Ask the Law Guy

Ask the Law Guy

Have you got a question about:

The law?
The legal system?
A legal problem?

E-mail it to me and I'll pick the most interesting to answer here.

"Thank you very much for answering my question. I love your website!"

"We have enjoyed your web site and have gotten more information off of it than any others. (Plus I got a Kick off the pictures) .Very informative and you have explained it in the basic way for even my Redneck hubby can understand".

"Well, I feel, as many other "Jail-House Lawyers" like you did a fairly good job on my brief."

I appreciate the GOOD advice. I plan to call my probate attorney to followup.

I got a felony for uttering and publishing and fleeing and eluding in Michigan. Is there any way I can get a firearm legally?

No. Federal law prohibits convicted felons from owning or possessing a firearm or ammunition anywhere in the United States.

I am a resident of Fayetteville N.C. In 2000 I was convicted of a felony. The charge was discharging a firearm. I was 20 at the time I'm 24 now. Since then I've been in no trouble. I want to be able to get my life back together so I want to go into the military. I know a few people that have felony convictions that are enlisted. I asked a recruiter what can I do to be able to join, he said I can try to get help from the governor. My question is, is that true, if so how do i go about it?

The governor can pardon people for state convictions. To get a pardon you would have to request one from the governor. There is no specific format for the request. The governor has the sole discretion to grant or deny it. You might consider hiring a lawyer to help with this or contacting a legislator who is friendly with the governor to grease the wheels for you.

It is also sometimes possible to get a conviction set aside by filing what is called a "motion for appropriate relief." If the local prosecutor agreed your conviction could be set aside and you could plead to a lesser offense. Whether this is possible depends entirely on the attitude of the local prosecutor.

If you want to try to either of these options you should check with an experienced criminal defense lawyer. Gerald Beaver is one. Expect to pay any lawyer for his time and effort. Good lawyers are never cheap, cheap lawyers are never good.

My mother in law died in July of this year...2005. Prior to her death, her doctor had recommended that she either be put into assisted living or have round the clock care, because she was showing signs of dementia and/or alzheimers. ... After exhausting all possible solutions and being unable to find someone to live with her, we had to make the very difficult decision of placing her in an assisted living community. After she had been in for several months, Bubba, without asking his other 2 brothers or his mother, decided to move in, because, after all it was a “free” place to stay. He will NOT go out and get a job, but apparently was able to save some $ when he was laid off from his job as a butcher from a well known grocery chain. Without any regard for anyone, he has systematically devalued the property, allowed his dog free run of the place, hasn’t cleaned up anything for months. Its just a mess. While Granny was completely coherent, she had a will written up declaring that all her earthly possessions were to be devided up into 3 equal parts. We have made several attempts to get Bubba out of the house, have hired a real estate agent to come and assess what needs to be done, have written up a contract with her firm, and are presently waiting on Bubba to get out. He will NOT budge. Meanwhile the real estate agent is wondering what is going on, but our hands are tied. WHAT can we do legally to make him leave so we can settle her estate?

The executor of the estate holds legal title to the property until the estate is settled and could probably bring an eviction action to get Bubba out of the house. If Bubba is a 1/3 owner of the house, the others may have to file suit to force a sale of the home (in North Carolina this is called a partition proceeding).

A friend of my helped her daughter and huband out by cosigning for a car. She went to the dealer with her son-in-law who knew the dealer. When it can time for her signature the dealer told her to write her name right here on this line. She had brought the car with out knowing she was the first signature, not the second.

The son-in-law stopped paying for the car so the dealer has reprocessed the car and they want my friend to pay $9000 dollars that left on the car. Is she liable to pay for the car even though the lender has the car back?

The lender can try to collect the unpaid balance minus the amount it got from the sale of the vehicle. When a person agrees to co-sign a loan that is an enforceable promise to the lender that if the principal borrower does not pay off the loan the co-signer will pay. The order of the signatures makes no differene. Here are a couple of things to keep in mind when deciding whether to co-sign a loan:

1. The promise to pay lasts beyond the repossession. In a typical auto finance loan a repossessed auto is auctioned and rarely sells for enough to pay the balance of the loan. The borrower and co-signer is responsible for the deficiency.

2. The promise to pay is not affected by the end of the relationship between the principal borrower and co-signer. For example, a mother co-signs on an auto loan for her son-in-law. The son-in-law and the daughter divorce and the son-in-law stops making car payments. After respossession, the co-singer will have to pay any unpaid balance on the car.

Do not co-sign if you are not willing to have to make good on the balance.

Important fine print

The owner/operator of this website is Bryan Gates, an attorney in Winston-Salem, N.C. E-mailing a question to a website (even a cleverly designed website) is no substitute for live, in-person contact with an attorney if you have a legal problem. In order to avoid legal troubles of my own, I cannot answer questions about the laws of states other than North Carolina. For more information about The Law Guy, check out:

www.attorneygates.com

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