Your questions bring up a number of issues. In answer to your first question: generally, yes, each child should share equally in someone’s estate, unless the person who died indicated that one or more children should not share in the inheritance. In your specific case, based on your second... View More

I'll make three points: First, if your attorney has entered her appearance on your behalf with the probate court, she needs the court’s permission to withdraw, except in limited circumstances. If the court grants that permission, the court should also be willing to grant you a “Motion to... View More

Hi there.

The only financial information on the child support affidavit that always matters is gross income. The definition of gross income is a hotly litigated issue in a lot of child support cases. The relevant statute can be found here:... View More

As always, if you have court-ordered rights to visitation and your co-parent is getting in the way of that happening, you can simply take her back to court on a motion to enforce or a motion for contempt. If this is a persistent thing, or part of a larger co-parenting problem, you may wish to... View More

“Joint tenancy with rights of survivorship” would be at least more convenient for you as to title to the house, CU account, and cars. If that were the case, you could avoid having to open your husband's estate in Probate Court to transfer title to those assets if he were to predecease you.... View More

Generally, Social Security benefits are exempt from execution, levy, attachment, garnishment, or another legal process, or from the operation of any bankruptcy or insolvency law. The exceptions are that benefits are subject: (1) to the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury to make levies for... View More

Federally backed student loans are not dischargeable in bankruptcy, unless you can prove hardship (which has a high threshold that you don't seem to meet). Most likely, you would still owe this debt after a chapter 7 bankruptcy case. You should speak to a local bankruptcy attorney to confirm this.

It sounds like you may be concerned that your sister may be taking advantage of your father’s assets. Your first concern should be about your father’s well-being. You could make a report to Adult Protective Services at 1-800-624-8404, but they only get involved in the most serious cases. You... View More

You can't file a family based petition for her like you could for your wife. When your wife becomes a citizen of the United States she could file for her but that takes a VERY long time to result in resident status.

When you say little sister, does that mean school age? She might be... View More

Hello.

Assuming that the shared custody order was a Maine order, you and your child's father should be able to file a stipulated motion to modify that order to reflect your desired change to sole parental rights and responsibilities. It is important to provide the court with a draft... View More

I hesitated to answer this question because it lacks detail, but if I assume that the check was made payable to your mother, the problem is that she has passed, so she cannot deposit it. The general rule is that a check made payable to someone who has died cannot be cashed or deposited – rather,... View More

This is an interesting question. It implicates several legal concerns (1) ownership of the physical letters, (2) ownership of the copyrights in them, and (3) transfer of property of the intestate (no will) of the deceased. As to (1): Intent to give the articles to the museum as a gift can be... View More

Yes, you can!

The only way to modify a child support obligation is via a motion to modify child support. Even if your daughter is living with her father, his court order remains in place, and the obligation will be enforceable.

Zoning is based on the location. Some zones will allow for both commercial and residential, but the types of commercial uses may be limited. You need to check with the town's land use code and zoning map to determine the relevant zone and what uses are permitted.

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answered on Aug 16, 2017

This all depends on the paperwork signed at the photo shoot. That will likely control your legal rights.

Here are 15 possible candidates that may be able to help you. I suspect most will tell you (by phone) if it is something they will consider handling. If the publisher of the mass... View More