General Practice Legal Questions

Your mother (assuming she had no living spouse) had the right to give or leave her property to whomever she wished if she was competent.  Thus, to overturn the gift she made to your brother, you would have to file a lawsuit claiming either than she was not competent at the time of the gift, or that she was under the undue influence of your brother at the tiime.  If you can prove either of these things, you may be able to overturn the gift, but that doesn't mean that you would necesssarily get 50%, it would depend on the provisions of her will, or of the last will she made while still competent.  If, for example, that will provided that all the money would go to charity, that's what would happen.  If there was no will, than the assets that were gifted to your brother would be divided according tot the laws of intestacy.  I don't know aht they are in Maryland, but you are probably correct that, if there was no surviving spouse, and no surviving parents or siblings (parents or siblings might make a difference, but probably not) the assets would be split evenly between the surviving children.... Read More

You can put it in your will, but I don't think it would be very effective. first of all, the disclsoure is likely to be made befoe the will is read.  Second, the person disclosing (for example, the medical examiner) will probably not be aware of the will.  Third, how do you enforce it?  It might be possible to have an enforcement mechanism against those inheriting, for example you get the house unless you disclose my ccause of death, but there would be no penalty for anyone who was not receiving anything under the will, and even if it wsa someon who inherited, enforcing it would require someone an interest to sue the discloser, and it might be very difficult to prove who did it. ... Read More

I know that this is a very difficult situation, but you're proposing doesn't seem likely to make it better.  When you say you gave your daughter a car, I assume you mean that the car is titled in her name.  As far as the world is concerned, it is her car until and unless a court says that it isn't.  It is possible that you could win a lawsuit against your daughter for breach of contract, and possible that a court would order her to return the car to you, but you have no right to simply take her car, any more than she could come along and take your car simply because she claims that she had bought it for you under certain conditions which you violated.  Given the apparent animosity between you and your daughter, if you simply tood the car you would likely find yourself arrested for thef.  ... Read More

A)  No.  Absent a contract or a statute which allows it, you can't assert a lien against someone's property.  At any rate, a lien is a security interest in an asset used to secure a debt.  You haven't claimed that this party owes  you any debt.   B)  Why would you want to?  How is a lien going to help you get rid of the stuff?   You dont refer to any contract or any basis why you should be obligated to continue to store these things.  Unless Florida law is different, I think you can just advise the person that if he doesn't make arrangements for his stuff in a reasonable period of time (30 days should be plenty) you're going to get rid of it.... Read More

If your mother is competent and not under duress or unduly influenced by you, she has the right to make whatever gift she wants of her property (selling you the family home for $1 when it is presumably worth much more would be considered a gift).  Of course, your siblings could always contest it, and, on its face, it doesn't look good, and only looks worse becaues  you have a poa and thus a fiduciary duty to act in your mother's best interests.   Also, depending on how much the home is worth, such a transfer could have estate and gift tax implications.... Read More

Other than making money for your attorney, what is the point of a second cease and desist letter if your neighbor ignored the first?  If you think you have cause, go to the police, or start a lawsuit, but without knowing the details, I wouldn't think that "verbal harassment" which doesn't rise to a police matter would amount to much of a civil case.... Read More

What does her contract with the cemetary provide?  Presumably, since she is the sole surviving owner, she and she alone has the right to decide what is on the gravesite, but check the contract to make sure.  Assuming that she has full control over the gravesite, she should notify the cemetary that she doesn't want anything further added to the gravesite, that her husband's children are not authorized to do anyting with the grave, and that teh cemetary should check with her before allowing any changes.  If you don't trust the children, perhaps she shoudl also warn the cemetary that any document purporting to authorize changes which bears her signature is likely forged, and that the cemetary should only accept documents either notarized or signed in the cemetary company's presence.... Read More

The first question is who owned the property at the time of your grandfather's death?  You indicate that it was owned by your grandfather and stepmother jointly, but by jointly do you mean as tenants-in-common or joint tenants?  Whan a tenant in common dies, his/her share passes to his/her heirs, whereas when a joint tenant dies his/her share passes to the other joint tenant.  Given that your grandfather did not become the sole owner after your father died, I'm going to assume that the property was not owned as joint tenants when your father and grantdfather owned it, but rather as tenants in common, meaning that your father's share passed by his will, or if no will, by the laws of intestacy.  Since, under the Connecticut laws of intestacy, you would have been entitled to a partial share of your father's property if he had died without a will (how much depends ona your family situation, i.e. whether you have siblings, etc), I assume, since your stepmother became the joint owner with your grandfather, that she inherited pursuant to your father's will. When your stepmother died, her tenant in common share passed to her heirs, either by will or by the laws of intestacy.  Either way, it's likely that her share passed to her children, meaning that at the time of your grandfather's death, the home was owned as tenants in common 50% by him and 50% by your stepmother's children.  You indicate that your aunt is the executor, which means that your grandfather had a will and his half interest in the home passes pursuant to it.  If he left you an interest in the home, you would be entitled to some money; if he did not, you would not.  For example, let's say the home sells for $500,000, of which $200,000 is left after paying the mortgage, legal fees, closing costs, etc.  Of that, your grandfather's share would be $100,000.  Thus, if he left you a 25% share of his estate, you would be entitled to $25,000.   There are a lot of suppositions in this response,  As you can see, there are a lot of important facts which you didn't include in your question, and maybe don't know.  It might be a good idea for you to engage a Connecticult estate attorney to help  you. ... Read More

Probably not the first time, becauwe it would probably not be considered reasonably foreseeable that a bird would pick up something on your property, drop it on her property, and her dog woudl eat it and become sick.  However, now that it has happened once, it might well be considered reasonably foreseeable, and you could (emphasize COULD) potentially be deemed negligent and responsible for any damages suffered by your neighbor (i.e. veterinary bills).... Read More

There are no criteria for writing a letter.  You want someone to stop doing something, you, or your attorney, write them a letter asking them to stop.  Getting a court order to force them to stop is a much different proposition, particulalry when you are asking the Court to prevent someone from exercising free speech, and particularly when you may have other means to stop the communications (e.g.. can you change your phone number or email addres, or block them as a sender?).  To do so you would have to show that the person had done something wrong, not just in poor taste, i.e. was defaming your daughter (which requires a falsehood; the truth, however embarassing, is not defamatory), was disclosing information which is either required to be kept confidential by law (i.e. medical informaiton protected by hipaa) or by contract (e.g. an n.d.a). or some other wrongdoing (e.g. the person trespassed on your property to leave a note in your mailbox)..... Read More

I'm very sorry for your loss. Since the will was not signed, you do not have a life tenancy, but own (or will own once your mom's estate is probated) the house equally with your 3 siblings.  If your siblings do not all consent to you remaining in the house, you have no right to stay, but perhaps they would agree if you would pay market rent (discounted by 25%, since that would be your share).  Ditto about getting a roommate, and you would only have the right to 25% of the rent paid by the roommate. If one of the 4 owners insists on a sale, he/she can probably force a partition and sale of the property, although nothing would prevent you from buying it if you have the means.  Since this can be an expensive proceeding, it probably makes more sens for one or more of the others to buy that sibling out. One more thing - the lawyer does not represent you.  If you feel that you want someone to represent your interests, hire your own lawyer.... Read More

I'm very sorry for your loss.  Unfortunately,if there was no beneficiary on the account, the money now belongs to your son's estate.  I dont't think the bank will allow you access until you either start a court proceeding to probate his will, in which case the named executor will have authority to access the account or, if htere was no will, to administer his estate, in which case the appointed administrator, presumably you, would have that authority.  The terminology used in Florida may be differen than NY, but the procedure shoudl be pretty much the same.... Read More

Do you hae a nondisclosure agreement with the company or are you revealing any trade secrets or proprietary information you are obligated to keep confidential?  If not, and what you write is true, or  opinion, you can publish.  Right or not, however, there is no guarantee that someone will not be offended and sue you, but if you can establish those two things you will win.... Read More

I'm very sorry for your loss. Absent a court order, you can't force the hotel to release your late bf's things to you, so see how the hotel wants to handle it.  If the hotel willa ccept a video chat ok from the parents, fine.  If it wants a signed and notarized letter from the parents authoritzing you to get the stuff, then do that.  It's in nobody's interest to go through the time, expense, and hassle of a lawsuit to get you authority to handle this.... Read More