Illinois Recent Legal Answers from Lawyers

U.S.C.I.S. has a rule of not giving advance paroles to individuals in removal proceedings. Although the Board of Immigration Appeals had a ruling that departures under advance parole do not count as "entries", that ruling did not touch upon persons under removal proceedings.  There is the danger that you would be seen as having removed yourself by leaving the US and face a bar on reentry to the country even if you somehow managed to obtain advance parole. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee, Esq.'s (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

When a lawsuit starts, after he pleadings (complaint and answer), you obtain information relevant to the case from the other side (documents, depositions, etc.) by serving written discoverey requests.  There is no need for a court order to get relevant information from a party to the lawsuit.  Reading between the lines here, however, you "missed a court date" and I suspect that a default judgment has been entered against you (in which case you have already lost on the merits and the only thing remaining is the creditor's efforts to collect on its judgment), or the process has otherwise moved forward so that discovery is now over.  In order to get the discovery you want, you have to make a motion to vacate your default and reopen discovery, and in order to prevail you're probably going to have to demonstrate a good excuse for missing the court date and a meritorious defense to the creditor's claims.... Read More

If your US citizen wife refuses to sponsor you for the green card, that is within her rights. You have no recourse with U.S.C.I.S. to force your wife to sponsor you. It may well be that she suspects that you married her just so that she could sponsor you for permanent residence. I note that some US citizens use the power that they have over the alien at this time like a baseball bat, which does not make for a good marriage. Marriage should be based upon trust. I suggest that you attempt to alleviate her concerns and otherwise discuss with her the reasons for her reluctance to sponsor you. If you do so and she is convinced of your love, she may then consent to sponsor you. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee, Esq.'s (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

The lease would not be void just because it has a minor glitch like having a 6/31 termination date, but it is possible that having a “rodent problem”, depending on how severe it is and how long it’s gone in, might be a material breach of the lease entitling you to rescind it. ... Read More

Dear Anonymous, Usually in a personal injury contingency matter case the 40% would apply once a lawsuit is filed, hence to answer your question the 40% would kick in before the actual trial but after the lawsuit was filed which would include jury selection, discovery, all other pre trial acitivity. However, if your retainer agreement has the specific language that you listed stating only if the case proceeded to a trial, the 40% would not apply before jury selection, discovery, and everything else that would take place between the time a lawsuit is filed and the trial takes place. The 40% would apply only if the case went to a Trial.   Hope that helps.  ... Read More

The difficulty with employers applying for working visas where potential employees have overstayed is that the employees are not eligible for change of status in the US and must leave the country to apply for the visa overseas. Under most types of visa statuses, individuals who have overstayed for 180 days or one year are barred from coming back to the country for 3 and 10 years respectively. Also be advised that overstaying a visa status in the US automatically invalidates a visa even if it has more time on it.  Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee, Esq.'s (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

Chuck,  the only way to answer your question is by conducting an intake and submitting an application.  We then gather all medical documents and wait for SSA to make a decision.   Feel free to give us a call 855-254-7841.   Attorney Scott Bocchio  Legal RIGHTS Advocates www.yourlegalrightsadvocates.com ... Read More

The answer may turn on whether this was a wrongful death action brought by an heir or a negligence action brought on his behalf by his agent under a Durable [Financial] Power of Attorney.  If the latter, it is payable to his estate.  Your local probate lawyer should advise you.  "Someone" often only thinks they know the law.... Read More

As you do not have the H-1B denial itself and it appears that your wife H-4 denial did not give complete details, I make no comment on any reason for which you may have been denied. Your pinpointing the reason for denial in 2012 would appear to be a little far-fetched for a denial in 2018. Examining the fact situation that you present, you had no illegality at the time that you left the country in May 2012. An H-1B holder is allowed 10 days grace to leave the US following the expiration of the petition. That is the reason why your I-94 was given an expiration date of May 11, 2012 while your petition expired on May 1, 2012. If you left on May 9, 2012, you were within the grace period of time. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee, Esq.'s (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

Your state, like mine, may require an Inventory to be filed with the court as a public document and let beneficiaries demand an accounting after a certain amount of time has passed.  However, a life insurance policy pays to the named beneficiary and is not part of the probate estate listed on the Inventory (or the Executor's responsibility).  A bank account may be pay-on-death or joint with right of survivorship.  If so, it, too, is not listed on the probate estate and is not the Executor's responsibility.... Read More

Your daughters may encounter some difficulties in doing this as they are supposed to only have nonimmigrant intent, and staying the majority of the time in the US while only going back for short stays overseas could raise flags with Customs and Border Protection (CBP). There is a good chance, however, that CBP officers may overlook the situation in light of the sympathetic circumstances. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee, Esq.'s (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 can definitely file an appeal.  But, it will be an uphill battle.  The decision whether to extend an order under the circumstances is discretionary, meaning that the order would be reviewed under an abuse of discretion standard.  This standard of review is very deferential to the lower court judge.  The only way to get around this standard is if the judge committed a legal error (i.e., if the governing statute requires the judge to state his reasons for his decision on the record, yet he failed to outline the facts forming the basis of his decision).  I do not practice in Illinois, so I do not know whether the governing statute has this requirement, but it is a thought for your appellate lawyer to consider. I just noticed that your post is from November 19, 2018.  Most states have a 30-day deadline in which a party must file a notice of appeal.  That is just a few days from now.  If you have not yet missed the deadline, here is some advice on How to File an Appeal.  I hope this helps.... Read More

Did you have a term for how long you would receive the higher wage?  If not, your employer can terminate that agreement at any time, just as you can by demanding a higher wage or you will quit, or simply by quitting.  If you had an agreement that you would receive the higher wage for a definite period of time, you would still have a problem, because in the jurisdictions in which I practice (I believe it is the same in Illinois) a verbal agreement is not valid if it can't be fully performed within a year, so that if you had an oral agreement to receive the higher wage for 2 years, that would probably not be enforceable.  There are some twists you could try.  For example, if the agreement was for you to receive the higher wage until you voluntarily left your employment, you could argue that, since you could have left your employment earlier than one year, the agreement COULD have been perforemd within one year and therefore is enforceable, but it is doubtful if it will work, particularly since your boss is likely to deny that you had any such agreement.... Read More

You are petitioning for your daughter under the F-3 category for married sons and daughters of US citizens. For the month of November 2018, immigrant visas are only being issued to those who put in petitions prior to July 8, 2006. Thus the current waiting time is approximately 12 years.Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee, Esq.'s (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