Florida Recent Legal Answers from Lawyers

OK, so if you get married in Ghana, and that is a legal marriage under that country's law, then you cannot pursue a case for a fiancé visa. A case for a fiancé visa is only permitted when the parties are not legally married. Uscis immigration will recognize a marriage as valid if that marriage where performed is valid. So if you get legally married in Ghana, then you would have to pursue a spousal visa case. If you do not get legally married in Ghana, then you would pursue a fiancé visa case. In order to pursue a fiancé visa case, you need to have physically met within two years of filing the K visa application. Once the foreign national enters the country on a fiancé visa, the couple has to get married within 90 days, and then you can sponsor him for a green card.  Statistically, the fiancé Visa cases process a  little faster than the spousal visa cases. ... Read More

Book value or ACV is all you are entitled to. That value is in fact the value you can replace with a like and kind car. It is NOT what you owed on the car for financing, nor what you paid for it,  nor the value of the car "to you". The time and expense of finding a new car in a unfortunate inconvenience in life. You can try to see if they will provid a short term of rental or compensate for "loss of use." ... Read More

It all depends on the issues. There are "tickets" that are for criminal cases denoted as a "notice to appear." By example criminal reckless driving might result in a "notice to appear" ticket rather than arrest at the scene by the officer. You may have to retain a criminal defense lawyer to sort this out. " ... Read More

Possibly. The problem with such cases is those "scammers" are usually dirtbags or junkies that spend the money as fast as they scam it from thier victims, so expectations of "getting money back" are slim. That said, this is an issue you should report to law enforcement to address from a "holding them accountable" aspect. ... Read More

If you want to remarry your spouse after a divorce, that is perfectly OK. Then you would have to re-file a marriage based green card case, and those issues that you raised regarding Fraud would then be reviewed. Due to the complications involved in this case, it would be advisable for you to retain an immigration lawyer to handle the Re-filing of your case.... Read More

First you will need to find out where the dog is and then go from there. If the dog was chipped then in theory therw would be record of that with BHS. The notion of "believing" without evidence or documentation is useless. Otherwise, you may want to retain a lawyer, unfortunately at some significant expense, to contact BHS and see if that gets a response as to your ownership of the animal and go from there. ... Read More

Not sure what the question here is. Its unlikely that an oil change would affect your steering but if there is oil dripping from the oil pan, this may or may not have been something caused by Jiffy Lube. You need to bring your car to a dealer for the make and model of the car and have them inspect it to see if there is something Jiffy Lube did to damage it and go from there. ... Read More

That you lived there or cared for your brother is of no consequence. Upon his death, its no longer your brothers home, it is either the estates or the person identified in the LBD if its valid. Because there is an LBD and no will you will need to retain a probate lawyer to address this is immediately. ... Read More

Not unless the lease provides for such. You likely have the right to refuse any cosmetic upgrades until the end of the lease, where you leave. THis interefers with the warranty of habitability and reasonable use. If there are habitability repairs made, such as hurricane issues,  if they cannot be done inside of 7 days, you will need to retain a lawyer to send a "7 day letter" and then terminate the tenancy on the 8th day if the repairs are not completed. ... Read More

This is typically only an issue for people who have illegal pets and are purposefully attempting to avoid geting caught and held accountable. Hence the "notice" issues  - because offending tenants will hide the animals elsewhere for the same reason drug raids do not make an appointment with drug dealers. Your sister could confront the LL over the issue - but to what end and at what expense? Unless she intends to spend thousands of dollars in legal fees challenging the management over the issue, its not a fight to pick. That said, she may want to retain a tenant lawyer to intervene if there is an issue where the LL won't tell them whether they have checked her place yet. In the meantime, she would be well served to geta wireless security video system in her apartment to document any entry when she is not home. ... Read More

There is no way to assess this absent hiring a lawyer to review the details. That stated, HOA boards are essentially political organizations and typically carry a higher standard for "defamation" of "actual malice." There are also privilege issues associated with discussions within the board about the activities of other members or improprieties claimed. As to reputation issues, these revolve around the actual statements made,  to whom and how. By example, its possible that the facebook comments may be a problem for the offending board members if they are made outside of official channels, etc. You will likely need to retain a lawyer to review these issues and possibly start with a cease and desist demand, possibly board sanctions if the rules were violated, or litigation if the case circumstances support same. ... Read More

A US citizen can sponsor a foreign national spouse for a green card unless that US citizen has been convicted of crimes under the Adam Walsh act. Any domestic violence charges or arrests that did not result in the conviction of the US citizen would not disqualify the US citizen from sponsoring his foreign national spouse for a green card.    ... Read More

You cannot do anything until you find her.   Then you have to file a lawsuit for breach of contract, serve her, and perhaps reopen the probate proceeding.  If there were no will, then, apart from the house, she would only get 50%.   If you do all of the above, then you may still have to spend a great deal of money and effort to enforce any judgment that you get.  ... Read More

Unfortunately, that simply isn't how retaining a lawyer works. Even if it were permissible for a lawyer to take 80% of the damages, that presumes that a mount would equal the value of the legal services, which is questionable given the cost of most garage door projects. To be candid, in many instances, its actually less expensive for the consumer to hire a lawyer on paid retainer or fee than it is to have the lawyer take the common 40% + costs for litigation, if the cost of the project was substantial, $20,000.00+. Bear in mind that lawyers do not litigate from a position of anger or frusration with the contractor, so they typically have little interesting in prosecuting  claims with an emotional motivator or where the client's motivation is to "go after" someone.. Your best bet is to retain a local construction or consumer lawyer and have them review the situation and your contract for options. ... Read More

I would assume that your wife will be safe to travel from Florida to New York as you are traveling in February and her legal stay is authorized until April. The fact that she is applying for adjustment of status would appear to give her another ground to stay although it is difficult to imagine that the subject would come up where a visitor is legally authorized to stay and that the travel is domestic instead of international. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee & Arthur Lee, Esqs.’ (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.... Read More

You will need to retain a civil lawyer to address this. The BIG issue is the expense of a lawyer fighting over the rental costs might exceed the amount you are fighting over. Have you tried to see if you have rental coverage on your insurance? Unfortunately, third party property damage claims are always very difficult to address financially. ... Read More