Alabama Recent Legal Answers from Lawyers

You need to take your morther's will to a competent local estate lawyer IMMEDIATELY and hire him or her to file the will for probate.  Tell him or her what your sister is doing.  In the meantime, advise your sister that her power of attorney expired and became inoperative at the moment of your mother's death.  It is no longer valid for any purpose and it no longer gives her any power whatsoever over your mother's affairs.  She is not authorized to take anything from your mother's belongings, and that includes bank accounts and safe deposit boxes.  Do not delay.  Your sister may quickly place valuable items beyond your reach. Good luck with it.  Sadly, this sort of situation is not uncommon, but an experienced lawyer will know what to do. WARNING:  I am not your lawyer and providing you with the generic information, definition, clarification or explanation you seek about a legal matter on this anonymous forum does not make me your lawyer.  By answering your question I am only trying to provide you with general information that will deepen your understanding of the legal concept that appears to be an issue for you, that will hopefully guide you in selecting and communicating with a lawyer of your choosing.  The reason for all this is that legal problems are intensely fact-driven, and it is impossible to give anyone correct legal advice without comprehensive inquiry by the lawyer into the specific facts of the situation that concerns you, and the law of the jurisdiction in which you reside, and that is impossible to accomplish through this website.  Even though I am not your lawyer, if I should later become your lawyer no representation is made that the quality of the legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers.         ... Read More

Contract and agreement are synonymous, although some agreements need to meet certain formalities (such as beng in writing) to be enforceable.  Whether your agreement/contract is enforceable, and whether letting you go breaches that agreement, are different stories, which I can't evaluate from the few facts you've given.... Read More

Do you have an employment contract which limits your employer's right to fire you?  If not, your employer can fire your for any reason that is not prohibited by statute, such as race, gender, religion, etc.  Your employer would have the right to fire or transfer you in order to hire someone else,  So unless you had an employment contract which prohibite this action, or you believe you were discriminated against based on such an impermissible reason (for example if you believe that your supervisor received favorable treatment because of her race), there appears to be nothing illegal about what your employer did. ... Read More

If you have been issued a subpoena to appear in court, then failing to appear in court could result in the judge holding you in contempt of court. You could be fined or sentenced to a brief period of incarceration for contempt of court. Because you would be violating a court's order by not appearing, a warrant for your arrest could be issued in order to bring you in so as to be held accountable for the contempt of court charge,... Read More

Before you decide to sue someone, your first question should always be, "What are my damages?" If you have no bills, costs, fines, or other monetary damages as a result of the tax preparer losing a form, then there is no reason to sue. If you do have any damages, then you need to assess how much and whether it's worth bringing a lawsuit. Form 1098-T is filed with the I.R.S. by your educational institution. Therefore, you can contact the I.R.S. and order your wage and income transcript, which will include the Form 1098-T that was filed. If one was never filed with the I.R.S. and the educational institution doesn't have one or refuses to give you one (which they shouldn't), then you would just need proof that you paid tuition to eligible educational institution. This could be in the form of an invoice, receipt, check, etc. Because you should easily be able to obtain a copy of the Form 1098-T, you don't have any damages for which you could sue. This is a small problem that is easily fixed by doing a little legwork. At best, you could file a tax preparer complaint with the I.R.S., and the I.R.S. may decide to civilly fine the preparer for misconduct, but I don't see where you would have any damages that would warrant filing a civil claim. Lastly, always keep copies of important financial documents. Although tax professionals are supposed to maintain records that you give to them, you always want to insure that you have a copy for your personal records.... Read More

You would need to look at the wording of the statute that contains the crime with which you were charged. The statute will lay out the elements of the crime, and relevant court opinions may further clarify these elements and apply them to fact patterns that are similar to yours. This is something that an attorney is trained to do, so it will require you to do some research and there may be a learning curve for you if you attempt to represent yourself pro se. Unless you have already attended an initial hearing, you will not have a chance to defend yourself or put forth any sort of reasoning for your actions at this first hearing. The initial hearing is usually just for you to meet with the prosecutor and determine if any plea deals are on the table, and for you to announce to the court whether you are pleading innocent or guilty. If you plead innocent, then a trial date will be set. Prior to a trial, there could be various hearings, motions, discovery, etc. Again, if you are not familiar with any of this, then it will require research on your part to learn how to properly handle these issues and not detrimentally affect your chances at winning the case. It would be best if you retained an attorney as soon as possible. At least one of the statements you've made in this post could already be detrimental to your case if the prosecution were to find this post and reasonably link it to you, so I think that you should seek representation so as to prevent further damage to your case.... Read More

Yes, there are statutes of limitations (which vary by jurisdiction) on every civil claim, and virtually every crime.  I can't tell from yur question whether you are asking about the statute of limitations beyond which someone can't be prosecuted for having passed a bad check, or the statute of limitaitions beyond which you can't sue someone for having given you a bad check in payment or for you to cash.  As for the crime, it would not only depend on the jurisdiction, but also by the amount of a check, as this could be either a misdemeanor or a felony, of varying degrees, depending on how much the check was for.... Read More

Employers can be jerks sometimes, that's for sure.  One rule I have is that it's tough to ignore you if you physically go to your place of former employment and ask for things. So you might try that. Have you applied for unemployment benefits?  The employer will have to respond to that and it'll be quite clear that you are separated from employment.  You should be asking your employer to send you COBRA notices so that you can continue your current health plan -- you don't have to be without insurance. ... Read More

Your listing agreement would be the first place to go to find out what your options are for cancelling.  You can probably cancel at any time but you might owe them a commission if you ink a sales agreement before August.  You might also complain to them and get them to start getting you more activity.  Their effort isn't all that gets you activity --some of that is on the desireability of your home and what you've done to make it presentable.  Sounds like you need some dialogue with your realtor. ... Read More

The bad new is that, judging by the experience you've had with the company, you're probably going to need the help of a collection attorney.  The good news is that many collection attorneys work on contingency, and their fee is a percentage of what they collect so that the less they collect, the less their fee.   You wrote that you "hired a company", but that you "had him served."  If the "company" is a corporation, llc, or other independent legal entity, you need to sue it, not "him", and you can only collect from its assets, not "his".  As a general rule, the owners of an entity (shareholders of a corporation, members of an llc, etc.) are not personally liable for the entity's obligations.  There is nothing in your question to indicate that you would have grounds to sue, or get money from, the individual, only from the entity (again assuming that the "company" you mention is a separate entity like a corporation).  ... Read More

You're effectively asking for advice on how to avoid arrest due to an outstanding warrant. Unfortunately, no attorney can ethically provide you that type of advice. As difficult as it may be, I would suggest trying to resolve the warrant. Otherwise, you're going to constantly run into situations where you have to find a way to elude authorities. Depending on what you do to evade the warrant and how zealous the prosecutor is, this could lead to additional charges being tacked on when it comes time to pay the piper.... Read More

Regardless of whether there is an agreement in writing, attorneys are ethically required to account for their time and insure that the amount they charge is a reasonable fee for the work completed. I would advise that you ask the attorney to provide an accounting of their billable hours and any expenses incurred. If the amount of work that they have completed is not sufficient to warrant a fee of $1,250, then they are obligated to return any unearned fees should you choose to end their representation of you. If they refuse to provide an accounting of their time and expenses, or if they provide an accounting but refuse to return any unearned fees, then you would need to file a complaint with the Alabama State Bar. Doing a Google search for "Alabama State Bar complaint against lawyer" should lead you to a PDF file that provides the form and explains the complaint process. Without knowing the details of your legal issue, I can't offer an opinion as to whether $2,500 for reviewing documents and another $2,500 for filing court motions is a reasonable fee. Additionally, I don't know the hourly rate of the attorneys or what costs may be incurred by them for filing costs, costs of discovery, etc., so I don't know if these fees are reasonable. The best thing to do is to ask for an accounting of time spent so far to determine whether they've overcharged you for the work currently completed. If they have, then chances are the quoted fees for the other services are also inflated.... Read More

What kind of visa?  Immigrant visa: green card. Or nonimmigrant: tourist, student, temp. worker? If the latter, there's no way possible to reinstate her status.  I would urge you to consult with and hire an immigration lawyer to assist you with this case. Not because I think you’re not capable of handling it, you may will be, but in order for the lawyer to debrief and brief you, analyze, assess and evaluate your case in order to maximize the possibilities for a successful result.  ... Read More

The one positive thing that Pres. Trump has done is to scare illegals to the point of actually going to immigration lawyers for consultations and advice - and avoiding the rip-off artists; the storefront tax preparers, unlawfull law practitioners, or notarias (Pare el Fraude Notarial!). Immigration lawyers can advise you on the steps to prepare to become legal through USCIS or in immigration court.... Read More

  I would urge you to consult with and hire an immigration lawyer to assist you with this case, in order for the lawyer to debrief and brief you, analyze, assess and evaluate your case in order to maximize the possibilities for a successful result. There are simply too many Qs to ask of you and your spouse and it cannot be done on this forum. I assume that you are a US citizen and have medical hardships - these factors may help in getting your husband back to the USA from th his processing at US consulate Ciudad Juarez - He will not be able to get a green card inside the USA.  ... Read More

Your father's saying that the land is yours does not make it so from a legal point of view.  You don't say whether your father left a Will, whether he owned the land with anyone else, or who has the legal right to inherit this land.  You do not have a legal claim against that person or persons, but you could seek their cooperation if your father's wishes were known to all.  In that case, you either can enter into a written agreement that the land will be transferred to you, or they can transfer their interest(s) in the land to you by signing a deed. ... Read More

You may have what is called a “slip and fall” case. Much will depend on the condition of the parking lot, the condition of the parking block, and what your witnesses observed. You should probably consult with a personal injury attorney as to the exact details involved in this matter and to see if it worthwhile pursuing this matter. Despite what TV and talking heads say, not every injury is compensable and not every case is frivolous. You should contact an attorney sooner rather than later as the condition of the parking lot may change and witnesses become unavailable. You normally have three years from the date of a personal injury to file suit. Good Luck!... Read More