Texas Recent Legal Answers from Lawyers

As a general rule, a lawyer cannot charge s $300 "transfer fee" for transferring your file to a new attorney.  He would only be able to bill you for the actual time he or his staff expended in gathering your file together, physically or electronically, and then delivering them to your new attorney.... Read More

If you and your husband purchased the new house during your marriage using community funds, then it is most likely community property subject to a just and right division as part of your divorce process.If there is a mortgage on the new house, in most circumstances, if the court awards the new house to one spouse, that spouse will also be obligated to pay the mortgage payments.  If both spouses are on the mortgage, the spouse to whom the house is awarded will sign a deed of trust to secure assumption to protect the other spouse in the event of a future failure to pay the mortgage.  If there is substantial equity in the new house, the spouse to whom the house is awarded may be ordered to pay a sum of money to the other spouse, which in most such circumstances will be protected by an owelty lien.Alternatively, the court may order the parties to sell the new house and then divide the net proceeds between you in a manner that is just and right.  ... Read More

Without knowing what caused the fire, it is going to be very difficult to identify someone who may be legally responsible for any damage.  The fire might have been caused by the negligence of the mechanic; but then again, it might not have.  It might have been caused by a defective condition of the 18 wheeler.  It might have been caused by vandals.  It might have been caused by some dangerous condition at the storage yard.  It might have been caused by a third party visiting the storage yard where it was parked.  One bad thing about fires is they often--but not always--destroy whatever evidence may exist as to what caused the fire in the first.A business owner, like the mechanic, is not an insurer of your property.  That's why you should have gotten an insurance policy before taking possession of the 18 wheeler.  Ordinarily, a buyer would do this with his insurance agent at the seller's place of business.  You must have insurance in force to complete the registration of your new 18 wheeler.Most insurance companies offer a grave period from one week to one month if you replace a covered vehicle with a newly purchased vehicle.  But more than one month has passed since the fire, so that's unlikely to help you in this scenario.Before wasting the money to hire an attorney, you need to conduct a thorough investigation into what caused the fire that caused your truck to burn down.  A decent fire investigator can cost $15,00-25,000, but there is no guarantee that one will be able to determine the cause, especially this long after the fire occurred.... Read More

There is no proper legal status called a "legal separation."  It is legal, meaning not unlawful, for spouses to separate at any time, with or without the ultimate goal of obtaining a divorce.  In practice, spouses usually separate at or before the time one files for a divorce.Your marital status as of the end of your tax year will determine what marital status to claim on your federal tax returns. Your accountant would best be able to explain to you whether it will be to your advantage to complete a divorce proceeding before the end of the year to take advantage of the "single" filing status or whether it would be to your advantage to wait to complete a divorce next year in order to file either a "joint" tax return or "married, filing separately."There is a mandatory sixty day waiting period in Texas from the time you file for divorce before a divorce can actually be granted.  In practice, because of the time it usually takes to negotiate and prepare a final decree of divorce and schedule time with the court for a prove-up, I'd give it six months.... Read More

If the property management company begins eviction proceedings today, they will not have a hearing until after you have moved out on July 21st.Your landlord is entitled to a writ of possession, an award of damages for the one month's rent you failed to pay, attorney fees, and court costs.  At the end of a lease term, your landlord has the option of not renewing or of allowing you to remain as a holdover tenant month-to-month.  Either party is entitled to give 30 days advance notice to end the tenancy, which your landlord did when it gave you notice on June 20th that you needed to vacate the premises by July 31st.  When you move out, you should, not are not required, to provide to your landlord written notice that you are surrendering possession of the premises to the landlord as of July 22, 2023, along with your new address.  If you provide your landlord written notice of your new address, your landlord must refund your security deposit, less any repairs to the premises of which the landlord must provide you notice, within thirty days.  It is common, but not required, to schedule a walk-through when you surrender possession so that any damage can be assessed and compared to what was reported as already being present when you moved in.  It is advisable that you take a number of photographs depicting the condition of the premises once you have removed all of your belongings and thoroughly cleaned the premises to use as evidence in case you encounter any problem with your landlord refunding your security deposit.Do not--under any circumstances--suggest that the landlord keep your security deposit in lieu of your last month's rent.  This is a statutory violation that may subject you to additional penalties.... Read More

Maybe if your new house is community property.In a typical divorce case, your attorney will ask for temporary orders during the pendency of the case.  Temporary orders typically include awarding one party exclusive use and possession of a house and, most often, a motor vehicle.  In the absence of a protective order due to domestic violence, you likely will not have much luck excluding your husband from a residence that is community property unless and until temporary orders are entered awarding your exclusive use and possesion of the home.... Read More

Whether you file the I-485 petitions depends upon your intent and that of your parents. If they wish to return overseas soon, you would file separate I-130 petitions for them, and they would consular process their immigration later on forms DS-260 Application for Immigrant Visa with the National Visa Center after the I-130 petitions are approved, and interview for the immigrant visas at the designated embassy or consulate in their home country. If you and your parents decide that they should remain in the US, you can file concurrent I-130 petitions (one for each parent) along with I-485 applications (again, one for each parent). 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

In your case, unlawful presence only begins 180 days after the I-539 application is denied, assuming that the I-539 was timely filed. If not timely filed, unlawful presence would begin 180 days after the date that you fell out of status. 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

Applying for citizenship does not mean that your child can automatically attain a citizenship certificate as soon as you obtain yours although he may be able to apply for and obtain a US passport. For a certificate, USCIS requires such children to file form N-600 Application for Certificate of Citizenship after you obtain your citizenship, which is a drawn-out process. If you are concerned about obtaining a certificate for your son, it might be faster for him to file his own N-400 naturalization application as soon as he turns 18 rather than filing an N-600. 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

It depends.Under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), an employer with more than 50 employees must allow an employee who has worked at least 1250 hours within the last 12 months at a facility at which at least 50 employees are employed within a 75-mile radius up to 12 weeks of paid and/or unpaid leave as a result of a serious health condition.  I think your emergency gall bladder surgery almost certainly qualifies as a serious health condition.  If it was an emergency on May 15, 2023, you were certainly within 12 weeks at the time of the call on May 24, 2023.Facts not included in your question that are important are:  1) Does your employer Club 4 have more than 50 employees; and 2) had you worked at least 1250 hours within the 12 months preceding your emergency surgery at a facility at which at least 50 employees are employed within a 75-mile radius?I'm going to speculate that Club 4 is a fitness franchise, and I know there are numerous Club 4 fitness centers in the DFW area.  I'm also going to speculate that your employer is a franchisee, and not the franchisor.  I'm going to speculate that an individual fitness center probably does not employ 50 employees.  So it may be important to learn what other locations your particular franchisee employer owns in the area, and how many total employees the franchisee has spread out among its DFW area locations.... Read More

It depends upon the particular facts and circumstances of the situation.  If one of the original four people whom the lawyer originally represented complains that a conflict of interest arose between them and one of the two people that the attorney has come back to represent, that person may have standing to complain and to seek disqualification of the attorney depending upon the terms of the original attorney employment agreement.... Read More

You cannot run and hide from your parole and have it discharge on its own while you are on the run.  Why anyone believes this could be true is incredible to me. Your discharge date is meaningless once you go on the run, and a motion to revoke it filed. You will NEVER finish parole - it is frozen once the motion to revoke parole is filed, and no matter how long beyond your original discharge date you run, you will NEVER discharge from parole.... Read More

There is no statute of limitations issue. If he leaves the state, his probation will be frozen once a motion to revoke probation is filed. The warrant will then exist until the end of time, and if he comes back to TX he will be arrested on the warrant, and have to resolve the motion to revoke his probation (which would result in a jail sentence).... Read More

Generally speaking, your divorce decree creates binding obligations between you and your former spouse.  It typically does not (and cannot) in any way limit a third-party creditor's rights against either you or your former spouse because the creditor was not a party to your divorce proceeding.When the parties have a joint debt obligation, including a tax debt, at the time of divorce, the court typically includes provisions as to how those debts are paid.  A typical provision begins with the language similar to the following:"IT IS ORDERED AND DECREED that Petitioner A.C. shall pay, as a part of the division of the estate of the parties, and shall indemnify and hold Respondent B.C. and his property harmless from any failure to discharge, these items:"This is typically followed by a laundry list of debts which may include 50% of any past tax debt of the parties incurred during their marriage.To enforce this provision against your ex-wife, you would first pay the IRS the entire tax debt, then sue your ex-wife for indemnity seeking a judgment against her for the 50% she was ordered to pay and to indemnify you from any failure to discharge.  You would then get a judgment against her, which likely will include interest and attorney fees, which you could then collect using any of the legal methods available for collection of an ordinary civil judgment subject to the usual property exemptions... Read More

You may be able to sue the dealership for negligence.  Our justice of the peace courts have jurisdiction over small claims like yours where the amount involved is less than $20,000.  One of the benefits of our justice of the peace courts is that you do not need an attorney, so you will not need to pay a lawyer $25,000 upfront just to try to recover a $7,000 repair bill.  Most justice of the peace courts have pamphlets and brochures that tell you exactly how to pursue a small claim in their court.  You will want to go to the justice peace court in the county and precinct where the dealership is located.  ... Read More

The I-765 employment authorization application is an ancillary application to the I-485 in your situation. It cannot be based upon the I-130 filing. If and when you file the I-485 application, you can file the I-765 EAD application at the same time. For your information, if you are otherwise eligible to adjust status, you can file the I-485 during the time that the I-130 petition is pending. 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

USCIS will allow a change of name on its forms where there is a marriage and the marriage certificate is provided. If you are using the new name, you should sign with your new name. You can put your married name on the first page and your maiden name on the second page under "Other Names Used". The rest of the process should be the same as your other DACA renewals. 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 should do what your husband's lawyer recommended.  Because your husband was still married to his co-worker when you participated in your second "remarriage" ceremony, that "remarriage" was illegal, invalid, and ineffective.  So clean it up by annuling that invalid "remarriage," and then remarry him again if you still want to be married.  ... Read More

Given the extremely small amount of money involved, I recommend that you attempt further negotiations with Lowe's customer service to resolve the matter.  If you have to go to court, I would suggest filing a small claims lawsuit in justice of the peace court.  Our justice of peace courts have jurisdiction over small claims with amounts involved that are $20,000 or less.  It is unnecessary to hire a lawyer to represent you in such a case.  ... Read More

Unless the lease agreement provides otherwise, a tenant is liable to the landlord for any damage to the leased premises during the tenant's occupancy unless such damage was caused by the landlord or his agents.  If the estimate to repair the damage is $21,000, you can deduct $2,500 from the security deposit leaving a balance owed of $18,500, which is within the jurisdictional limits of a small claim for a justice of the peace court.Given the small amount involved, it is probably not worth it to hire a lawyer.  Whether to pursue the claim depends heavily on the financial condition of the tenant.  Texas has very generous exemptions, meaning that there is a lot of stuff you can't have a sheriff or constable seize to satisfy a judgment.  So, in many instances, a judgment becomes nothing more than a piece of paper that says the tenant owes your son a sum of money.  Of course, a judgment for damages to leased premises will appear on the tenant's credit report, which could create difficulties for the tenant in renting in the future.  So it may be worthwhile to pursue.... Read More