Kansas Recent Legal Answers from Lawyers

If your mother cashed out the policy as you write, there is no policy to cancel.   If there is a policy but your mother's dementia is too advanced for her to make changes, her Durable Power of Attorney, if any, may or may not give the person she named as her agent power to change the beneficiary.  If there is no Durable Power of Attorney, placing her under a guardianship would not necessarily give the guardian/conservator power to make that change.  They may need a court order based, in part, on the records from the earlier trial. If there is a policy, the name of the insurance company may appear in the court records.  There are also services which will search up to 1,500 life insurnace companies -- for a fee.  You may want to investigate a little more first.      ... Read More

If I understand you correctly, you lost your case and now want to try again before the same judge, but that is very unlikely.  Barring extraordinary circumstances, you can't try your case again.  You can appeal, but you would have to show some error by the Court which affected the verdict.  Thus, if, for example, the evidence was not allowed in because the trial court made a mistake, that could lead to reversal on appeal, but if it was not let in because your attorney screwed up, that is not appealable.  Your remedy would be to sue your attorney for malpractice.  This is very difficult, however, because it is difficult to prove that the attorney acted incompetently and that you would have won the case if he/she had been competent.  I know of legal malpractice cases which have been handled on a contingency, but it would have to be a very strong case.... Read More

A will only has legal effect after it is admitted to probate and then only with regard to the property which passes under the Will.  If the house has been sold, it will not be part of the estate which passes under the Will.   The agent under a Durable Power of Attorney has a duty to preserve the estate plan reflected in the Will only to the extent that that plan does not interfere with the person's need for care.   If the agent is selling the home to pay for nursing home bills, the agent is doing his or her duty.    ... Read More

Guardianships can be transferred from one state to another.  In Texas you will need to hire an Approved Guardianship Attorney and to register the guardianship, take a one hour online training and submit to a criminal background check.  You can find a list of Approved Guardianship Attorneys by searching that term on the State Bar of Texas website or contacting the probate court (or county court of law) in the county to which the guardianship will be transferred.  Keep in mind that many Approved Guardianship Attorneys practice in counties near the one in which they are registered.... Read More

Arbitration is by agreement, so unless you have an agreement to arbitrate this dispute, or can get one, you can't arbitrate it.  Moreover, you are correct that civil suits are long and expensive but arbitrations, while generally shorter, can be just as expensive.  Also, while the costs of a civil suit are generally more concentrated at the end (there's plenty of expense in earlier stages, but the greatest expense is preparing for and conducting a trial) so that you can get off relatively cheaply if you settle the case early, arbitration expenses are more frontloaded.  There are, depending on the amount at issue, substantial fees involved in starting an arbitration.  You might consider starting a lawsuit and then trying to mediate the dispute through the Court; most courts have mediation programs available.... Read More

Greetings, married or unmarried, both parents have equal rights to the child unless custody is established in court. If the father knows and he is on the birth certificate of the child, than he heas same rights as the mother. If he is not on the birth certificate, but he knows that the child is his, he can go to court, file for Paternity to establish that he is the father and than get himself on the birthcertificate and get involved in the child's life. If the mother or the father try to violate another parent right, will face consequences and may even end up losing custody battle in court. Feel free to contact my office and speak with a case manager at 877-866-8665 or email help@smsattorneys.com for clarification.... Read More

In Kansas a surviving spouse has a right to one half of her husbands estate no matter what the Will says.  half of the money in the bank account belongs to her.  If only you and your father were on the bank account, i don't see how she got access to the account.  She also must have been a signor on the account or had a power of attorney, or a check signed by your father.  If she commited fraud to get the money out of the account an executor can sue her to recover the monthe for the estate.  in addition to getting 1/2 of the estate a surviving spouse is entitled to a spousal allowance of $35,000.00.  This is paid out of the property of the estate.  If your father owns a home, the spouse gets half, and the right to live in the house for the rest of her life.  The law if very protective of surviving spouses.  Who is name executor in the Will?  If you, you can file the Will for Probate, be appointd Executor and handle the asset of the estate, subgect to the spouses rights outlined above.... Read More

The landlord must send an itemization of damages to the tenant within 15 days of the moveout.  The landlord send the notice to the last known address of the tenant.  That probably was the tenancy address.  Did you have your mail forwarded?  If yes, and you did not recieve a notice of damages, its too late for the Landlord to make a claim. If the Landlord did sent the notice, they have 5 years to file a lawsuit to collect the damage. Every thing depends on whether the Landlord sent the notice of damages.... Read More

Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean by 2 sunggles. is this a breed of dog?  how much did you pay?  you are entitled to your money back and can file suit if necessary.  if the seller is regularly engaged in selling snuggles (dogs?) you may have a claim for the seller violation of the consumer protection act.  this allows you to recover the purchase price, a civil penalty of up to $10,000 oer violation, and attorney fees.  The violation would be to knowingly sell you a defective product.... Read More

Kansas is an at will employment state.  you tendered your resignation and the employer accepted with 2 weeks notice.  you resigned due to the hostile work environment.  Legally, harassment is defined as unwelcome comments or actions, based on these characteristics (for example, sex or disability), that creates a hostile or offensive working environment or that the victim must put up with as a condition of employment.  you must show that the harrasment was directed at you as a member of a protected class.  if you can prove you  left work due to such conditions you can draw unemployment.... Read More

send a letter to the ocmpany demanding a start date and give them a 10 day period to repond.  if the response is not satisfactory, file a small claims lawsut against them.  you do not need an attorney.  go to the small claims clerks office and complete a fill in the blank Petition.  take your contract to attach to the petition.  there is a filing fee and a service fee.... Read More

 Libel  and slander or more commonly referred to as defamation.   Defamation is the making, publishing, disseminating, or circulating any oral or written statement that is false or maliciously critical of or derogatory  to the financial condition of any person  which is calculated to injure  such person. KSA 40-2404  Deformation  is criminal. KSA 21-4004. Criminal deformation requires proof as actual hours with evidence beyond a reasonable doubt. This is a very high standard of proof and I can’t understand why a prosecutor would not want to file charges. Criminal deformation requires proof of actual malice with evidence beyond a reasonable doubt. This is a very high standard of proof and I can’t understand why a prosecutor would not want to file charges.   You can file a civil lawsuit to stop  The defamation. You must prove that the statements or false And made negligently or maliciously. The burden of proof is preponderance of the evidence, which is a skate all showing that your evidence tips the scale in your favor, even if ever so slightly. A defamation lawsuit must be filed within one year from the slanderous statements.... Read More

 The landlord is required to serve a three day notice allowing you to pay any unpaid rent to continue the rental. If you  paid the rent in full prior to the end of the three day notice, no evection can be filed. If any rent remained and paid the end of the three day notice, and eviction  can be filed.  You have some defenses to the evection called constructive evection. When the property is uninhabitable due to a defect, you are not required to pay rent during the time you cannot live in the property. If you continue to live in the property  in spite of the defects, do you have waived your claim of constructive evection. You are still entitled to claim damages suffered due to the defects. This could be the time and expense of heating water, showering elsewhere, or medical expenses per due to the  Black mold. If fiction is filed, you should appear in court and contest the evection. The court will schedule a trial. This will give you additional time to move, and allow you to have your day in court on the defects.... Read More

 Lindy- you should move quickly to remove your name as resident agent. If you have signing authority stave bank, go immediately any remove your name. Write a letter to the owner outlineing the facts of the wrong he has done in making you own we and resident agent and mail it to his last known address. Show or sent the letter to anyone that contacts you about the business. Go to the consumer protection division of the district attorney and file a complaint. You may need an attorney to send the letter for you. Jeff... Read More

Kathleen- A tenant has possession of the property until they move out, voluntarily or involuntarily by eviction. Even though the lease term ends you have no right to possession until the tenant moves out. If the tenant remains in possession on March 16, your only option is eviction by court process. You may not enter , change the lock nor remove tenants possession without court order. If the tenant abandons the property for 14 days you may enter the property inventory the possessions and store them. You must publish a notice of intended disposal and mail the notice to tenants last known address. You can the sell give away or throw away the possessions. There are time frames for notice and disposal. If the tenant is evicted by court process and leaves possessions behind you publish the same notice and dispose of the possessions. All of this may delay your construction. Without publishing the notice ans waiting out the time you cannot destroy the tenants possessions. ... Read More

Mergers are creatures of statute and contract between the merging companies.  The Stockholders of each company must voit to merge, setting out in an agreement the management, finances, and stockholders of the company remaining after the merger.  A filing with the Secretary of State where the coBKD LLPempany resides is required.  the european company would file something equalivant with the government agent to which it reports.  The first step is an agreement of merger to be voted on by the stockholder followed by the government filings.  if either company is publicly traded, the rules change dramaticly, as SEC filings are necessary and Justice department review and approval.  Jeff... Read More

John, A Kansas LLC can own multiple businesses.  The prupose of an LLC is to protect the owner from liability of business conduct.  The LLC and its assets are at risk, not the owners personal assets.  The only reason to create mutiple LLC's is to protect the assets of one LLC from the risk of another LLC.  if you have all three businesses under one LLC, all of the LLC assets are at risk from any one of the businesses.  if you have a problem with your food truck, the assets of the other businesses are at risk, not just the food truck.  you can have multipal owners as well.  a LLC operates by an Operating Agreement, which is like a partnership agreement between the owners.  Jeff... Read More

seeking child support is a personal decision and is not mandated unless one parent really need it and the court orders it. You both can mutually agree to drop it. We can certainly try to help you evaluate your options. Feel free to give us a call or text for a free consultation. Thank You. Toll-Free 1-877-866-8665 Ahsan Syed, Case Manager... Read More

Hey Holly, we are not in Kansas however we do travel to Kansas on occasions when we receive a case. You should petition the court for full custody and or change your parenting plan. We can certainly try to help you evaluate your options and stay within your budget. Feel free to give us a call or text for a free consultation. Thank You. Toll-Free 1-877-866-8665 Ahsan Syed, Case Manager... Read More