New Jersey Recent Legal Answers from Lawyers

If you have a bench warrant outstanding for non-payment of child support, it means you fell behind on payments, causing an arrearage setting and then probation filed an application with the court for sanctions for non-payment & a court entered an order for your arrest. So, eventually probation will discover that you are working & the police will be dispatched to your place of employment to arrest you & you will then be taken from your new employment in handcuffs. Not a good way to start your new job. My suggestion is that you reach out to the probation department NOW & let them know that you have a new job & that you want to square away your arrears with a payment plan. Make sure you get the name (first & last) of whomever you are speaking with at probation & his email address. If you can work out an arrangement for the payment of the arrears, you must confirm it in writing to the person you spoke with. Simply having a telephone call with "someone" from probation, will not stop you from being arrested since there is no way to verify if your story is true. Your letter to the person in probation needs to state that you are confirming the conversation on XXXX 2020 ( CS number XXXXXX) as to the outstanding bench warrant for non-payment of child support & that you & he agreed that you would begin paying XXXX to probation weekly beginning XXXXX to pay off the arrears & to pay your weekly child support going forward. Confirm his telephone number in the email as well to prove your effort to resolve this issue. Next, you need to let your new employer know that you have an order for arrest outstanding for nonpayment of child support but that you are addressing it responsibility & you have worked out an arrangement with probation for repayment. The worst thing you can do is ignore the order & think that you can simply begin working a new job & that everything will be ok. It won’t. Be proactive & begin that process today. ... Read More

You must put all the information in writing and you must provide all the supporting documentation to the dealer and bank and credit agencies so that there is a clear 'paper trail' of what happened and the checks you have written and submitted each month for the proper payment of the correct car. You cannot withhold payment. You must pay each month and note the specific purpose of the payment. We can help you if you need help with the documentation and payments and 'paper trail' and negotiations with the dealer and lender. Please call this morning. Ed Dimon, Esq. 732-797-1600... Read More

It appears that if dad married mom before your 18th birthday, he could petition for you. However as you are now an adult and married, your case would fall into a family preference category and not the immediate relative category. This means that there would be a lengthy waiting period before you could immigrate to the US. You can find out the waiting period by going to the department of state website and look to the cases that the DOS is currently processing in your specific category. Good luck. ... Read More

You are not going to like my observations and my advice, but my role is to give you competent legal advice based on the issue presented. You and she were planning on getting married and in anticipation of that marriage, she put up money towards the purchase of a home. The fact that title is in your name alone does not mean that she has no equitable claim or that you simply get to keep her money. Even if she signed a gift letter, it was still money advanced in contemplation of marriage and therefore you need to address a repayment plan. The fact that you have a restraining order or that she is an alcoholic or any other bad thoughts you have about her does not change your obligation to her. My suggestion is that you need to either work out a payment plan with her for repayment purposes or you need to list and sell the house and repay her the money she advanced. If you think that you will not recoup the full amount paid for the house on a sale, then she should get back her proper percentage of the net proceeds of the sale to make her as whole as possible. Sorry, but you acknowledged that you would not have been able to buy this house without her contribution and it was given over with the expectation that she and you would be living together in the house as the marital home. Bigger issue for me are your children. From everything you said about her, it is clear that she would have presented a danger to your children if you and she were living together and they were exposed to the drinking and violence. Again, you may feel that I am overstepping by bounds, but I suggest that you consider getting counseling for yourself to help you better understand yourself and to help you moving forward with new relations. My focus is on who you decide to introduce to your children. Clearly, in retrospect, this was not someone you should have introduced your children to and I’m sure that she caused you too much stress and potentially caused your children stress as well. The goal is to try and better understand yourself so that you reduce the likelihood of letting this type of person into your life (and into the lives of your children) moving forward. ... Read More

We are in unusual times. The answer before the virus would have been that the employer may not discriminate between employees who have school age children and those who do not. However, the virus is changing the rules of the game. Older employees or employees with compromised health cannot be forced to work. Will the courts rule against an employer who kept people employed and tried to make accomodations for employees with children ? I am not convinced this will happen. This is further complicated by the federal government loan and grant program which encourages employers to keep employees paid even if they sre at home. Ed Dimon, Esq. 732-797-1600 ext 235... Read More

If the money in the account is in your name, then it is not part of the estate.  Ther eis something called an "account of convenience" where someone adds a name to an account to make it more convenient to write checks.  However, if the account is solely in your name, I don't see how your mother can make a claim to it.     ... Read More

Thank you for your question. There are various factors when determining if alimony applies. Additional facts will be required to better assist you such as information pertaining to prior employment and/or compensation. We also need information regarding the other party to help guide you as to any appropriate amounts of support, temporary or otherwise. We suggest you contact a family law attorney to discuss.... Read More

  In bond hearings where there is eligibility for such, the questions are generally whether the bond applicant is a threat to public safety or a flight risk. In most cases, the question is flight risk. If such is your case, you should put together any documentation of legal relatives or friends that you have in the US who would be willing to house and support you during the time of your immigration proceedings. Immigration judges set the amount of bonds, and they are fairly high these days. A number like $30,000 – $50,000 is not unusual to see. 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

Im guessing that you are representing yourself in your divorce since these would have been the type of questions that a lawyer would have gone over with you initially. These questions are critically important in a divorce and cannot / should not be answered by a family law specialist without sitting down with you in a consultation setting since its impossible to tell you what your spouse should be paying and what her interest in a particular asset will be without having a clear understanding of all of the issues outstanding in your matter. To you, these may be the only issues of importance, but your wife may have a very different view and a court may have an even different view than both of you. I dont know if you and she have children, whether the cost of remaining in the house is less expensive than a comparable rental setting *( which may be relevant to the issue of alimony and / or child support / custody ), the custodial plan in place ( if there are children), the division of other assets and liabilities and an understanding of your respective cash flow. There are way too many questions that need to be addressed for any lawyer to simply give you an answer competently.  Again, I think it is worth your while to reach out to one or more local family law specialists for a consultation to discuss your matter.  ... Read More

Yes, you have a claim to get back anything you paid above the 1/2 that you were supposed to pay.  Although your agreement with your girlfriend was oral, which would be a problem if it was supposed to be performed over the course of more than a year, the lease is (I presume) written.  As you are both on it, you are jointly responsible. ... Read More

The timing of your misstep was most unfortunate. Employers are bending over backwards to avoid any sexual harassment issues. There is no upside to keeping you. You could try to work with the employer with regard to future employment or employment in another division. Explain your mistake and take ownership of the mistake. Ed Dimon, Esq. ... Read More

  Since you are currently working for employer B, your employer C cannot file an I-129 just based upon the approval of employer A if you are seeking an extension of status without leaving the country. If that is your plan, U.S.C.I.S. must be convinced that you are maintaining a legal status, and that would depend upon whether the petition filed by employer B is approvable. If you do not wish U.S.C.I.S. to consider the second petition, employer C at the beginning or sometime in the process would have to request that the extension status application be withdrawn and that the petition if approved be sent for overseas processing. 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