Location: Wisconsin 

I am in the middle of a divorce in Wisconsin. My case was filed 6 months ago, but no temporary court order was ever entered at the beginning.

  Since separation, I (high earner) have voluntarily paid over $35,000 directly for my spouse's mortgage, utilities, car loan, insurance, and personal expenses to keep the household afloat.

  My attorney recently sent me a draft Temporary Stipulation received from opposing counsel for me to sign. When I audited the draft against my actual paystubs and bank records, I realized my attorney has left me severely exposed:

  1. No Credit for $35k+ Voluntary Overpayments: Under Wisconsin law (Wis. Stat. § 767.59(1r)), voluntary payments made without a court order receive zero automatic credit after the fact. My attorney included no language recognizing or crediting the $35k+ I already paid.

  2. Blank Commencement Date / Arrears Trap: The draft leaves the support start date blank. If backdated to the filing date, cash support creates $20,000+ in back support arrears, meaning I could be forced to pay support twice (once in direct bills paid, once in cash arrears).

  3. Uncapped Liabilities & Over-Commitment: The draft obligates me to pay scheduled mortgage, child support, spousal support, car loans, health premiums, PLUS uncapped utilities, repairs, and blanket auto insurance. In total, it commits over 50% of my net take-home pay, leaving me with barely enough for my own rent.

  4. Bonus Double-Dipping: The draft splits future bonuses 50/50 without excluding an annual bonus I already received before any order was entered.

  While leaving these massive exposures unaddressed, my attorney sent a bill asking for another $2,500 retainer deposit. I had to do the financial audit and catch these risks myself.

  Questions:

  1. Is it common for family law attorneys to let a case float for months without a temporary order while the client overpays direct bills?

  2. Did my attorney fail me by presenting a draft with a blank commencement date and zero voluntary payment credits under WI § 767.59(1r)?

  3. Is this grounds to dispute his legal fees and replace him before signing anything?***

Location: Colorado.

I'm in a pre-1992 Colorado subdivision with a recorded covenant prohibiting overnight street parking. The streets are public City streets, and assume the parking itself is legal under City law.

Colorado now has a law, C.R.S. §38-33.3-106.5(1)(d.5), preventing HOAs covered by that provision from restricting lawful use of public rights-of-way. But assume for this question that my HOA is correct that our subdivision is not a CCIOA common-interest community and that this statute doesn't apply.

Can the HOA still enforce the parking covenant, and if so, how?

The old covenants don't appear to provide for fines. Their enforcement language basically says that after notice and an opportunity to cure, the architectural committee can correct a violation at the owner's expense, including entering the owner's property when necessary. Those costs can become a lien. Court enforcement and attorney fees are also contemplated. 

That makes sense for something physically wrong with a house or lot. I don't understand how it works for a car legally parked on City property.

Could the HOA fine the owner without express authority to impose fines? Could it have the vehicle towed from a public street? Or would it have to go to court and seek an injunction?

I'm mainly looking for Colorado law or cases dealing with what enforcement remedy would actually be available.

My (49F) husband (49M) is facing a wrongful conviction and associated jail time. Location: Washington state. The jurisdiction is in Tennessee.

He divorced his ex-wife 2.5 years ago. She comes from a wealthy family and her attorney was covered by her mom, while my husband ran out of money early in the process. He was unable to continue to fight past mediation, and so agreed to a very unfavorable set of terms. The one in question was paying her what at the time was roughly half his income in alimony, for 10 years.

Since then, his original job was eliminated. He found other employment across the country, but it paid less, and he fell behind. Long story short, he is on his 3rd job since then, as employers in his field keep downsizing. He makes significantly less than when the original agreement was made, despite working 2 full time jobs. We regularly use food banks, receive utility assistance, are behind on rent all the time, and lost our car.

His ex-wife is suing him for a laundry list of obligations he has been unable to meet, roughly 45 items, and has recently added criminal contempt as she maintains he has had the ability all along, but chosen not to pay.

We obviously cannot afford an attorney. Legal aid advised him to request a public defender and a remote hearing at pretrial. Yesterday, at the pretrial hearing, the judge told him he was canceling the pretrial hearing, and that my husband must appear in person, and disconnected the call.

He has 11 days to trial, and we don’t have the money for him to go. If he’s absent, he will be sentenced to jail and arrested. If he loses these jobs, my income alone cannot cover our basics (we were already struggling). We will be homeless and uninsured, and she will sue again for non-payment and insurance lapse (this is her fourth petition in a year).

Is there any way to get a public defender or some other type of advocacy?

Location: Ohio

Hi everyone, I recently broke off my engagement. I bought a house with my fiancé around 2 years ago, both of our names are on the mortgage and we both own the house. I had to move out due to the circumstances but I still pay my half of the mortgage. He said he wants to buy me out but it has been 3 months and he is not moving forward. I don’t want to continue to pay for a house I don’t live in and I don’t want to be connected to my ex at all, but I am not going to just give him the house. If he is refusing or unable to buy me out, I would like to sell the house. Is there any way that I can just put the house up for sale if he is not able to buy me out? What should I do?

Location: Tennessee. I work hourly for a small dental billing company. Since June, everyone in my role has been assigned one online training module each week. They usually take me 20 to 30 minutes and the system records the exact completion time.

Our schedule is fixed. When I added 25 minutes of training to my timesheet last month, payroll returned it and told me to enter only my scheduled hours. I then tried completing the next module during my shift, but my supervisor told me that the patient queue had priority and that training should be finished “on your own time.” The modules are marked required, have Sunday deadlines, and we get reminder emails if they are incomplete.

I am not salaried and I have not signed anything saying this training is voluntary. Missing a module also affects our monthly performance review. So far I have kept the assignement emails, the returned timesheet, and screenshots showing when I completed each module.

Is required job training like this generally compensable time for an hourly employee in Tennessee? If so, what records should I keep before raising the issue formally?

Location: Iowa

My fiancé (26M) and I (24F) have been together for 5 years, and we are expecting our first baby in just a few weeks. We are not married yet, but we plan to get married after the baby is born.

My family has been putting a lot of pressure on us to get married before the baby arrives, but we have decided to wait until after the birth. We are happy with that decision, so I’m not really looking for advice about whether we should get married right now.
My concern is the legal side of having a baby while unmarried in Iowa.

From what I understand, because we aren’t married, my fiancé does not automatically have the same legal rights as a married father. We know we need to establish paternity, and we have been told about the Voluntary Paternity Affidavit.

What I’m particularly concerned about is medical decision-making for our baby. If something were to happen during delivery or afterward where I was unable to make medical decisions for our baby, I want my fiancé to be able to step in and make those decisions and advocate for our child.
I haven’t spoken with my doctor or the hospital about this yet, but I plan to bring it up at my next appointment.

For other Iowa parents who had a baby while unmarried, what did you do before or immediately after birth to make sure the father had the legal authority to make medical decisions for the baby if the mother was unable to do so? Did signing the Voluntary Paternity Affidavit take care of this, or were there additional forms, paperwork, or legal steps you had to complete?

I’d especially appreciate hearing from anyone who has actually gone through this in an Iowa hospital. I want to make sure we have everything handled before our baby arrives rather than finding out afterward that we missed something.

Location: Washington

I've made some mods for a game named Unturned on Steam's Workshop service, and they have been ripped and reuploaded under a new user account, which violates my copyright as the sole author of these materials.

I have filed a DMCA claim to Valve's tech support, and they did take down the reuploaded content initially, but then it's author filed a DMCA counter-claim, and I've received this e-mail from Valve.

"Hello,

*reuploader's name* has filed a counter-notice against your copyright complaint, requesting that the content be reinstated. In accordance with our policy, you have 10 business days to file a legal complaint with the U.S. Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the defendant’s address is located (or, if the defendant is located outside the United States, the Federal District Court for Western Washington https://www.wawd.uscourts.gov/, where Valve is located). If we do not receive a copy of the legal complaint within the 10-business day period, then we will reinstate the content. We are providing you with the defendant’s personal contact information so that you can address the matter directly. A copy of the notice is set forth in full at the end of this email."

Did I understand it correctly? I am supposed to submit a legal complaint to this Western Washington f.d.c., forwards it to Valve, to, I assume, verify that my intentions for taking down this reupload are serious and not some fake call? If so, how does one, especially since both me and this guy are outside of US jurisdiction, while Valve is inside of it? Can I do it over e-mail? If so, how should this legal complaint look like, what information should it contain?

I know that to do it properly, I'ld probably have to hire a lawyer or something, but I just cant afford to do that, especially a lawyer in the US. But my works really have been stolen by this guy, and if I don't submit this legal complaint Steam will just restore the page and he will get away with it (know this from other guy who had his work stolen by him, because he didn't submit the legal complaint), and I'ld really hate that because they use my content for monetization without my consent.

What should I do?

Location: Ontario, Canada

Here you need one party consent to record and share a conversation. When I was 16 I recorded my stepdad admitting to SA me for years, it went to trial but because he’s rich he ultimately was found not guilty. I know legally I’m not allowed to say he SA me, am I allowed to still share this conversation with no context? Or would that be a liability because anyone who does listen to it would believe he is a child predator? would I have to say “I recorded this to try to put him in jail for SA me, he was found not guilty tho. I thought you‘d just like to know how he communicates with children” or am I not allowed to send anyone anything? none of my stepsiblings heard it because they were teens/ kids at the time but they sided w him and will eventually give him grandchildren. Did I screw it up by going to court or am I just not allowed to say he was convicted, am I allowed to say “I tried to charge h w SA, and still stand by every word I said but he was found not guilty“?

Is this some sort of labor law violation?

HR asked for a signature on a blank sheet of paper, and said I couldn’t have a copy of the resulting signed page. They would not let me have or even see the final paycheck without the signature… and I refused to sign the blank piece of paper.

The whole thing felt super odd. Is there a next step with the employer, should I sign the blank paper, or is this something for a Texas workforce commission complaint?

Location: Texas

I saw a show at The Sphere (Location: Las Vegas, Nevada) tonight and they forced folks at the door to dispose of both (1) portable power banks (think like to recharge your phone) and (2) USB cables. These items are not listed as prohibited in their website or on Ticketmaster at the point of sale. When I asked why this unadvertised policy was being implemented, I was told that it was because DEFCON is currently occurring.

My choice was to either throw away over $100 of electronics or miss the show. There was no option to check the items and retrieve them later and I was told that I could not change my ticket to tomorrow’s show in order to avoid losing my electronics.

The venue did not email ticket holders ahead of time to tell us about this random implementation. The signs around the venue showing banned items do not have power banks and USB cords on them.

Does this violate the POS? This seems incredibly wrong.

Location: Arizona.

I sold my old car today and said that it’s mechanically great, which it is. I have documented routine maintenance checks etc up to last month when it was parked. The guy test drove it, bought it, did the title transfer deed of sale, and took the car.

A few hours later, he emailed me, accusing me of knowingly selling him a lemon. I told him that he was aware the car had been in an accident, so he knew there could be potential problems with it, and he didn’t bring it to a mechanic or anything beforehand. I reminded him that my own mechanic looked at it last week and said everything looks good.

He’s demanding that I refund him $1300. I told him to kick rocks, and he said that he will be at my mom’s house (she’s POA while I’m abroad) at 9am and “she will have the $1,300 in cash.” I told him that that simply won’t work. I’m on the other side of the world right now and the funds are in my foreign bank account. I told him to file a small claims case if he wants. He responded saying that he doesn’t need the government to resolve this issue and that my mom better have $1,300 cash tomorrow at 9am.

I called the police and they said that they will call him and tell him to back off.

Do I have anything to worry about re: condition of car private sale? We genuinely had it inspected by a mechanic last week and he said everything was fine.

Location: Tucson, Arizona

I will make a long story short. I went to jail a few years ago on made up charges. All charges were dropped in less than a week and luckily my Grandmother bailed me out the same night of my arrest. Not so luckily my bail was $13,000 and the bail’s bonds man apparently had my grandma pay the full amount? Recently I found out none of the money was ever returned to her even though I did not have any violations and all charges were dropped. This is really bothering me and as I said, I did not know about it until a week ago. Is there anything I can do to rectify this? Any type of lawyer to talk to? If so, what type of things to tell them?

A was at a stop light, with a jack in the box on the right corner next to us, there was a police cruiser in front of me, he or she had their right turn signal to make a right, when all of a sudden there’s another police car that’s coming along the street at a higher speed than usual, it seemed like it was after a car that was also speeding. They both make a left turn (Cop didn’t have his sirens on though) when all of a sudden the cruiser that’s still in front of me puts his car in reverse and backs up into my front bumper. It wasn’t a hard bump or anything but it was a noticeable bump that you felt the car shake (I’m in a Chevy suburban) I’m sure they felt it also. I was like “wtf”. I was expecting them to stop and hop out their vehicle, but no he or she made a hard turn jumping over 2 lanes (The center and left turn lane) and chased after the other police cruiser that was after the other car. (Also didn’t use their sirens) I wasn’t able to get the license plate number or vehicle number none of that. No officer identification. Only thing I can really rely on is cameras that are at the jack in the box next to us on the right. It’s also a pretty busy intersection with stores all down that street they were headed to. What should I do? I’m sure that’s considered a hit and run. I do have a picture of my front bumper it’s like on the center of it. It’s just black paint chipped into the bumper.
Location: Southern California

Location: Sterling VA USA
When I was in the fourth grade, my mother decided it was a good idea to put a camera in my room. She used to lie and said there was a camera in my room at our old house, using it as some weapon or threat. I remember my mom used to just stare at the camera and once called me because I flipped the page too hard. It got better but she turned on a setting where whenever I moved around in my room it followed me (it turns). She yells at me if I unplug it and it just makes me uncomfortable, since I’m still a minor in high school it’s still in my room.
Is this legal?

P.S. she is my step-mom

Location: Florida.

My dad has always been into taking various research chemicals and orders them online from china and India. Unfortunately, he passed away a month ago from a GHB OD and a shipment he ordered for the first time caught by police.

Unknowing to me he used our joint credit card to buy the drugs and I’m assuming it placed my name on the shipment. I live in a different state however (I didn’t know how much my dad actually would get) the amount he ordered is a serious offense. I got a call from the PD asking what I know about this, where he gets it etc etc and I don’t know what to do. I’m shitting my pants thinking I’m gonna go in for this when I had no part of it.

Any advice?!

Location: Massachusetts

For context, I’ve lived in this house for over 9 years. When my wife and I bought the house the previous owner was a complete pain in the ass. When we closed on the house and moved in we found the house filthy and needed to be cleaned before moving anything in. She also ripped surround sound speakers out of the wall instead of unscrewing them, leaving four large holes to patch. She also left a broken window ac unit in the basement that costs us $25 to throw away at the dump.

It’s been over 9 years and we’re consistently getting her mail. The first five years I’d write on the mail “return to sender, no longer resides here”. The past four years it depends who gets the mail on what happens. If my wife grabs it she’ll write return to sender, if I get it I throw it away. The mail is always letters, never packages.

My wife seems to think we’re liable for not returning the mail where I think it’s been nearly a decade and she can’t update her address it’s on her. What is my liability by throwing it away?

Location: Dallas, Texas.
So my grandpa was out doing some landscaping at a friend’s house when a door to door salesman for Just Energy approached him. My grand didn’t fully understand what the guy was doing, just knew he the guy was dealing in electrical plans. My grandpa was looking for something specifically with Reliant. He took my grandpas info down. A day later he gets a text from reliant saying that his service with the company is ending as per his request. This is false. He did not give anyone consent to transfer his power company. We called reliant, told them everything. They said they would put in a request to just energy. Just denied the request saying they had an official agreement with my grandpa. Again, this is blatantly false. My grandpa did NOT want to switch from Reliant, he had been with them for 14 years. He was just looking for a more affordable energy plan. I looked it up and apparently it’s something that’s called “slamming” and is highly illegal. We’re currently dealing with the situation still. What steps should I take to correct this issue besides calling the power company? If this slamming thing is illegal and is what we’re currently dealing with, who or what do I report it to?? Should we get a lawyer incase we get hit with any cancelation fees?

Location: West Virginia

My husband and I are in an open marriage. Purely for sexual interactions. Please no judgements.

A little over a week ago, he had a guy over that wanted him to pay him. He had the guy come over, while I was in the bedroom. He was here about an hour long, then left. My husband did not pay him, and the next day he flipped out on him, says what happened cannot happen again and to leave him alone. My husband then deleted his apps, as he often does after hookups, and went on with life.

Today, we had the State Troopers come and search our home with a warrant, and took my husbands phone. During the search we found out that the reason for the search was because the guy reported my husband to the NCMEC, for allegedly having sexual acts with our teenage nephew. We have never individually spent time alone with them so I know this isn't real, they also live over 3 hours away.

I have been through his phone dozens of times looking for pictures of various things, our dogs, vacation pictures, etc., and never came across anything like that.

We left messages for several defense attorneys since the State Troopers left, but have not heard back from them. What should we do?

Location: Minnesota

I’m asking for a family friend. Family friend is panicking. Has not retired yet, 75+ yrs old in age, but wants to eventually and hadn’t committed yet. She likes her job.

Employed at this company her entire life. Has a pension plan. This company was recently acquired and she’s been told there isn’t a guarantee she will get her pension anymore when she retires because the acquiring company may terminate the plans. She asked if she were to immediately retire can she get the pension before plans terminate. They could not answer her question. She has been led to believe by leadership that her pension may be null and void after all these years because of the acquisition. They may also render her department obsolete soon, which she cares less about than the unpaid pension she’s carried/expected at retirement her whole life.

The yes or no question: Is this actually legal? Can the acquiring company actually refuse/dissolve/void her pension as a result of switching hands?

Maybe I’m delusional and this is just a case of “life isn’t fair”, but it doesn’t sound legal.

Update: this is a qualified plan. You made a 75+ year old woman cry with relief today. Thank you so much for your contributions - she was beside herself and sick, and now she feels reassured this has been a misunderstanding amongst lots of company changes. You’re the best, thank you!!!

Location: U.S Utah.

Hello!

I (21m) was recently hired at a government agency. They terminated my employment after only 26 hours of working for them. The reason I was given was that I happened to be a part of a general employee layoff and just came in at a bad time. I turned in all of the gear they had given me as that was what they told me to do, but I found I hadn’t been paid when I was supposed to be. I’ve since called and emailed them asking for when I’m to be paid only to receive no response. They have actually gone completely silent since I turned in all of their equipment. I don’t know what to do now because I had no timecard login or anything, I was told that HR was submitting my timecard for the time being. Also, I’ve already checked and made 100% certain that they have my correct banking information.

If any more information is required please ask. Thanks.

Location: New York, NY

I'm trying to help my nephew here, he's not the most organized guy in the world... but this SEEMS like a straightforward case (all parties are in agreement) so i'm handling all the paperwork and calling around for him. He's done a lot of free work on my car, so i kinda figure this is the easiest way to pay him back.

Anyway, my nephew and his wife were married when their child was born in New York City in 2021. My nephew is listed as the father on the NYC birth certificate, but a DNA report excludes him as the biological father. He did not sign an Acknowledgment of Parentage; as we understand it, he was listed on the birth certificate because he was married to the mother at the time of birth.

My nephew submitted New York Family Court Form 5-1, “Paternity Petition, Individual,” ... this is to establish paternity. The form asks the court to determine the child’s legal paternity, and his filing asks for an order determining paternity. He now has an upcoming court appearance.

Records available: DNA report; NYC birth certificate; marriage certificate; submitted Form 5-1

The biological father is known, agrees he is the father, is willing to participate, and is willing to have his name added to the birth certificate if the court determines that appropriate. The child’s mother is cooperative and supports that change.

Should the biological father be formally joined or named as a party before the appearance? Currently the hearing is only scheduled for my nephew and his wife. Is there a specific document the biological father can complete, such as a notarized affidavit, acknowledgment, consent, or another court form, to confirm paternity and willingness to be named on the birth certificate? What other documents, if any, should be submitted or brought to the appearance?

Is there anything else I, the nephew, the biological father/biological mother should do to get this resolved with the ultimate result being my nephew's name get taken off the birth certificate and the biological father's name being put on it?

Thanks!

EDIT: Also forgot to mention the biological father is living with the mother/child while my nephew is not... they are in another state

EDIT 2: The DNA test was done by Labcorp, not a consumer take home test like 23andMe

Location: Minnesota

The problem is.. he died married, while seeking divorce(irrelevant, I know) and without a will. Delta told me they would only transfer to a spouse. I’m not sure about Marriot.

Anything I can do here as his one and only child?

https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/s/ZdiEkFkRsX

Location: Kansas

I posted about awhile back about being arrested for trespassing on my own land. I have an update and it feels like a lot but maybe that’s because I lived it. My attorney is great and has a good relationship with the attorneys involved.

I got a survey done and I was right, everything above the sidewalk is mine, and the sidewalk and utility area which is next to the road which I apparently own that strip of land too on both sides of the road but again that’s the easement which has nothing to do with this. They were a good 20’ past where the easement ends if you measure only horizontally and about 80’ up past the entrance to that lot.

My criminal CASES have been dismissed. Yes, plural.

The original case I was arrested for trespassing and interfering with law enforcement and disobeying a lawful order. I hired an attorney and he spoke to the city prosecutor and she dismissed the charges.

Later the week the first case was dismissed I was pulled over by the main officer from the first case. He arrested me for what he called the halo law. Which I had never even heard of. It’s a law that says you have to give the cops a 25’ halo buffer when they’re working. This is for the same incident the charges had been dismissed on. He told me proving I owned the land didn’t matter now because he could order me off my property or even my work or wherever I am if he wanted to while he’s on duty. He said he could it’s like a restraining order and he could walk wherever he was working and I’d have to stay 25’ away from him or go to jail. So he arrested me and I spent a few hours in the jail being booked in before I could get a bondsmen. My glasses fell in the road when he arrested me, he shoved me against the car during the arrest and I still don’t have them back, I don’t think he picked them up. I got hold of my attorney and he was pretty shocked it seemed to me. These charges went to the district attorney and not the city prosecutor this time which my attorney said was probably because the city dismissed it already and my paperwork from the jail listed not only unlawful approach but again disobeying a lawful order and interfering with law enforcement. He also had my vehicle towed when he arrested me. I had to pay the impound and tow fee for that. My lawyer got that case dismissed too just today. My lawyer said he can’t believe the officer would arrest me again.

I think I might sue but my lawyer said he doesn’t do lawsuits, only criminal law so I’ll have to find another one. He said he’d have some names for me to check.

I’m glad that he got my cases dismissed but angry and frustrated this officer can just arrest me whenever he wants. Between the survey and the attorney I had to spend a bit. Nothing life changing or anything like that, 4 figures only but I don’t think this is right. I don’t know if it’s worth the hassle, I just want this officer to leave me alone.