Title: October 26, 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. I live in one of the houses below the large development of new houses taking place at the corner of Curry and Highline. Last winter was one of the wettest on record, as everyone knows. As a result, because there was nothing but uncovered dirt in that development, mud ran down the streets below, covered our lawn and destroyed all the landscaping in our front yard. Just a few days ago, we had a lot of rain and again the mud ran down the street. It cost us substantial amount of money to replace the landscaping and a lot of hard work to make our front yard attractive again. How can we avoid a repeat of last year?
A. I hope you contacted the developer and made a complaint about the mud damaging your front yard. In fact, you should have given the developer an invoice for the cost of replacing your landscaping, as well as whatever you paid for the hired labor to clean up your front yard. If you made no contact, the developer will never know what hardship he caused the neighborhood downstream. In fact, this should have been a collective effort on the part of the entire neighborhood to invoice that developer for the problems he caused. Had that been done, the developer would have been on notice and would have ensured that a dam would have been built to protect that neighborhood. If there are still mounds of uncovered dirt above you, make sure to contact the developer to notify him of your past problems and that you do not want this to happen again, otherwise he will be liable for subsequent damages.
Q. I’ve had two children with my boyfriend in a past life, who has long ago left town. My children are now respectively 15 and 11. I was just diagnosed with advanced lung cancer and I don’t think I am going to make it past next year. I need to get my kids taken care of after I pass away. What should I do?
A. It appears that you want their father to take care of them, but you cannot find him, or know of his whereabouts. If this man never paid child support, you are wasting your time chasing him down. Your children are better off with a person of your own choosing. Make sure to prepare a will with a guardianship provision, naming a trusted individual to care for your minor children. It could be your sister, your mother or a friend. If you have no one in mind, and you die before your children are 18, then Court will probably send them to a foster home.
Showing posts with label boyfriend. Show all posts
Showing posts with label boyfriend. Show all posts
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Monday, January 5, 2009
Legal Eaze #22 Guardianship/ Refund
Originally Printed: May 18, 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.
Q. My daughter ran away with her drug-dealing boyfriend about a month ago. She left her 16-month-old baby with my husband and I and we have no idea of her whereabouts. It is incredible that we are left with total responsibility for her little boy. However, we want to make sure that she does not come back to pick up this child, only to have him around drugs and bunch of drug addicts. What should we do?
A. This theme comes back on a regular basis. You need to file a Petition for Guardianship with the County court in order to become guardians of this child. An investigation will be conducted by a court-appointed probate investigator to ascertain who would be first choice to become substitute parent(s) to the child. The Court often appoints grandparents as guardians of children left behind by drug-addicted parents. Once you are found to be fit as guardians, the Court will not allow a drug-addicted mother to again be responsible for her child until she cleans up her act. A guardianship is often temporary, until at least one parent of the child undergoes drug rehabilitation and can safely take responsibility for his/her child, but it also sometimes becomes a permanent arrangement. Drugs have become the scourge of today’s society and have affected hundreds of thousands of children across the world. They are the true victims. You are very brave to be willing to take care of this little boy and hopefully, your daughter will be thankful for what you have done for her son.
Q. I have a satellite dish to connect to the Internet, which promised immediate access, but is actually slower than dial-up. I constantly have to call in because have problems with connectivity. They charge an arm and a lef for the service, with which I am totally dissatisfied. I had to pay $700 for the dish. I want money back. Can I?
A. It is doubtful but it depends if you had a warranty and how long ago you had it installed on your property. Your story sounds so familiar. In fact, I went back to a dial-up connection because I was tired of paying $65 a month for this so-called “really fast connection”. Satellite dish is highly affected by the weather unfortunately, and of course customers are never told about these problems ahead of time. You best bet is to give your satellite company notice that you want to stop their “bad” service and find another way to connect to the Internet. Good luck!
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.
Q. My daughter ran away with her drug-dealing boyfriend about a month ago. She left her 16-month-old baby with my husband and I and we have no idea of her whereabouts. It is incredible that we are left with total responsibility for her little boy. However, we want to make sure that she does not come back to pick up this child, only to have him around drugs and bunch of drug addicts. What should we do?
A. This theme comes back on a regular basis. You need to file a Petition for Guardianship with the County court in order to become guardians of this child. An investigation will be conducted by a court-appointed probate investigator to ascertain who would be first choice to become substitute parent(s) to the child. The Court often appoints grandparents as guardians of children left behind by drug-addicted parents. Once you are found to be fit as guardians, the Court will not allow a drug-addicted mother to again be responsible for her child until she cleans up her act. A guardianship is often temporary, until at least one parent of the child undergoes drug rehabilitation and can safely take responsibility for his/her child, but it also sometimes becomes a permanent arrangement. Drugs have become the scourge of today’s society and have affected hundreds of thousands of children across the world. They are the true victims. You are very brave to be willing to take care of this little boy and hopefully, your daughter will be thankful for what you have done for her son.
Q. I have a satellite dish to connect to the Internet, which promised immediate access, but is actually slower than dial-up. I constantly have to call in because have problems with connectivity. They charge an arm and a lef for the service, with which I am totally dissatisfied. I had to pay $700 for the dish. I want money back. Can I?
A. It is doubtful but it depends if you had a warranty and how long ago you had it installed on your property. Your story sounds so familiar. In fact, I went back to a dial-up connection because I was tired of paying $65 a month for this so-called “really fast connection”. Satellite dish is highly affected by the weather unfortunately, and of course customers are never told about these problems ahead of time. You best bet is to give your satellite company notice that you want to stop their “bad” service and find another way to connect to the Internet. Good luck!
Legal Eaze #21 Pregnant/ Collections Agency
Originally Printed: May 4, 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.
Q. I am 16 years old and pregnant. My boyfriend is 18 years old. My parents like him and do not want to press charges against him. My parents and I are worried that the hospital staff at the hospital I go to when it is time to give birth will call the police on my boyfriend. Can the hospital staff do that? Or it is up to my parents?
A. My understanding of criminal law is that no one goes forward with a criminal filing unless there is a complaining victim. Mandated reporting is for child abuse only, not for impregnation of a minor, even if in violation of statutory rape laws. Please note that I am a “civil” general practitioner and only handle minor criminal matters. You would be best served by asking an attorney who handles criminal matters of all kinds.
Q. There is a man from a collection agency who keeps calling me with regards to an old debt dating back over 10 years ago. I have told him to leave me alone but he keeps bothering me at home. Somehow, he found out my boyfriend’s telephone number and he calls me there as well. It is legal for this collection agency to keep calling me like this?
A. I believe the Statute of Limitations on the debt may have expired. This collection agency can no longer collect on the debt. If you had a written contract with regards to this debt, the Statute of Limitations expired four years after you entered the contract, or four years after you made the last payment on the debt, whichever comes later. If you did not have a written contract, then two years is the applicable Statute of Limitations period. The collection agency may be liable for unfair debt collection practices and it would behoove you to take down the name, address and telephone number of this collection agency so that you can obtain court redress at a later date. It would be difficult for you to sue a collection agency if you do not know its name and contact information.
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.
Q. I am 16 years old and pregnant. My boyfriend is 18 years old. My parents like him and do not want to press charges against him. My parents and I are worried that the hospital staff at the hospital I go to when it is time to give birth will call the police on my boyfriend. Can the hospital staff do that? Or it is up to my parents?
A. My understanding of criminal law is that no one goes forward with a criminal filing unless there is a complaining victim. Mandated reporting is for child abuse only, not for impregnation of a minor, even if in violation of statutory rape laws. Please note that I am a “civil” general practitioner and only handle minor criminal matters. You would be best served by asking an attorney who handles criminal matters of all kinds.
Q. There is a man from a collection agency who keeps calling me with regards to an old debt dating back over 10 years ago. I have told him to leave me alone but he keeps bothering me at home. Somehow, he found out my boyfriend’s telephone number and he calls me there as well. It is legal for this collection agency to keep calling me like this?
A. I believe the Statute of Limitations on the debt may have expired. This collection agency can no longer collect on the debt. If you had a written contract with regards to this debt, the Statute of Limitations expired four years after you entered the contract, or four years after you made the last payment on the debt, whichever comes later. If you did not have a written contract, then two years is the applicable Statute of Limitations period. The collection agency may be liable for unfair debt collection practices and it would behoove you to take down the name, address and telephone number of this collection agency so that you can obtain court redress at a later date. It would be difficult for you to sue a collection agency if you do not know its name and contact information.
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