Question: My wages are being garnished for a credit card I got when I was 16 years old. I’m 22 now and I know that a person cannot legally obtain a credit card until they turn 18. I am wondering if there is any way that I can fight this garnishment since the company issued a credit card to a minor?

The Judge’s Answer:
If you believe that the credit card company should not have obtained a judgment against you, you must go before the court that entered the judgment and request that the judgment be vacated because you were not legally capable of entering into a contract. Once the judgment is vacated, the court will stop the garnishment. If you approved the contract after turning 18, the credit card company may have a valid claim against you.

Probably not. Ordinarily, in order for you, the owner of vehicle, to be liable, you must have given your friend permission to use your vehicle. You can be held liable if the car was stolen as a result of you being negligent in securing your car. For example, if you left the keys in the car, you may be held responsible.

Question: I have made many complaints about my noisy neighbors to my property manager for over 2 years now. I have shown them evidence of their noise levels, mail theft, harassment and property damage. The management told me that the neighbors would be given a notice to move – that was over a year ago! I really don’t want to move. What other legal options do I have?

The Judge’s Answer: You can file a claim against your neighbors for civil damages and for an injunction to prevent your neighbors from harassing you.

Yes, you are. If you agreed to split the winnings, you are liable to your coworker for his share of the winnings, minus his portion of the cost of the ticket, per your agreement.

Question: My ex is in the military and when he got orders to go to Colorado all of our belongings were shipped with him and put into a storage facility there. Things didn’t work out between us and I decided not to move. Even though he assured me that he would send me my things, something always seemed to come up. I’ve tried to go and get them myself, but he refused to give me his address. I’ve been trying to get my things for two years now! All of my receipts and logs pertaining to the merchandise is in storage. Can I take him to court even if I don’t have any paperwork other than messages between him and myself?

The Judge’s Answer: Yes you may. Your testimony and emails are evidence that may prove that your evidence exercised unauthorized control over your property after your demand for return.

It depends. If an officer accidentally leaks your name when you requested anonymity, that may not be enough to take legal action. However, if you can prove that he or she intentionally mentioned your name in an attempt to put your safety at risk, then you may have a case. For example, if you gave the police information leading to a suspect’s arrest, and this suspect threatens to kill the person who gave the police this information, or threatens to have this person killed, and despite the officer’s knowledge of these statements, he or she revealed your name to the media, then you may have a case.

Question:
I had been working at a internet modeling studio for over 6 months when two people got hurt on a weekend that I happened to be off. Afterwards, my boss told us that we had to sign a release waiver of liability form or else we would be fired. I didn’t agree with the paper so I refused to sign and he fired me the next day! I live in Nevada which is an “at-will” state. Can he get away with firing me like that?

The Judge’s Answer: An at-will employee is one that may be terminated for any reason or no reason at all. Of course your employer can not fire you because of your race, religion, gender, age, national origin or disability. If your employer requires his employees to sign a waiver of liability in order to be employed by him, he may terminate you if you refuse to sign the waiver. However, you may be entitled to unemployment compensation.

Probably not. Losing the belt was not a substantial breach of their agreement to clean the dress. At most, you are entitled to the value of the belt.

Question: Can you get back child support from someone that is incarcerated?

The Judge’s Answer: Yes. The state child support enforcement agency can issue an administrative lien or attachment to the department of corrections and collect any funds available to the incarcerated party.

You must file a request with the court to have the fees waived. The judge will look at your income, assets and liabilities to determine whether or not you qualify for a fee waiver. Different courts refer to this in a variety of ways. For example, this can be referred to as any one of the following: a Motion to Waive Deposit, an Affidavit of Indigency, a Motion to Proceed Informa Pauperis, an Affidavit of Inability to Pay Filing Fees, a Request to Waive Court Fees, or an Application to Sue or Defend as an Indigent Person.

Question: I’m currently paying child support to the state of Michigan through wage garnishment for two children ages 19 and 31. I recently went to see how much I had left to pay and even though I knew I was paying arrears on the 31 year old, I did manage to pay off the money I owed on the 19 year old. Both are separate but they continue to take money out of my check for the 19 year old even though I’m at $0 balance! I have taken full responsibility for my obligation but I can’t catch a break and its affecting my ability to care for my two children that live with me. What can I do?

The Judge’s Answer: You need to return to the court where the order was entered and request that the garnishment be stopped.

Well actually your friend would file a federal wrongful conviction claim. Your friend must prove that some act by the police or prosecutor led to his wrongful conviction, such as mishandling of forensic evidence or coercing a false confession.

Question: I stopped paying my Home Owner’s Association (HOA) fees for my condo due to them not doing the yards, cleaning the pool, and taking forever to repair a broken fence, etc. They had me served from the county court to make me pay, I answered to the courts within the allotted time saying I didn’t owe and was looking forward to a court date to have a judge decide the matter. While expecting to receive notice from the court house with a court date, my wages were garnished by the HOA! I went to the court house to see if I had missed the court date and they told me that my HOA never responded to my answer, so there was no court date notification issued. Can I sue them for bypassing my response and garnishing my wages?

The Judge’s Answer: Check your condominium documents to see what, if any rights you granted the association in collecting association fees. In order to garnish your wages, your association would have to obtain a judgment. If the association is garnishing your wages without a judgment, go to the court and file a motion to revoke the order of garnishment.

Yes. However, your friend’s parents must prove that your parents knew or should have known that underage drinking would occur and failed to provide proper supervision to prevent underage drinking. There is no other circumstance that would make your parents liable to your friend’s parents because your friend crashed his car after getting drunk at your home.

Question: My son was offered a settlement by the mass transit company in our area. Once agreeing to the offer, we were told that it would be a few months before he received the money. After 5 months of not hearing from our lawyer, we tried to contact him only to find that the law offices closed because the owner of the firm (our lead attorney) was tried and convicted in federal court! How can I get my son his settlement money?

The Judge’s Answer: You will need to hire another attorney who will contact the Transit company on your son’s behalf. If the case was filed in court, the new attorney can get opposing counsel’s information from the court docket and assist in settling the matter for you.

No, it would not. You can serve your former friend wherever she can be found, including at her job.

Question: Judge Mathis, five years ago my daughter asked me to take care of my 2 year old grandson until she got back on her feet. He is now 7 years old and she has only visited him twice since I’ve had him, she doesn’t even call and talk to him on birthdays or holidays. She doesn’t send money or anything for him and now she has two other kids ages 3 and 1. The boy’s father walked out of his life when he was born. How do I go about getting legal custody of my precious grandson?

The Judge’s Answer: You can file a petition to obtain legal guardianship over your grandson or you can seek to adopt him. In order to adopt, you must file a petition to adopt and give the child’s natural parents notice of your petition. The Court will order you to complete a background check to determine your criminal history and if you have ever been charged or indicated in the abuse or neglect of a minor child. If the natural parents don’t consent to the adoption or there rights have not been terminated, they can file an opposition to your petition to adopt. In that case, an attorney will be appointed for the child.

If you and your boyfriend owned the dog jointly, your boyfriend’s daughter may only be entitled to one-half its value. If you want to keep the dog, you may have to buy out her interest in the dog. If the dog belonged to your boyfriend, his next of kin will be legally entitled to all of his assets, even the dog. If you live in a state that recognizes common-law marriage and you meet the requirements for a common-law marriage, you may be entitled to a share of your boyfriend’s/husband’s estate, including the dog.

Question: My son and his wife have been married for about 12yrs. They live in a rented house and he is not listed on the lease. Whenever she gets angry with him she threatens to put him out. Is this legal?

The Judge’s Answer: No. Even though the lease is only in your daughter-in-law’s name, the apartment is considered the marital home. Your daughter-in law must go to court to obtain a preliminary injunction to exclude your son from the marital residence. In order to obtain a preliminary injunction, your daughter-in-law must show that physical or emotional harm may result if your son is not barred from the premises.

Yes. The legal term for it is adverse possession. This means that if a person takes possession of a property for a number of years (normally 5-15 years) without the owner’s permission, he gains control over it.