And it's about here that I should mention that I have a fairly specific name. My parents are from two very different nonwhite cultures, and I have a first name from one culture and a last name from the other. If you Google my name the blogspam commenting on the situation already comes up, I'm absolutely \*terrified\* on how this will reflect on me for future employers who do a google search.

&#x200B;

Basically I want to scrub everything about this incident, or at least as much as I can. How much could I do? Do I have any recourse against the videos and blogs or am I screwed?

Answer:
 There's not much you can do about this from a legal perspective, although you could reach out to the publications in question and ask if they'd be willing to amend or remove the articles, or allow you to publish a response, if you feel that engaging with this is somehow likely to bring _less_ rather than _more_ attention.

As described, I would say that what's happening is _unfair_, but ascribing bigotry to you is a matter of opinion and thus protected under the first amendment.


Title: [New Jersey] Immigration question.

Question:
I know of someone who has an undocumented immigrant not only working for them, but forced to live, yes LIVE inside his warehouse. There is no shower, he locks him inside at night and all he has is a toilet and a microwave for when he is allowed out to buy food.
If I call immigration, I’m sure he’d have a better quality of life in his country. Can I actually call and have him helped out?
Would the man ‘housing’ him get in trouble?

Answer:
 This is human trafficking, and the victim is eligible for protection here.

Call this hotline to report, they'll find a way to get the correct authorities involved without putting the victim at risk.

https://humantraffickinghotline.org/report-trafficking


Title: [VA-Fairfax] My son's ex girlfriend/baby mama is in possession of all my son's belongings and is lying to the court about it.

Question: He has asked two attorneys, asked the police and told everyone that she has taken all of belongings worth collectively ~$2000. She claims that she left everything at the apartment they shared yet the apartment complex said nothing was left behind. We tried to arrange to pick up the belongings before she moved and since there is a no contact order. I sent a text message with his name in it and he was arrested claiming it was a third party contact on his behalf. This was later dismissed but he is still left with none of his belongings. Each attorney has told us to speak with someone else and told us it would probably be a civil suit and passed our problem along. What possible options legal recourse do we have or that you would recommend?

Answer: At this point it is a civil suit so take her to small claims court


Title: Reddit, If someone comes to my house asking for water, is it illegal to deny them?

Question:
Me and a buddy were having a hiking conversation. We both have been in situations, while hiking, when we ran out of water and thought about going to someones house and asking for water. Although we never have done that, would it be illegal for someone to deny us water?

We live in California.

Answer: No, random people are not required to give you water from their home.


Title: [NZL] Is it possible to write a will so I have no funeral? Or if I do, no family or friends can attend?

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 I'm going to call a spade a spade. You are contemplating suicide. Don't do it. It is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

r/suicidewatch as a sub Reddit where you can talk about these sorts of things. [Here](http://www.suicide.org/hotlines/international/new-zealand-suicide-hotlines.html) are phone resources for suicide hotlines in New Zealand. Take care of yourself. Good luck.Answer #2: You can stipulate that no part of your estate be spent on funeral services, or what exactly happens with your body.

You can't stop people from having a funeral for you that your dead body isn't present for.


Title: How does sovereign citizenship work?

Question: USA

Answer:
 It doesn't. Answer #2: It doesn't. There is no legal basis for their beliefs.

Edit: oh sweet lord. Figures.

https://np.reddit.com/r/Advice/comments/4j4ppv/how_do_you_stop_sniffing_your_fingers_when_you/Answer #3: First, you make up a bunch of convincing-sounding nonsense.

Then, you find a likely-looking bunch of suckers to hawk it to.

Finally, you get the hell out of town before your "customers" realize they've been had, and nothing you told them is true.Answer #4: Badly.


Title: Ran from police. Am I in trouble?

Question:
First off, what happened. The reasons are not really relevant, but I will describe the circumstances as the police saw them. I am a 19 year old girl. I was walking beside a highway at about 0430 hours just before dawn. There were very few cars. It was raining and I had my hoodie up. I took off my shoes and carried them, I was also carrying a plastic bag.

The police car drove towards me. I was a bit away from the side of the road on the other side of the barrier so I kept walking. They said: "Miss? Are you all right?" I said "Oh yeah, I'm fine. Thanks." and I tried to keep walking. Then they said "Will you come over here please?" so I went to the police car. I left my plastic bag by the roadside. The police asked "What's in that bag?" I said "Food" and they checked. It had food in it. I had had some weed in the bag before but I tossed it.

Then they started asking questions about who I was and what I was doing. I said I was [fake name] and I was going to catch a bus. They asked me to get in the car so they could drive me into town. I said I would rather walk, thanks. One of them wanted to know where I had come from. I said "Am I being detained?" They didn't really answer. Then they said they wanted to see my ID. I had a fake ID but it had the wrong name not the one I had given them. I said "Am I being detained?" again and they still didn't answer. They asked me if I had been drinking. I said no.

I got scared then and made a poor choice. I ran away and ducked under the guard rail and ran into the woods. They tried to chase me but I was faster. I walked the long way around and it took about 3 hours to get into town. They still have my bag of food and my shoes. I don't know if they got a good look at my face. Do you think they could find me? And if they do find me, can I be arrested, and on what charges? Is running from the police a crime even if you were not being detained at the time?

I am in Florida.

Answer:
 >I am in Florida.

Of course you are.Answer #2: > Is running from the police a crime even if you were not being detained at the time?

You were being detained.  They don't have to answer your question in the affirmative for that to be true.  Answer #3: Man, I bet cops hate the "Am I being detained" YouTube crap. From what I've read in the LEO subs and forums that is a good way to be detained or ticketed. Answer #4: OP's Lawyer: "Am I being retained"Answer #5: While you were running did they say "stop" or anything similar while they chased you?


Title: Dad doesn't want to be involved with son

Question:
I got pregnant with a child by a man who had been recently divorced. I think he did it just to upset her and it worked because as soon as she found out she wanted to get back with him. Now they are back together and he wants nothing to do with him (my son). He will be 8 months old next week and he has seen him twice. I want to take him to court but I don't know how.
Indiana/ USA

Answer: Ideally, get a lawyer. You can't compel him to be involved if he doesn't want to be, but you _can_ [compel him to provide financial support](http://www.in.gov/dcs/2483.htm) for his child. He may realize he wants to be more involved once he realizes he's not going to be able to just walk away,.


Title: Can I legally become the "godparent" of a cat? (WA)

Question:
Half serious, half joking.

My girlfriend and I have a very close friend with a cat that we all adore. The cat is very cute, if that's relevant to the story. Our friend has proclaimed us the cat's godparents, and we take care of the cat when she's out of town. Her birthday is coming up, and we think the perfect gift for our friend would be some kind of contract stating that we could continue to raise Czarina Elisabetta Von Stoutpaws in the manner she has been accustomed to in the event our friend was not able to care for her cat. Everyone involved here is financially secure, in good health, and living somewhere a cat could live, so it's more a gesture of friendship and affection than a necessity.

How would we do this? I feel like a notary has to be involved somehow, but I'm not sure how to even start.

(yes, everyone involved in this is a lesbian. the gay ladies really do love their cats)
Topic:
Wills Trusts and Estates

Answer:
 >we think the perfect gift for our friend would be some kind of contract stating that we could continue to raise Czarina Elisabetta Von Stoutpaws in the manner she has been accustomed to in the event our friend was not able to care for her cat

This contract is called a "will."

The will would bequeath the cat, which is property, to you.Answer #2: A godparent is responsible to ensure proper religious instruction, I suppose there is no law against it, but I am curious, how do you plan to teach a cat about Jesus?


Title: How to proceed after being served with child support

Question:
Hello reddit. Texas resident. I was served last Wednesday with child support. I honestly have no clue as to how to proceed.

The child is almost two years old now. The child was conceived in a one night stand. We agreed, while she was pregnant,  to no visitation no support. I've never met the kid and haven't spoken to the mother since the agreement. Now I've been served and am not sure what my next move should be.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Will be more than happy to answer any questions or any requests for more details.

Answer:
 You write a check.

Your agreement is worth nothing. The child is entitled to support.


Title: [ALBERTA] If my boyfriend spends money on my dog, can he claim that he owns it?

Question: [deleted]

Answer: No, buying gifts for the dog (or for you) does not give him ownership. He *could* try to make that claim, and it might even cause you some trouble if you were lacking in proper documentation. However, if you have a purchase agreement with your name on it, that will trump everything and keep you in the clear.


Title: Payed my rent 1 day late and got a door knob lock on my door, its been 3 days and management isn't cooperating do i have any recourse? [Houston, TX]

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 This is a specific Texas thing, but there are some procedures they must follow in order to lock you out.  You can read more [here](http://www.housing-rights.org/lockout.html).  It sounds like they didn't follow proper procedure of letting you know five days before hand and then providing you with a new key within 2 hours of requesting it.

If you are still locked out your immediate recourse is to go to the justice of the peace court and "request an order called a writ of reentry."

Your next steps are outlined below as well:

>f a landlord doesn’t follow the lawful procedure for changing a tenant’s door locks — either by not giving advance notice or not giving the tenant a new key when requested — the tenant has several options. The tenant may:

    Recover possession of the premises or terminate the lease contract; and
    Recover from the landlord a civil penalty of one month’s rent plus $1,000, actual damages, court costs, and reasonable attorney’s fees in an action to recover property damages, actual expenses, or civil penalties, less any delinquent rent or other sums for which the tenant is liable to the landlord.

If a landlord locks out a tenant and will not give the tenant a key unless the tenant pays delinquent rent, a tenant may recover an additional civil penalty of one month’s rent from the landlord in a court action.


Title: Can I ship marijuana within state lines of states that have legal recreational use?

Question: Title.

Answer: Do you plan on doing this in a country where marijuana is illegal?


Title: Got handcuffed for telling a cop he couldn't search my backpack

Question:
So I was an idiot and was having a beer in a park in Chicago with my boyfriend to celebrate his birthday after our long days at work...

Anyway, two bike cops approached us. We had already put the beer cans in a grocery bag. We were sitting on a bench. He asked us for our IDs, we gave them to him, since he told us he saw us drinking the beers.

Anyway, he reached for my backpack, and I told him I was consenting to a search, and that he couldn't go through my stuff. Then, he handcuffed me and my boyfriend, and went through ALL of our stuff. Didn't find anything, but still. Then threatened to take us to jail, etc. We ended up walking away with tickets and fines to pay... but he never read me my friends, never answered my question when I asked if we were detained, and searched all of my shit after I said he couldn't... is there any way I can get off this ticket? Or should I just pay it and let crooked cops win?

Answer:
 > Got handcuffed for ~~telling a cop he couldn't search my backpack~~ **drinking a beer in a public park**

FTFY

You may have been handcuffed AFTER you said that, but that does not mean that the refusal is the reason you were handcuffed.

If he saw you with an open container in a prohibited place, that almost certainly gave him probable cause to search you and your effects.

I don't see anything in your post which would provide for any defense to the charge.

If you feel the officers treated you poorly, then you may feel free to file a complaint against them at the department.  The outcome of that complaint will have no bearing on the disposition of the charges against you, however.Answer #2: You were wearing handcuffs and you weren't sure if you were detained?  Seriously?


Title: Mom left, need advice on how to proceed

Question:
I honestly don’t know how to word this post, but I’m going to do the best that I can. I’m sorry if my story is confusing or lacking details, I’ll be happy to answer any questions in order to get the type of advice I need to help me in this situation. This is going to be a long one, so thanks for investing your time into helping me with my family drama.

So, over the weekend my mother had a total mental breakdown and decided that she was going to leave us to go live somewhere else, I’m assuming she went to go live with her aunt. She abandoned my 13 year old sister, leaving her in the hands of my father who is way to old, overworked to be a full time parent to a teenager, he also blames her for my mother leaving (which pisses me off more than you can imagine) and denies the fact that my sister has undiagnosed Autism (something I’ve been begging my parents to investigate since she was 4, but they completely neglected her mental health, my sister also believes she is Autistic). When my mother left she trashed my sister’s room, throwing garbage, dirty clothes and her belongings all over the floor (I have a pic of this as evidence), called her a “cunt” repeatedly and told my sister that she doesn’t love her and she’s not her mother anymore. My sister is an IVF baby who was conceived using a donor egg, so she’s very sensitive about our mother not being her bio-mom. My mother hasn’t been gone for long and I do think she will come back, but even if she does she has proven over and over again to be an unfit parent to my sister. My mother is chronically ill, she has idiopathic arthritis, Crohn's disease and a diagnosed mental illness that she will not disclose to us. She is on all kinds of medications; pain killers, anti anxiety meds, most of her medicines are controlled substances and she smokes a hell of a lot of weed. She is suicidal, angry and violent when angry, she’s never hit us, but she threatens it, throws things at us and uses derogatory slurs to describe her children. My dad is not much better, he’s a baby bomer who believes in the “old way” of life, doesn’t believe in mental illnesses and will not pursue treatment for my sister. He is also on a ton of medication for pain and he has diabetes, like my mom he smokes a crap ton of weed and on his days off all he does is sleep, I believe he has depression, but doesn’t believe in it. My sister has been experiencing some extreme school refusal, it’s a fight every morning to get her out of the house, which results in my father threatening her with violence to get her out of the house. My sister says she has told the school psychologist what’s been going on in the house, but I’m not really sure if that’s true. My sister is a pathological liar and I only believe what I see with her, everything that I’ve reported in this post are things I’ve seen and heard with my own two eyes and ears.

My question is, how do I help my sister, keep her safe and get her the mental health treatment that she desperately needs? I am 21 and have a family of my own, my fiance and I live with my parents, he works a part time job and I am in school. We both have history of mental illness, but we’ve both been through treatment and therapy, we have a much better grip on things than my parents do. I personally want custody of my sister, but I don’t think that’s going to be possible because on paper my parents look like “good” parents. Our extended family is not going to help me with my sister because they’re either on my mom’s side or my dad’s, no one besides my fiance and I is on my sister’s side and I believe she is the true victim here. I wouldn’t even know how to get her out of this house because my fiance and I cannot afford to live on our own, even if my parents pay me child support for my sister. The only idea I’ve had is to call my mother’s therapist and ask him wtf he’s been doing with her for five years. Since she’s been in therapy we have ALL noticed a steady decline on how she behaves and reacts, my mother is completely out of it and needs to be hospitalized in my opinion, but I’m not sure if calling him will do anything. Reddit what do I do? How do I protect my sister? This has been so incredibly stressful and I need to protect her from further trauma at the hands of my parents. I truly don’t think my parents are bad parents, I think they’re unfit parents who can’t handle it anymore, I can handle it and I’m more than willing to step up for my sister, but I don’t know how. I would love to get her into therapy, it’s been a dream of mine for her to have her own therapist that she can talk to, I need to make that happen, but if I don’t have custody of her can I even make that happen? Please don't recommend that I call child's services on my parents, I'm not going to do that because I don't want to traumatize my sister further by having her end up in foster care. I know our extended family will not take her and she's just going to end up in the system, I believe in this case calling them would be doing more harm than good. My sister is safe. Myself and my fiancé are here, we feed her, make sure she's getting what she needs and we spend time with her. Uprooting her life and putting her in a strange environment wouldn't be helpful to her or her mental health.  Any advice is wanted, we live in New York if that helps. Thank you for your time.
Topic:
Custody Divorce and Family

Answer:
 I think your first call should be to CPS.  They will be engaged with the resources to help your family.

This is obviously very complicated, and there's lots of work to do, but CPS is comprised of professionals whose profession is helping families connect with resources to see to the care of children.


Title: Are we in danger of any legal repercussions? Son bit people at in-school care

Question:
Location: Indiana

My oldest son (almost 11) has high functioning autism and ADHD. He has an IEP and generally does well in school. Our school district has a contracted company that offers before and after school care, as well as all day care during school breaks.

As you may imagine, he has issues with regulating his emotions and behaviors. His actual teachers and classmates are familiar with him and his issues, and while he occasionally has outbursts they are typically mild. After school and on breaks ... that's another matter.

He has been sent home early and suspended during breaks due to his outbursts and behaviors. Usually he targets his younger brother. Today, new went apeshit and bit two kids (drawing blood once) and slapped a couple of others.

He has been "indefinitely suspended" from the program, but we're worried about the potential after effects of his physical assaults on the other kids. Would they have a legal leg to stand on regarding requesting reimbursements for medical bills or anything else? Thanks.

(Yes, we are looking in to getting him therapy.)

Answer: Of course they would.  He assaulted them and if the kids have real medical damages, they could pursue reimbursement.


Title: [FL] Left a Google Review because realtor screamed at me over phone. He just went to my place of employment

Question:
A month ago, a realtor screamed at me over the phone. I left a 1 star google review explaining my experience. A coworker of his went my job, accusing me of making a fake website, but it was really just the Google Places review search engine results page.

I feel threatened and harassed. I want to cover my ass, should I contact an attorney?

Answer:
 Licensed real estate brokers/agents/realtors/etc are

1) Tightly regulated

2)  Almost universally retarded

Report them Answer #2: As a Realtor myself I'd like to apologize for their actions. There are just some crazy people out there.

You can always file a complaint with the Department of Business & Professional Regulation, or a state commission (in Florida we have the FREC)

I hope everything gets resolved and your plans to buy / sell your home go smoothly from here on out! Answer #3: Contact the real estate licensing board. They will not be impressed. They could easily lose their licence over crap like this.Answer #4: I can say from owning a business for 8 years if you ever have a client or customer do somthing like this the best way to handle it is CALL AND APOLOGIZE.
99.99% of the time this stuff can be resolved if you just TALK to the customer and try to honestly set it right.


Title: [Florida] Can I legally “disown” a parent?

Question:
I’m 20 years old, I live with my mom and dad in our house in Florida.
My mom and I have never gotten along and I’ve gone “no contact” with her about 3 years ago.
She and I do not speak at all and I ignore her when I see her around the house.
To cut a long story short: she’s extremely emotionally abusive and toxic.

There are a few reasons why I’ve wanted to look into legally “disowning” her (I’m not sure the right word for it so I’m just calling it disowning).

My financial aid considers her to be a parent and I have to provide a nonfilers verification letter every year for my school.
This is because for financial aid you have to include your parent’s tax information up until your 25, even if you don’t live with them, unless you’re married or some other stuff I wouldn’t qualify for like military or homelessness.
This is very difficult because I don’t speak to her and I have to break that no contact to retrieve her tax info.
She doesn’t work and lives on disability payments for her anxiety.

I’d like to get some legal way to say she’s not my parent and I don’t have any association or benefit from having to live with her.
My dad does not speak to her often either, but cannot kick her out because her name is on the mortgage and he’s unsure of the legal action he has to take to be able to kick her out (she hasn’t paid anything in years, she spends her disability checks on alcohol and cigarettes and lives here for free).

I’m basically waiting until I’m out of school to move out, and I just keep to myself in my room the majority of the time.
I haven’t considered her to be a mom way before I cut contact with her, and the fact that she has a legal title as my mother disgusts me.
I really would like any sort of information on ways I can legally cut her out of my life while I’m still forced to live under the same roof as her.

Answer: Not in this circumstance. Also unless you are paying market rent for your accommodations then you actually do get a benefit from living with your parents.


Title: Friend wants to send mail to my address

Question:
I was wondering what sort of problems there is, as a person that I have know for 2 years what to send iPhone up to 10 to my address and i give them to him at uni (no drugs as far as i am aware).  i was wondering what problems there is. Or laws i could potentially break

Edit: I have chosen to stay away from this thank you for all the help.

Answer: That sounds like you would be the perfect fall guy for the credit card fraud your buddy is probably doing.


Title: Found $2000 dollars in a trumpet case. So...do I get to keep it?

Question:
My boyfriend works at a hotel in northern California. It's by the beach, so as you can imagine, it’s busy year-round. He's had to deal with people leaving personal possessions in rooms enough times, but this situation was super bizarre and has left us both feeling a little crazy.

I’ll keep it as short and simple as I possibly can. About 6 months ago, some heroin addict who claimed to do studio work for Steely Dan stayed at my boyfriend’s work. He left his trumpet (in its case) out in front of the hotel for days, and luckily nobody stole it. But, unfortunately for him, he left it and never called or came back to claim it. He gave my boyfriend an address that doesn’t exist and his phone had been disconnected. So, since we can’t really call Donald Fagen for advice, away it went to abandoned possessions limbo.

Fast forward to present day, about 2 weeks ago. My boyfriend fancies himself a brass man, so he decided to ask his manager if he could take the trumpet home. I mean, it’d been sitting there collecting dust for 6 months. This guy was never coming back for it. His manager ok’d it, since apparently they are only legally required to keep abandoned items for a month? Not sure how legitimate that is. Anyway, he takes it home and checks it out. Trumpet is cool, everything’s good (except my ears) and then he sees a rogue $20 dollar bill sticking out from underneath the lining of the case. He lifts it and $2000 dollars’ worth of $20 dollar bills fall out.

What the fuck just happened?

We were cracking up initially. It seemed completely ridiculous. And then the anxiety settled in. Are we going to get in trouble for having this now? We tried to contact him, but couldn’t reach him. We even ended up finding a branch manager’s business card and calling that number. The branch manager had retired since then, so we had one of the tellers look up his phone number (since we still had his name, and it wasn’t a common one) and leave a message for him. She left a message, we left her our phone number, but we haven’t heard back from her since.

I am at a complete loss. We are both living paycheck to paycheck and this kind of thing seems like a blessing, but we also don’t want to be assholes or get ourselves into big trouble. Is there any way we can keep this kind of thing, or do all roads lead to trouble if we try to keep it?

This is probably the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to me and I have no idea what we’re supposed to do.

Topic:
Other Civil Matters

Answer:
 If you want to stay within the law, [California law requires](http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=civ&group=02001-03000&file=2080-2080.10) that you turn lost property worth over $100 over to the police. If it's not claimed within 90 days, they will publish a notice in a newspaper; if they don't hear from the owner within another week, then it's yours free and clear. I'm pretty sure you'll have to claim the value of the find as income on your taxes.

There may be local laws that modify this statewide one.

(BTW, the stuff in this law about public auctions only applies if "the property was found in the course of employment by an employee of any public agency".)Answer #2: Consequently, I actually just lost $2000 dollars in a trumpet case that I was carrying for a jazz job. Please send me the money. Contact me for details. Legally you are required.Answer #3: > About 6 months ago, some heroin addict who claimed to do studio work for Steely Dan stayed at my boyfriend’s work. He left his trumpet (in its case)

From another post:

> If you want to stay within the law, California law requires that you turn lost property worth over $100 over to the police

The money will be seized if you turn it in, 'drug money'.Answer #4: IANAL, also not legal advice. Just keep it. If nobody has claimed it in HALF A YEAR, most likely they won't at a later date.


Title: What legal action could my landlord's attorney take for my "illegal subletting" even though I took care of it ASAP and am no longer violating the terms? More information posted here...

Question: NYC- I live in NYC and put a link on AIRBNB but never actually used airbnb. I ended up having a good friend stay with me for several weeks because they needed a place. It was still my permanent residence (clothes & all my stuff there and i got my mail) but I didn't sleep there a lot- staying at my boyfriends nearby often so my friend had privacy. The landlord's attorney is now accusing me of illegally subletting b/c they saw the AIRBNB link even though I didn't use it. Aren't I allowed to have a friend stay in my apartment without asking their permission? I don't have to be in the apartment every week right? They sent me a Notice To Cure via certified mail and I then answered their notice to cure that same day via certified mail as my friend was gone by then. I assumed this was over as I cured the situation completely. But now, several weeks later, their attorney is charging me $1000 in legal fees which is 50% of monthly rent. It seems excessive. Just having an AIRBNB listing doesn't prove I was subletting right? I did consult a tenant lawyer specialist and she said I do not owe any legal fees and they have no legal basis to proceed against me nor do they have a legal basis to collect legal fees. I would like to know if I respond to their lawyer saying this… "I will not pay as I cured the situation completely via certified mail. Your client has no legal basis to proceed against me." will they retaliate? It is my understanding that once a Notice To Cure has been answered and taken care of (they said she needed to be out by July 20th and she was already out by July 3rd)...Can they serve me a notice to terminate the lease? The lawyer said that they can't because I took care of the notice to cure. But the landlord's attorney seems to be trying to intimidate me saying "pay this legal fee and let's resolve this without further legal action." BUT, is there further legal action he can take? Another attorney friend said to just say "I was not illegally subletting. Here's $200 for the time and trouble and so we can both move on." But I have a feeling they won't accept that and will come back with $700 or stick to the $1000 at which point I can't then say, "Well actually, you have no legal right to proceed against me as I completely cured this situation." Even if the lease says I have to pay a fee for a notice to cure, it doesn't stipulate an amount and $1000 is excessive. Even in the lawyers email, he wrote "Legal fees amounting to $750 which I think is fair." Uhm, that's great YOU think that is fair, it is NOT FAIR. I also found out that management had contacted my neighbor who I am friends with in real life (we hang out, etc) to ask if she had seen me over the last few weeks. It seems like they were investigating and my friend told me this about a month later (I know, I know, why didn't she tell me asap when it happened…who knows. Maybe she threw me under the bus. Maybe she thought nothing of it). But when I asked management they said they only contacted her ONCE because they didn't have my number or email on file which is total bullshit. They absolutely have my email as I emailed them a bunch of times when moving into the apartment and when I needed them to fix things etc. So my final question is… I want to stick up for myself and not pay this egregious fee. The tenant lawyer said that when they suspect illegal subletting, they HAVE to send a Notice To Cure first and only if it is not taken care of can they proceed to evict or further legal action. Since I totally took care of it that day, my friend was out of the apartment that day, and I sent the response as certified mail saying "Friend is out. Situation is cured."… They have no legal basis to proceed against me. He also mentioned in the email he wants me to sign something saying that if I illegally sublet again, they can terminate the lease without sending a notice to cure. I am cool with that. I obviously will not sublet again unless I get written permission from them. BUT I won't pay this ridiculous legal fee of $1000. Seems like a shakedown. What are your thoughts? Lawyers appreciated or anyone with this specific experience. Thanks!

Answer: [Link to prior thread with multiple replies](https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/3hs9xq/i_had_an_airbnb_listing_for_my_rent_stabilized/)


Title: Should I report my pregnancy to my job?

Question:
I recently found out I'm pregnant. And I've decided to try to have the baby. I say try cause I'm a high miscarriage risk. But here's where I'm considered. I live in an at will state. Meaning I can be let go at any time for any reason and they don't have to tell me. And I really like my job despite my shitty coworkers. But I'm on a probationary period before I got full time at it. So I'm worried about telling them I'm pregnant because they might just let me go. So advice please and any info on if I can protect my job?
Topic:
Employment Law

Answer: If the pregnancy proceeds you will need to eventually tell them, but you should wait until after your first trimester. Unless you have complications which may affect your attendance, then you should tell your boss and HR.


Title: (IL) Lady driving a dealership car hit my car while my roommate driving

Question:
I travel a lot for work, so my car hadn't been getting the run time to keep the battery alive. I was going to be gone for 2 weeks straight so I asked my roommate to drive it home if went at any point. While home, he was hit by a lady driving a loaner car from a dealership. The cops came and gave her a ticket. She drove home but my car had to be towed. I spent the next week working with her insurance to file a claim - after a bunch of calls we finally figured out that the dealership no longer has a policy with that company. This happened the Wednesday before Thanksgiving by the way.

I got the contact info for a guy at the dealership and asked him for the insurance info. I asked him twice via email and still have not received the insurance company name or policy number. At this point my car is about to be released from the auto body shop and I'm going to have to pay $500 deductible. This was in no way my or my roommate's fault as the lady improperly switched lanes.

My insurance company knows that this is the case but they said the longer it takes to track all this down, the less likely I am to get my deductible back (ignoring the massive amount I've spent on cabs/ubers because I don't have a car).

So my question is should I just go straight to a lawyer? They failed to provide the current insurance info on the police report or afterwards. How can I go about getting this info when they have basically ignored my requests up until now.

Answer: Funny, I asked the question about who would be responsible in an accident when I was in the process of buying my car a few months back. The person driving the vehicle is responsible, which is probably why the dealership is not responding. It's the woman's insurance you should be contacting.


Title: Mother's been told she signed her name wrong?

Question:
Because of the explanation, by a school official, of "your name is hyphenated on your ID, you need to sign the form with your hyphenated last name as well". My mother has been signing her name the way she's been signing it for 50 years!! I never heard of this outrage in my life. I need legal advice because I never heard of this! This school has been breaking my balls for the past 3 months with tiny little errors. I don't believe they want me to go there. She is my legal guardian by the way.

I am from the United States, the state of Pennsylvania.

Answer:
 A signature is any mark she wishes to make to signify her acceptance or approval.  She could draw a happy face if that is her 'mark'.

Many people use a different signature than their legal name, signing "Jack Kennedy" is legally no different than "John F Kennedy".

Edit:  Just wanted to add - Is this the hill you want to die on?  Get her to sign the document, as they would like, and move on.Answer #2: You haven't explained what the actual issue is.  Can she simply go sign the document again?


Title: Boss promised promotion but is blaming the Dept. of Labor for not being able to?

Question:
My employer promoted me and promised a title change from coordinator to manager. He's been delaying the actual title change first stating it needed to be run by the partners of the company and then blaming the department of labor for some "legal issues" changing my title. He did not say what those are. The only thing I can see that would be a problem would be my status of being a non-exempt employee. But, from what I'm reading, the law doesn't require a change in employee classification just because a new title and roles are given. It was made clear that I would stay a non-exempt employee when he suggested the title change to manager.

Is there a law or legal risk promoting me to a manager but keeping me non-exempt? Am I missing something here? Or does he just not want to give me a title change?

Answer: The department of labors new rules regarding employee overtime and exemption status just came into effect last week. They're likely having to go through legal just to double check it's okay.


Title: Is r/legaladvice not a prime place for law enforment to look?

Question:
Hello r/legaladvice! This is just a general question, but I will put my location in anyways. (Nevada)

In the last few days there have been quite a few posts about people claiming to accidentally have seen child pornography online. I then thought to myself, why doesn't law enforcement just hang out on this sub, and practically just look at people admitting stuff here? If there was an offence committed, police could just look at the Ip address of the poster, and boom, enough evidence for an arrest.

Just a thought.

Cheers

Answer:
 Ultimately the reason this does not happen is simply that it would be a poor allocation of resources. Of all the posts on here, most are civil, and the criminal ones are already being investigated. A tiny fraction are from people who have committed true crimes that are worthy of investigation and not already on police radar (most of which are hit-and-runs). Of those, I doubt any one jurisdiction has more than maybe a few per year that show up here.

The effort it would take to have a process in place to intake cases from Reddit would be way greater than the return on that effort. Police typically have no shortage of cases to work and if they want more they can find them locally from credible sources and tips without having to dig through Reddit posts for posts that may or may not be real, and may or may not be from within their jurisdiction.


Title: [Texas] Can we be sued for defamation of character?

Question:
[deleted]
Topic:
Criminal Law

Answer: If you told the truth then no a defamation case would likely not be successful.


Title: Creepy man, can I do anything?

Question: So this morning a man knocked on my door. This is somewhat normal but by the time I got to the door he was already walking away. I’d like to note I am a 14 year-old, 5’1” girl. I am small. Anyway this man smiles at me and says good morning. He then walks away. I overheard my dad telling my mom that he saw that same man standing on the other side of the street watching my house the other day. Creepy. This morning my mom ALSO discovered that he tied a ribbon to her car. He also left a towel on our porch. We don’t know this man at all. I don’t know his name nor his address. There is a police officer who lives 2 houses down and we have a lawyer next door. Is there any legal action I can take or do I have to wait until he acts? Ik I’m overreacting but it’s really scary. Thanks. -Madi

Answer:
 While this certainly seems creepy, I don't think there's anything that's necessarily illegal going on.  If he starts knocking on your door more regularly, or leaving other gifts, despite your family's insistence that he not, perhaps this would be grounds for some sort of harassment complaint to the police.

In the meantime, it would not hurt to \*unofficially\* speak to your police officer neighbor about this.  Although there is likely nothing they would be able to do in an official capacity, they would be able to keep their eyes open.


Title: [UPDATE][VA] Had a psychotic break and punched someone out...

Question:
Original thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/3mn3dc/va_had_a_psychotic_episode_and_punched_someone/

Firstly I just want to express my gratitude for all the advice I was given. You guys really helped me to put things in perspective and not do anything rash out of fear / ignorance about what would happen.

So I ended up returning my friend's calls, and after I gave him my side of the story, he told me this MLM group was extremely furious with the guy who restrained me. Apparently he was supposed to discourage people from leaving but if someone was insistent, he was required to let them go. The guy who I hit wanted to press charges of course, but apparently their lawyers talked him out of it.

Finally they have been wanting my friend to get in contact with me so I can sign some kind of agreement agreeing not to talk about this in return for them releasing me from any liability. I haven't decided whether or not I'm going to do this since I'm not sure these kind of agreements apply to criminal charges. Plus it sounds like they've already decided it's not in their best interests to get the justice system involved. Plus I don't ever want to deal with any of them again.

All in all it worked out pretty well.

Answer:
 I wouldn't sign a damn thing admitting you did it...Answer #2: > I haven't decided whether or not I'm going to do this since I'm not sure these kind of agreements apply to criminal charges.

They don't.  They can agree not to report it on their own, but only a prosecutor or judge can give you immunity from criminal actions.  Additionally, they **cannot** promise not to testify to your actions in court.

So if the guy you hit chooses to report it, no agreement will prevent you being charged, and no agreement will prevent the company from cooperating with the police or giving testimony.

Answer #3: I'm not a lawyer but I wouldn't sign a thing. I agree with you, you shouldn't ever go around these people again.

Thanks for the update. I found this one very interesting. Sorry you had to go through this.Answer #4: Don't sign anything, don't meet with anyone, and don't discuss this with anyone who isn't your lawyer. Unless the police come knocking on your door I would just forget this ever happened.Answer #5: You punched out a pyramid scheme bouncer, the only thing you should sign is your lifetime achievement award.Answer #6: Don't sign anything at all. Just go ahead and never talk to this friend (as long as he's involved in this cult) or anyone involved in this ever again. Answer #7: Yeah. Don't sign anything. Answer #8: DON'T SIGN IT!


Title: Chicken/egg Situation with renters in now home purchase

Question:
I'm in the process of buying a house, in Wisconsin, we've agreed to close on April 28th.  I intend to owner occupy the house, currently it has renters whose lease goes through August 15th.

In order to get a loan I need to occupy within 60 days of closing, so if the tenants don't agree to terminate their lease I can't buy the house.  Our realtor talked to the rental company and got permission to contact the tenants and they're fine leaving early, but being a little cagy about demands, so that isn't great.

The main problem is that I'm not sure how to bind the tenants to whatever we agree on.  It seems like the rental company would not want to serve the tenants notice in case things fall through with the sale.  I wouldn't think we'd be able to amend the lease or serve them notice until after we've closed, but I don't think we can get the loan unless we have them committed to leave.

Any advice on how to handle this?  Particularly without sacrificing too much leverage to the tenants?

Answer: The language of the loan is important. What happens if you intend to occupy the house, but the tenants refuse to leave, and the eviction process pushes you beyond the 60 days? Is your reasonable intent to occupy sufficient, or do you need actual occupation?


Title: [CAN] Officer offered me a yes/no in regards to arresting me with a bench warrant out in my name..

Question:
Ok, basically what happened is an officer was called in to my building for a noise complaint near my apartment. He proceeded to knock on doors and ask questions, etc.

There is a bench warrant out in my name, and I knew this. So when he came to my door and got my name he ran it and found out that there are pending charges against me out there and a warrant exists in my name.

But then, the weirdest thing happened. Instead of slamming me on the ground and cuffing me, he just stood there and told me I had two options. Option one was to say 'yes' and come with him to the police station willingly. But option two was to say 'no' and he would just walk out of there. He told me to my face that he couldn't arrest me in my own home. One step out of my house and he said he could, but not right here in my home.

So I said no and they left and told me I better turn myself in or it's going to look bad when i'm eventually caught.

Can someone tell me what this is about? If I don't turn myself in will they escalate the situation and come back for me?

Answer:
 In Canada, a bench warrant alone is not sufficient to arrest someone *in their home*.  The officer must go to the court and seek a different, separate warrant specifically naming the residence address.  It's called a Feeney warrant after the case:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R_v_Feeney

The officer would be free to arrest you if they encountered you for any reason outside the home (and if they were bored, they could wait for you outside indefinitely).  Or just get the proper warrant listing the address they expect to find you at, and with that warrant they are authorized to invade your home and make the arrest.

> There is a bench warrant out in my name, and I knew this.

You should do something about that, as you will eventually be arrested unexpectedly.

> If I don't turn myself in will they escalate the situation and come back for me?

This requires a prediction about how busy the police force is, and knowledge of how serious the warrant is.  They *can*.  I do not know if they *will*.


Title: Underage Drinking Violation

Question: I'm a college student, and I was recently given a violation for underage drinking. I have to attend a court of me peers to defend against these allegations. The only evidence they have on me is that I was throwing up into a trashcan, and seemed out of it. At no point did I admit to drinking, and neither did the people who were helping me. The only witness was an RA who simply walked in to the room, asked if I was fine, and then asked for my ID. I responded to her question and gave the ID to her without trouble. I was wondering what I should say/do during the hearing to help prevent any further trouble.

Answer:
 Beg for mercy.

>The only evidence they have on me is that I was throwing up into a trashcan, and seemed out of it.

That is pretty strong evidence.  My guess the RA will also say you were slurring your words, unsteady on your feet, and smelled of alcoholAnswer #2: Is this an actual court, or a student court?  There's probably not much you can do if this is a typical student judiciary kangaroo court made up of do-gooders and busybodies who like to flaunt their moral superiority.


Title: [NY-USA]Defense lawyer accusing my neighbor as the murderer has been harassing my wife for no apparent reason.

Question: Long story short his client has an orgy of evidence against them and he is trying to cause a witch hunt to prove reasonable doubt. Has showed up to my wife's work used the works phone recorded there conversation without her knowledge and has showed up at our house today. I've contacted the da because we do not know these people literally at all they just moved in. Be honest with you they are straight forward cool megabits. Any advice would be awesome.

Answer:
 Ok someone was murdered and the defense attorney of the accused has been trying to show that your neighbor is a potential suspect? And I don't get the bit about "used the works phone recorded there conversation without her knowledge ".

megabits?Answer #2: I think caillou is effecting you.  Seriously, he's terrible.  What is a straight forward cool megabit?


Title: (NH) Someone is secretly requesting nudes of me and friends online. What can I do?

Question: A picture of me and 3 friends popped up on a nude pic forum. We are all 18+ and fully clothed. The poster is requesting people to share any nudes they have of us. I know who the poster is but they don't know that. What is my next course of action? Is what he is doing illegal?

Answer:
 It is not illegal for him to request nudes of you.  It's not even, strictly speaking, illegal for him to *have* nudes of you.

It would be illegal for him to commit a crime to get nudes of you, such as assault, breaking and entering, or theft.  Someone who shares nudes of you **might** violating New Hampshire's revenge porn law, but that's on the sharer not the recipient.


Title: NY college meals

Question:
Can my college(UA) just deny me my meal plan access for days before I get a new ID?
I need to eat for medical reasons and my school decided to change it's policy and won't let me in if I lost my ID, I couldn't get a new one until Monday(over the weekend) so I starved for two and a half days waiting for it.
I paid for the meal plan already out of my loan and I'm there everyday at the same times. I used to just go to get a temp pass if I lost it or forgot it in my room. Now they discontinued this policy.

Edit: School fixed it, miscommunication between the dining service and what they were told they could do.

Answer:
 > Can my college just deny me my meal plan access for days before I get a new ID?

Yes. Next question?


Title: [Russia & America] Gaming acquaintance caught in criminal sex work

Question:
Hey,

I have no idea how to deal with this. Someone I've played video games with for some time now started talking about their job today. They're Russian and said they're currently employed by an agency working as a cam girl 12-22 hours a day.

They strongly hinted they're caught in a criminal org saying thing like "Sometimes life is hard", "You make the deals you need", and "I wish I could take it back but I made my choice with them." When I asked them if they were trying to educate out of sex work they told me that they were bound to it now.

Before yesterday they'd never mentioned anything like this, they'd always told me they worked in a call center.  The language they used to communicate all this felt super measured and careful. They threw a huge amount of fluff in and refused to link me anything.

My questions are basically. Are there any NGOs that can help? How can I safely put this person in contact with them? Would trying to help them endanger them?

Answer: She's probably going to ask you for money at some point.


Title: [WA state] Booked a venue for an event 6 months in advance. Paid all deposits. 3 weeks before the event, they pulled the plug.

Question:
Long winded incoming.

Every year we , the company I work for, hold a gala in our city, we have around 300 people who come in from all over the country for the 2 day event and we all look forward to it. There are really only 3 of us who run this company so we dedicate a lot of time, effort and money to it.

In the Spring we started looking for a venue to accommodate ad our previously used venue had been shut down and is being torn down
We decided on a place and got contract negotiations completed (which included our own caterer making food off site and bringing it on site, beer and wine tent provided by us, and ALL the rooms in the hotel) and signed.  We paid the required deposit of just under 6,000 dollars and we were good.  We began making trios there to look at things and plan what we would do where and were met with pleasentries.
We sold out within 3 days.
The problems started small with a weird come t about security being needed here, and the like. Our galas haven't ever caused a drop of trouble. So that was odd. We continue on, purchase everything for the event , hire bands as you do.
3 weeks before the event we find out he decided to cancel it.  Didn't tell us, we just heard it around.  He confirmed. His reasons were that we didn't pay, proved him wrong so then he said it bounced. Proved that wrong. There were a couple more but the final one was because " you're a satanic cult!"
Uh...sit down ,  sir.  This ain't the one.
Yes, most of the employees of this company are pagan or Wicca, the event isn't.  I only bring it up because of this aftermath. And because I wish I had it in writing he said that.
We rushed to try to find another suitable venue, he said we'd have our deposit back in 48 hours.  Unfortunately we were unable to find a venue that would hold everyone, that wasn't far out of budget.  We had some t almost everything on things needed for the event. So no venue, no refunded deposit, no gala.
Today: we have refunded all but close family who is understanding.
99 days later, we still do not have a refund.
We have all taken second full time jobs to try and get refunds back to people and pay for a lawyer who says it's 2k to hire him.
Reddit, I need to know exactly why I can do here.  This venue is a big deal in this town.  But cancelling an event because you are a religious bigot is horrible. So is opening up your kitchen and bar with the grand opening on the weekend that WE paid for.

Answer: Most attorneys will do a free consult. Most will also give you a bit of guidance if this something that can be handled in small claims without an attorney.Answer #2: Do you have a contract ?


Title: Can you serve a federal prison sentence for a family member?

Question: [deleted]

Answer: Absolutely not. He was sentenced he must serve the term.


Title: Biological grandfather keeps sending me unwanted threatening mail and packages to my place of work/various residences

Question:
Location: Ontario, Canada

My estranged biological grandfather 80+yrs old (Mother's father) keeps sending me mail and packages. My mother cut him off over 20 years ago when I was just little.

(Just for some backstory)
My last memory of him was when he took me fishing out on the river when I was little without asking my parents, I was 4 years old. We were in an aluminium boat going fast and he had me hold onto a fishing pole that was trolling behind. I caught a large pike and he made me real it in on my own. I was exhausted but we kept on fishing and he unhooked the fish and had me hold it for another round. Pretty shortly after the line either was caught in the bottom, wood or who knows what but the entire rod was yanked from my hands and lost underwater. He was so angry with me, he grabbed the back of lifejacket and spun the boat around to go back to his dock. When we got within sight of the dock he threw me in the water  by my neck and top of the lifejacket and told me to swim back. The water was dark and full of plants and known for water snakes, still to this day I hate the feeling of water plants on my legs when I swim. Thankfully I was a strong swimmer and swam as fast as I could back to the dock, maybe 700-800 metres, down current.

I thought it was kind of funny at the time, also scary, but I didn't really understand. Looking back I would never want to see a child punished by being thrown into a river fully clothed in the spring when the water is still cold and there is a strong current.

Fast forward, I'm in middle school, we have moved provinces and my grandfather does not know our home address. He starts sending birthday cards to my public school. I was called down to the office over the loud speaker, and the principal and another teacher watch as I open a birthday card with no return address. I was maybe 12-13 at the time and the card was more suited for a younger girl, inside there was a rambling letter be-rating my parents for not letting him see me.

When I started University he sent several letters to my residence (likely found because he looked up my name and found me on the varsity rugby team, somehow found my address on campus). He stated he had a fund of money for my tuition he had set up when I was born. I ignored these, he even sent letters to my job downtown Montreal.

Later after university I was teaching at a public school and he managed to send me mail there. Sometimes I would open them, they would say just crazy stuff about how wanted to give me his farm, Christmas tree farm, maple bush. How my family were crazy and stupid for cutting him off. I learned around then that he was horrifically abusive to my grandmother, and that there are allegations he possibly killed a woman in the late 80's. I always knew he was abusive and controlling to my mother and her siblings.

He has sent me everything from rambling awful negative letters about my grandmother and mother, hand-made wooden bowls, taxidermy, "fresh" bloodied deer meat, jazz CDs, and photos of himself.

At one point a relative had given him my email, not sure how the relative had the email in the first place, but I had to change over my entire email because of the non-stop spam from him after asking to stop and threats to take legal action.

21 years later after cutting him off, I continue to get mail, and packages. In October my ex-fiance passed away a few short months after we broke up. It's been very sad and stressful. I often get flashbacks of our breakup because it correlates with his eventual passing. My grandfather found my ex's address and has sent a package with my name to it, it has no return address. Additionally, he sent another package with my name to my uncle's address. This has sparked concern and "drama" within not only my own family but my ex parent-in-laws as they originally thought I had something delivered to his address. I told them to go ahead and open it to prove it wasn't mine and it was a bloody deer pelt and thawed bloody deer meat, which they found disturbing, I don't blame them.

Anything I can do to stop this mail? I'm stressed enough dealing with grief and would like to just put it all in my past. I have thought about calling the local police where he lives, but I have no idea if that would actually work. I'm not sure if I qualify for a restraining order, but I would rather not see or talk to him directly. He is clearly still obsessed with me after 21 years and seems to be amping it up (possibly to get me on his will).

Answer: Cease and desist order. Answer #2: Get a lawyer to write a cease and desist letter, and advise you on further steps, because he will surely continue his harassment.Answer #3: IANAD, but has he been diagnosed as mentally ill?


Title: Abusive Ex-Husband Causing Problems

Question:
My fiancee's ex husband has been a problem for a long time. He's been violent to her since as long as they were together. Since breaking up he's been very verbally abusive but nothing too over the top. That said, he's been arrested for firing a gun at his current girlfriend (only got 3 days) and for hitting her (charges were dropped when she wanted him back.) So there's a lot of fear that he'll show up unannounced and cause problems for our family.

She has kept their kids from him since finding out that he was drinking and driving with them in the car. They haven't gone to court for this. We can't afford a lot in the way of lawyer fees.

Last year he said something about "not letting her have her way" and doing whatever he had to to make sure she didn't. She tried to get a restraining order. Police said no, he didn't specifically threaten her.

Last night he texted her and said he "let her wear the big boy pants for far too long." and "that's going to change starting now. And nothing or no one will stop me from coming after you."

Protective order was denied again. Well, potentially. The clerk told her they would look into it, but there's no specific threat of violence and there's a 90% chance it gets denied.

What, if any, legal advice do you guys have for us? I've browsed this sub for years and never thought to ask for advice myself. You never realize how big your problems are until you start explaining them.

**TL;DR - My fiancee's ex is threatening her/the kids, but not enough to get a restraining order out of it. What can be done legally at this point that isn't going to cost us thousands of dollars?**

*edit* I forgot the state. It's [VA]

Topic:
Custody Divorce and Family

Answer:
 If they have a court order, she has to follow it.  If they have a court order that says he gets the kids unsupervised at certain times, she should file to have that changed in light of his recent arrest for violent behavior and his drunk driving.  She can also ask at that time that all communication go through My Family Wizard, which will be safer.

If there's no court order, block his number and let him file for visitation if he wants to see his kids.


Title: [TX] Reporters and news crew trespassed inside my house while reporting on the flooding

Question: [removed]

Answer: I'm very sorry for you if this is true, but sadly my first thought is: troll. The whole picture thing is... unlikely.Answer #2: Contact a lawyer with free consultations or show up at a free legal clinic. It's not legal, but you don't really have damages at this point.


Title: My sister's ex boyfriend is a freaking jerk

Question:
My sister's now ex boyfriend is an artist and owns an LLC for his company. For a while, I was helping out here and there by making websites, advertising on social media, etc. For my birthday, as a thanks for all the work I did for no compensation, he bought me a macbook air.

Now that they're broken up, he's texting me demanding for the laptop back. He's stating that it's property of his business, purchased by his business, for the purpose of the business.

I have a video of him giving me the laptop, me unwrapping it, and him mentioning it was for a birthday.

How possible is it for him to still take my laptop away from me?

Answer: The video where he gives you the present, you unwrap, and he states its a present for you, should be enough to prove ownership, that is was a gift, and not a loan. I would contact a lawyer, and have them write a letter for you. One stating he is harassing you, and you have proof the laptop was a gift, that if he does not stop, you will consider taking legal action.