Title: August 10, 2005
Maxine de Villefranche is an attorney and civil general practitioner with 13 years of experience. She operates her law practice from her new office in town, as well her Lancaster satellite office. She will answer legal questions posed to her by the readers, to the best of her abilities. Please forward your questions to maxinedev@msn.com or fax them to (661)825-8880.
Q. There are two twin children living in the house right next door to us. They appear to be around 7 or 8 years old. On a couple of occasions, I saw them torture an adult cat and her kittens. The last time I saw them, they were busy cutting the kittens’ whiskers off. I don’t know where mommy cat was. I was horrified and screamed at them to stop immediately both times. Apparently, a screaming neighbor does not seem to bother these kids at all, since they did it again. The parents never seem to be at home when these children are committing their atrocities. What should we do?
A. The first thing you need to do is to talk to the parents and let them know what their children are doing in their absence. These children are too young to be left alone at home. Children Protective Services should be warned that young children are left alone at home next door to commit atrocities on animals. You also need to call animal regulation and report the animal abuse. Calling the police might help too. These neighbors of yours should not be allowed to have animals around to be tortured. There is something very wrong with these kids. There may be something very wrong with their parents too. Sometimes, children like these grow up to be criminals of the first order. Thank you for being an animal lover.
Q. I got a speeding ticket on Highway 58 the other day for going at 98 miles an hour. I truly do not believe that I was going that fast. How can I fight this speeding ticket? I do not want my car insurance premiums to go up and they will if this ticket sticks.
A. If you did not attend traffic school in the past 18 months, you will have the opportunity to attend an eight-hour class in order not to get a point on your driving record. Just because you do not believe you were going that fast does not mean that the CHP officer is wrong. As I am sure you know, the speed of a vehicle is usually measured with an instrument used by the CHP which is quite accurate, and that measurement, plus the officer’s testimony will be sufficient to get you convicted. Your feeling that you were not going so fast will be insufficient to prove your innocence. I advise you to concentrate on driving slower next time and attending driving school to avoid the bad mark on your driving record.
Showing posts with label Parents. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Parents. Show all posts
Monday, March 2, 2009
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Legal Eaze #11 Care for Elderly Parents/ Car Dealership
Originally Printed: December 15, 2004
Maxine de Villefranche is an attorney and civil general practitioner with 12 years of experience. She operates her law practice from her home office in Alpine Forest, as well her Lancaster satellite office. She will answer legal questions posed to her by the readers, to the best of her abilities. Please forward your questions to maxinedev@msn.com.
Q. My parents are quite elderly. My father is already in a wheelchair from diabetes and arthritis, while my mother suffers from congestive heart failure. They live together on their 20-acre property and the closest neighbor is a couple of miles away. I fear for their health and safety and need to convince them this is not the safest way to live at their age. How can I convince them to change their lifestyle?
A. Do your parents still have all their mental faculties? If so, you need to speak with each one separately and convince each one to sign a Power of Attorney for financial decisions and Power for Attorney for healthcare. One way would be to ask each one: “Should anything happen to the other, how would you take the decisions that need to be taken in the absence of the other?” Listen to the response and if it does not make sense, formulate and make your argument using that response. Sometimes, elderly people can be very obstinate and not realize that their lifestyle can endanger their spouse. Your love for your parents should dictate how you need to approach them and prepare them to accept and sign Powers of Attorney. Such POA can be “springing” in other words are activated only if your parent’s mental ability is lacking according to a physician, or if one or both parents are physically incapacitated and unable to care for the other. POA’s wording can be very flexible.
Q. I purchased a used vehicle from a dealer that had a three-month warranty. The day after I took it off the lot, the brakes failed and I hit the back of another car that was stopped at a red light. I was raining pretty hard that day. I went back to the dealer and complained that my brakes failed and had a car accident. The dealer gave me the runaround and refused to do anything about the brakes, not to mention the $2,500 of damages to the other car. What can I do?
A. There are several issues here. First it was raining the day of the accident. How fast were you going and when did you start applying your brakes? Rain can render the pavement very slick, especially if it was the first rain of the season. Second how do you know that your brakes failed? It is against the law for a dealer to sell an unsafe used vehicle and that includes bad or no brakes. The accident was surely investigated by the police and the police report would certainly give you an idea of who was at fault and caused the accident.
Maxine de Villefranche is an attorney and civil general practitioner with 12 years of experience. She operates her law practice from her home office in Alpine Forest, as well her Lancaster satellite office. She will answer legal questions posed to her by the readers, to the best of her abilities. Please forward your questions to maxinedev@msn.com.
Q. My parents are quite elderly. My father is already in a wheelchair from diabetes and arthritis, while my mother suffers from congestive heart failure. They live together on their 20-acre property and the closest neighbor is a couple of miles away. I fear for their health and safety and need to convince them this is not the safest way to live at their age. How can I convince them to change their lifestyle?
A. Do your parents still have all their mental faculties? If so, you need to speak with each one separately and convince each one to sign a Power of Attorney for financial decisions and Power for Attorney for healthcare. One way would be to ask each one: “Should anything happen to the other, how would you take the decisions that need to be taken in the absence of the other?” Listen to the response and if it does not make sense, formulate and make your argument using that response. Sometimes, elderly people can be very obstinate and not realize that their lifestyle can endanger their spouse. Your love for your parents should dictate how you need to approach them and prepare them to accept and sign Powers of Attorney. Such POA can be “springing” in other words are activated only if your parent’s mental ability is lacking according to a physician, or if one or both parents are physically incapacitated and unable to care for the other. POA’s wording can be very flexible.
Q. I purchased a used vehicle from a dealer that had a three-month warranty. The day after I took it off the lot, the brakes failed and I hit the back of another car that was stopped at a red light. I was raining pretty hard that day. I went back to the dealer and complained that my brakes failed and had a car accident. The dealer gave me the runaround and refused to do anything about the brakes, not to mention the $2,500 of damages to the other car. What can I do?
A. There are several issues here. First it was raining the day of the accident. How fast were you going and when did you start applying your brakes? Rain can render the pavement very slick, especially if it was the first rain of the season. Second how do you know that your brakes failed? It is against the law for a dealer to sell an unsafe used vehicle and that includes bad or no brakes. The accident was surely investigated by the police and the police report would certainly give you an idea of who was at fault and caused the accident.
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