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!

Legal Eaze #8 Landlord Privacy Intrusion/ Violent Son

Originally Printed: October 20, 2004

Maxine de Villefranche is an attorney and civil general practitioner with 12 years of experience. She moved to Tehachapi in June 2003 and resides in Alpine Forest. She operates her law practice from her home office and also has a satellite office in Lancaster. She will answer legal questions posed to her by the readers, to the best of her abilities.

Q. I rent a guest house located in the back of my landlord’s residence. My landlord comes into my rent guest house whenever he feels like it to fix this or that. He makes up excuses to come in unannounced. He never gives me notice and I am very bothered by this intrusion on my privacy. Once, he came in while I was in the shower and lo and behold, when I came out of the shower naked, there he was in my little kitchenette, fixing my stove, which I did not know was “broken”. What can I do to stop this?
A. Civil Code Section 1954 regulates the time and circumstances under which a landlord may enter a residential rental unit. If an emergency exists, your landlord may enter without notice. Otherwise, he must give you a Notice to Enter your premises, which must specify the date, approximate time and purpose of the entry. The statute expressly states that a written notice is not necessary if the landlord and tenant orally agree to an entry to perform agreed-upon repairs or to supply agreed-upon services.. Any such oral agreement to enter must include the date and approximate time of the entry, which must be within one week of the oral agreement. Should the landlord violate the law, a tenant can sue and be awarded up to $2000 for each violation. However, I believe these intrusions by your landlord have a far more sinister purpose. You may need to seek a Restraining Order in addition to filing a lawsuit against him for invasion of privacy, among many other causes of action.
Q. I am an 89-year-old man suffering from heart disease and diabetes. My son lives in my house, is violent and has beaten me up on several occasions. He moved in with me several years ago to look after me. I am terrified of him and I can’t take too much more of his abuse. What can I do?
A. I would strongly suggest that you seek a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to get him out and away from your house. You can get immediate relief by filing a Request for Order, Description of Abuse, Temporary Restraining Order and Notice of Hearing with the closest court. You son must be served with these documents to give him notice of the hearing and give him a chance to be heard in court too. The can give you a TRO lasting up to three years.
Forward questions to maxinedev@msn.com , drop questions at the Tehachapi News, located at 411 N. Mill St., or send them to POB 1840, Tehachapi, CA 93581