Virginia Recent Legal Answers from Lawyers

If you are still in the middle of a lease you could be held liable for additional months rent under the lease, even if you gave a proper 30-day notice.  Under the Landlord-Tenant Act you must give the Landlord a 21/30 day notice if the problem is something that can be fixed, which this presumably could be.  So your notice may have been defective.  If you're month-to-month and gave 30-days notice then you should be good to go, but the 30-days normally has to give until until the end of a rental period.  So if you gave yuor notice anytime in September AND you're month-to-month then that should be sufficient.  If you gave your notice anytime in October then you have to pay through the end of the next month, November. ... Read Answer

Obviously you would want to vote these people off the HOA board at the next election, but until then they generally make these decisions for you.  You should read your bylaws to see if expenditures of this magnitude are allowed without a general vote and/or if there is any mechanism for removing board members and electing new ones in the middle of their term without waiting for the next election. ... Read Answer

If you don't know your spouse's current whereabouts you can still divorce him by giving legal notice by publication in the newspaper.  This will not help you get support from him or any of the property that is in his name.  If you are seeking support or marital property from him then you are going to have to find him so that you can formally serve him with the divorce papers.  There are private investigation services who can help track people down, but if he is overseas you would probably have to find out what kinds of PI services like that are available there.... Read Answer

You can always file for child support as long as the children are minors.  It is not a right that can be waived, regardless of what your separation agreement says.  This is because it is a right that belongs to the children, not to you, so you have no contractual authority over it. ... Read Answer

If the notation of resident status on the I-751 receipt is close to expiration, the recommended path is to communicate with the USCIS Contact Center and arrange an infopass with the local USCIS field office so that you can present your passport and receive an I-551 ADIT stamp continuing your resident status during the time that USCIS is adjudicating your I-751 petition. USCIS will generally not expedite an application or petition on the basis that the individual status is expiring, especially where there is another path. 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 Answer

Thx for your telephone response. I'm away from my office and could not decipher the number you left on my machine. Please let me know your phone number and I will call you.  thx   My email is Lawshark78@aol.com   Yes some of us charge a very affordable flat fee to handle your case from start to finish. ... Read Answer

Each of the service centers of USCIS have their own processing times. The estimated range from the Texas service center means that it may take up to 10 months for the I-130 to be processed. After approval, I-130 petitions are expeditiously sent to the National Visa Center within days. After receipt by the NVC, you and your wife would send the NVC documents and when the documentation process is complete, the NVC will work with the US embassy or consulate to schedule an interview for your wife in Nigeria. On visiting during this period of time, your wife should ensure that she tells the truth about the pending petition and does not commit fraud or misrepresentation in either obtaining a visa (if needed) or speaking with a US immigration officer at the port of entry. 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 Answer

You appear to be qualified for automatic US citizenship if you were in the legal and physical custody of your father after coming to the US and before the age of 18. In such case, you should be able to file Form N-600 Application for Certificate of Citizenship to USCIS with the filing fee of $1170. You can apply online by creating an online account with USCIS or send by paper to the Phoenix lockbox of USCIS. The address of the lockbox is: U.S. Postal Service (USPS): USCIS P.O. Box 20100 Phoenix, AZ 85036 FedEx, UPS, and DHL deliveries: USCIS Attn: Form N-600 1820 E. Skyharbor Circle S Suite 100 Phoenix, AZ 85034-4850 Good luck! 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 Answer

  You may want to consider hiring a lawyer to send a Cease-and-Desist letter.  While a cease-and-desist letter has little legal impact, the lawyer's letterhead gets the recipient’s attention.   This is a relatively inexpensive way to put the person on notice that you are not going to let these actions continue and that you are serious about pursuing your legal remedies.  It also tells the person that they could get in legal hot water which will cost them a lot of legal fees if nothing else.  This will often convince them to stop their evil ways.  ... Read Answer

The Department of State has expanded the lock box program to allow discretionary waivers for even first-time applicants who have had a petition approved by USCIS, who are applying for a visa in their country of nationality or residence, who were previously issued any type of visa, and have never been refused a visa unless the visa refuse or was overcome or waived, and who have no apparent ineligibility or potential ineligibility. Please note, however, that the waiver of in person interview is discretionary and that the consular post may still request an interview. Otherwise, good luck. 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 Answer

To avoid having your case dismissed, or losing valuable rights, it is probably best to meet with an attorney to learn the rules. A number of people represent themselves in divorce cases but most have consulted with a lawyer so they knew the rules.  If there are significant issues (custody, visitation, support, property division) that need to be resolved, it is probably best to consult with an attorney before attempting to move forward.  Best of luck~... Read Answer

The difficulty is that the EAD use is inconsistent with F-1 status, and USCIS would consider you out of status if you only had to rely upon the F-1 to stay legally in the US and it knew of your use of the EAD. If your green card application is denied and your F-1 status terminated, you would have the right to see the immigration judge although the timing of hearings is difficult these days because of the pandemic. I also note that under the Biden administration, your type of case would not be considered a priority for removal, and so you may not receive a notice to go to immigration court even if you wanted to do so. 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 Answer

Even if you never worked in the United States and never filled out a tax return, you would still have to supply your I-864 affidavit of support in addition to having a bona fide and credible financial joint sponsor who can provide the financial support for your family. The financial sponsor would have to fill out another I-864 affidavit of support form and supply materials such as tax returns for the past three years, current job letter, payslips, and record of assets if he or she wishes them to be considered as part of the financial support. 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 Answer

I assume that you are over the age of 21. The best way to have your parents and your 17-year-old brother over is to first sponsor your parents, and once they are here, they should immediately sponsor your brother. If all goes well, everyone should be here within 2-3 years. 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 Answer

Since  your mother has a will, and assuming it is valid, your nephew can't inherit anything through intestacy.  Since he is living in your mom's house with her permission, he has not gained any rights through adverse possession.  You don't mention any lease or other agreement in which your mother gave him permission to stay in the house after her death.  Thus, he would have no rights to the house.  However, anyone can claim anything they want, and you can't stop him from making a claim, however bogus.  Moreover, while he has no right to destroy any of your mother's property, that doesn't mean he won't do it.  if you feel it likely that he will destroy her property, you might have a better chance of safeguarding it if he was evicted, but that doesn't seem practical under the circumstances.  Theoretically, if you believe that your mother is no longer competent, you could ask a court to appoint you as her guardian which, if you were successful, would give you the legal power to evict your nephew, but besides the problem of enforcing the eviction, this coure of action would be expensive and would put you at odds with your mother, so I don't recommend it.  Ultimately this is not a legal quesiton, but a  practical one of how best to deal with your nephew, which only you can decide.... Read Answer

The quick answer is that you can't kick your husband out of the marital home.  Even if it's only in your name and even if you are the only one paying all of the bills.  Once you live there together during the marriage it becomes the marital home.  In order to terminate this marriage you are going to need grounds for divorce - either a one year separation (six months if you don't have kids together and can get him to sign a property settlement agreement) or fault grounds, such as adultery, cruelty, or desertion.  If you don't have any of those grounds then you may have to move out of your own home for a year in order to get your one year separation, then you can ask to be awarded the house in the divorce.  Once the divorce is final you could evict him, as he would no longer be your husband.  The other option is to try to complete yout separation under the same roof, but this is not usually advisable because it requires a higher level of proof that you are really separated - that is, you would need a witness who is very familiar with the living situation.  I have been able to get divorces done this way, but the witness has to be really good - like a tenant, a nanny, or some other person who is practicially living in the home with you.... Read Answer

Having had an F-1 EAD does not mean that you are filing for renewal when you next file for an H-4 EAD. You should say that you are filing for permission to accept initial employment. 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 Answer

The present expedite criteria of USCIS are – severe financial loss to a company or person; emergencies and urgent humanitarian reasons; US government interests; and clear USCIS error. Whether USCIS will consider the situation to be sufficiently within emergent or urgent humanitarian reasons is up to the agency. You can try and see what happens. I note that the Vermont Service Center of USCIS is processing K-1 petitions between 8-10.5 months and that your case is currently pending eight months. If by some chance your case is at the California Service Center (the only other center processing K-1 petitions), the processing time is 6-8 months. 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 Answer

The question is whether you have standing to pursue a third-party custody action. As a general rule, the law recognizes the right of parents to raise children, without undue interference from the state or other parties.  However, there are exceptions and you must prove by clear and convincing evidence that it is in the best interest of the children for a court to intervene.  These cases are very difficult to win because of the Constitutional issues involving a parent's right to autonomy when raising children.  There are two ways to handle this situation.  First, it would probably work best for you to reach an agreement with the parents granting you temporary custody.  If they are unwilling to reach an agreement, then, you have to go to the local Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court and file a Petition, seeking custody.  If both parents oppose your request, then, you have to prove actual harm to the children by leaving them with their parents.  If only one parent disagrees, then, you have to prove by clear and convincing evidence ("CCE") that it is in the best interest of the children to be placed in your custody. Unfortunately, the CCE standard is rather high and will require definitive proof of any allegation.  You can't rely on hearsay evidence but you must be able to convince the court, based upon your personal knowledge that the parents pose a danger to the children or are unfit to serve as caregivers. I suggest that you set up a consultation with an experienced family lawyer in your area.  Lawyers charge by the hour for consults, so you need to discuss the cost of a consultation in advance to avoid any issues.   Best of luck~... Read Answer