Speaker A:

Steve Palmer here for another Wednesday edition. Uh of Lawyer Talk with the Blitz. That means we're going to be taking all callers, at least all those that get through and answer their legal questions or give them whatever input we can give them. Sometimes there's a lot sometimes. Sometimes there's a little. Sometimes, uh, maybe everything in between. But every Wednesday we've been linking up with the Blitz. I am, uh, submitting the podcast coverage right here@lawyertalkpodcast.com. Um, if you haven't subscribed yet to Lawyertalkpodcast.com, um, I highly encourage you to do it. We are getting rave reviews across the globe. Trust me, we are advertising. We don't need to advertise. It's catching on like, uh, the ground swell of wildfire that it is. At, uh, any rate, we're not going to beat around the bush too much here. I've got, uh, lots going on upstairs in the law practice. But that doesn't mean that we're not going to answer your questions. I've got a few in the tank, and I promised to answer them. I've been promising to answer them. I've got a trial, a homicide trial coming up next week. After that, I am going to get in the studio and I'm going to do my duty down here and get all those questions answered. So, just because you haven't heard, uh, a Q and A in a while, doesn't mean they're not in the tank and coming they are. And it doesn't mean that you shouldn't submit your own. So go to Lawyertockpodcast.com, submit your own. If you want your own podcast while you're there, you can just check out Channel 511. Com. We'll hook you up with Brett over at Circle 270 Media, our partner in crime down here to, uh, get podcasts up in the ether, the airwaves, or whatever the appropriate, uh, term would be. So with enough, uh, of that nonsense, we are linking, uh, up The Blitz. It looks like they're ready right now.

Speaker B: Right? Steve Palmer is joining us now. How are you, Steve?

Speaker A: I am great. How are you guys doing?

Speaker B: Good, man. Great to have you on the show. Free legal advice with the one and only Steve Palmer from Yavich and Palmer right here in town. Uh, we have, uh, an anonymous call. We're going to start with online one here, Steve. So let's go right to it.

Speaker A: All right.

Speaker B: Good morning. It's The Blitz.

Speaker C: Hi, how are you doing today?

Speaker B: Hey, man, we're doing pretty good. Looper. And Randy, you're on with Steve Palmer, our lawyer. You can ask him anything you want.

Speaker C: All right, so my question is, back in February, I closed on my house, and in the seller's contract, there's a few items that they wanted. They didn't go with the house we bought. They came with the refrigerator, stuff like that. But there were a few things that they put on the contract that they wanted to keep. Well, here we are, like, a little over six months later, and they haven't come to get them. Um, they don't have plans to get them. Um, and I'm like, I'm trying to be nice and not push them into coming to get them because I bought it off family and I don't want to do that. But it's coming to the point where it's in my way and I'm not 100% sure how I should go about that if I have to legally evict their thing or something like that.

Speaker A: Are these items that are difficult to move?

Speaker C: Um, the one is a carport and the one is a pellet stove.

Speaker A: Okay? So, yeah, they're big, heavier items. I mean, the carport has to be dismantled, obviously, right? Or is it whatever it is. I mean, I would start with writing. Uh, you can write a letter to the sellers and say, part of the contract was you were supposed to take these items. You have, uh, not taken the items. Uh, please advise. And then did you have a real estate agent when you did this contract, by the way?

Speaker C: No. Was it all off the family got you? I had my, um, loan officer write.

Speaker A: It all up and all that stuff I got you. Well, whatever you do, I do in writing. And I would make sure you give them plenty of opportunity to come get the stuff. And you can even say, look, if you don't get the stuff, I'm going to have to dispose of it. And then you can, uh, dispose of it. Now, if you sell the stuff and there might be an argument that you can't just keep the money, but if it's stuff you don't want and stuff you just have to have hauled away, um, you might just pay to have it all to whoever the owner is and say, look, here's, uh, the bill for the hauling. There's not a great way to deal with this, particularly if it's family. You don't want to get into a, uh, sort of a back and, uh, forth with family on something that's sort of ticky tack like this. So I sort of feel you you got the legal issues and then you got the family issues and the personal issues all rolled up into one big ball. Um, I would just make sure you do it in writing and say, listen, I'm going to, uh, have to move this stuff. I'm going to deliver it to you, it's yours per the contract, and I'm going to charge you for the delivery. That might be one option. And they may say, look, just get rid of it, we don't care. But I wouldn't just sell it, dispose of it, throw it out, because, uh, you don't want to have to be responsible for the cost of it later, even though by contract, they should come get it. So I know this isn't a great answer, but I'm trying to sort of dance around the family concerns as well.

Speaker C: Yeah, that's what I've been struggling with is the whole family aspect of it all. I'm not sure. I'm not sure what to do with that.

Speaker A: Yes, uh, if you don't care about going to court and taking family to court, you just go to court and file a lawsuit and say, please declare what the rights and responsibilities of all the parties are. It's called a declaratory judgment action. But you, uh, hate to sue your family, and you hate to go to court. It just costs money, time, and headache. So, uh, delivering their stuff to them, while it may cost you money, it at least solves the problem.

Speaker B: It is tough, man. Like suing family or taking family to court or anything like that. I was just watching a conversation with Dan Cook the other day. You remember Dan Cook and how famous Dane Cook was. Do you remember his brother stole, like, $6 million from him?

Speaker D: Oh, I forgot about that.

Speaker B: Oh, really? He put his brother in jail. Wow.

Speaker UNK: Yeah.

Speaker B: So, like, Randy and I were kind of privy to that whole situation because we, uh, were doing some gigs, uh, 14, Cook's cousin down in Florida, and he had the whole scoop before it hit the media.

Speaker D: That's right.

Speaker B: And we were like, really? 6 million? And it turned out to be absolutely $6 million. I mean, it's crazy. And like you're saying, Steve, it's hard, man. When you get into court with family, it just makes for a strange situation.

Speaker D: Here's one. My question is for Steve. My ex has custody of our son, but I get him every other weekend if I'm supposed to drop him off Sunday. But she went out of town this weekend and doesn't even get back until Monday, which messes me up with getting a babysitter on short notice. Can I file something where I can get custody?

Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, look, you can try to depending on what county, but you can try to file something here. You can try to go ahead, the court intervene. But by the time you get an answer to this, and by the time you spend the money, the emotional, uh, expense, and everything else that goes along with going back to court on a contempt action or a modification, uh, of custody, you're going to long have forgotten about this, and you're going to pay for it over and over and over again. So these are the kind of things that just suck if you can't get along with your ex enough to have some agreement, um, on this, but it gets really difficult because it's going to repeat. All, um, I can say is it's probably, uh, best to take the path of least resistance. Most important are the kids. I don't know how many kids we're dealing with here, but it's always the children that you want to put first. Whatever conflict you can keep them out of, that's what you need to do. And, uh, if you have to just get a babysitter or do whatever, or trade weekends. I would suggest taking the high road here and saying, look, we're going to trade weekends because you're not here this weekend. Please respond, uh, and then log this stuff, keep track of this stuff. Because if your ex has a history of screwing up, a history of blowing off obligations, a history of not being where they are supposed to be, then you can go into court maybe a little better armed to get a decision, uh, going your way as far as more custodial time. But I would, uh, contact your domestic attorney if you have one. If not, I can get you referred to one if it gets that far. Just give me a shout. 614-224-6142.

Speaker B: All right, Steve, we have a text, uh, question.

Speaker D: This is kind of scary. It was from Jose. Long story short, my girlfriend's dad passed away about a year ago. His death was Anna. How do you say it? I guess annotated, uh, annotated as an accident on the death certificate. His life insurance policy was paid out, but the policy had an accidental payout that was denied. Can you submit an appeal? Would it be best to have a lawyer for this?

Speaker UNK: Interesting.

Speaker A: Yeah. I don't know how much life insurance we're talking about the lawyer component to stuff, as I say here, almost every week now, it's always a cost benefit analysis. So if it's like 1012 thousand or 15,000 in life insurance, certainly hiring a lawyer to write a letter and or give you an opinion, uh, on whether this is a bad faith denial of coverage or a contractually improper denial of coverage, that might be worth a few hundred bucks. But it looks like it's litigation sometimes there's, uh, big money at stake on life insurance policies. And if there's a million dollar policy, uh, and they're denying it, then it may be worth getting a lawyer. And a lawyer might even do something like that on a contingency. So give me a shout. This is probably a Dave Goldstein question. 614-224-6142. We'll put you in touch with, uh, Dave and we'll get a firm answer for you so you have some idea of what we're dealing with. And then I can talk through the amounts in question, what it might cost and how it all works.

Speaker B: Dave has also been my lawyer, who has been fantastic.

Speaker D: Absolutely. Now Casey wants to tell the first, uh, caller that he'll take the caller's pellet stove if he's eventually selling. This next text comes in. My mother hired a divorce attorney months ago. She told her she filed the documents in May, but she didn't. My mom started calling her daily, and finally the assistant called back and said they just filed it. July 22. This is scary. Domestic violence, divorce with a lot on the line. Is there anything that can be done to move this process along when you have an already paid but not reliant attorney?

Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, look, how did you already pay? This is one of these where I don't know the lawyers involved, and frankly, I'd rather not know your, um, lawyer. It's a service professionals. We provide a service, and I take that very seriously. And if I have dropped the ball on something, I always just tell people, look, this guy push back on the back, uh, burner for a minute. I was working on something else. Or maybe sometimes lawyers just dropped the ball. We hope we don't, but sometimes it happens. You have a couple of options. Um, you can go to the bar association and make a complaint. I would always start with a lawyer and say, look, let's talk, because you've told me this was filed. It wasn't. Please explain. Um, and I wouldn't be accusatory. I would just be very matter of fact and get an explanation. And the other option you have is just to get a different lawyer. I know you've already spent money, but, uh, this may be a sign that, uh, things aren't going to be good going forward, and that's why you want to start with that conversation. So communication, generally speaking, is the primary issue most people have with their lawyers. And everybody thinks that because of bad communication, their lawyer doesn't know what they're doing or they're not doing anything. That's not always true. It could just be that they're doing what they need to do, and they're very good at doing what they're doing, but they're just not communicating about it. And that gives the perception of a confidence problem. So always start with communication, and then see what the explanation is for not getting this filed. If it was a mistake, see if they own up to it, or he or she owns up to it. If not, you, um, always have that option of getting a different attorney. You don't have to stick by an attorney who you're not comfortable with.

Speaker D: Hopefully you what if you pay, uh, them? Can you sue them for their payment back?

Speaker A: Maybe. But, uh, again, you're going down a, um, rabbit hole. It might be too much to deal with. So just filing a divorce complaint, hopefully, um, they're not too far deep into the legal, uh, fees yet.

Speaker D: Oh, man.

Speaker B: I have this will be our, um, final question here.

Speaker D: Okay. It was just comments, so go ahead with the final question.

Speaker B: Sure.

Speaker D: Another one? Yeah.

Speaker B: No, that's it.

Speaker D: Okay. Matt Becker said, I'll buy the first caller's carport. And then James said, one way I got custody of my daughter is I kept the notebook. And every time her mom would say anything to me, I would write it all down in the notebook. And after months and months and months, I took the notebook to court and submitted it as evidence. And it worked.

Speaker B: Yeah. So I think that's the way to go, too, when you have a long history of someone trying to be difficult, it seems Steve that would be way easier than just one instance.

Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. Document everything. The notebook is a great idea. Some people, you save your text messages, uh, save the emails. If there's a call and your ex says something awful, make a log of, uh, it, and maybe take, uh, a screenshot of the fact that the call happened. And then you can make, uh, some notes of what, uh, was said. All these things add up, and what happens is later on, you go to court, and if you haven't documented this stuff, it all sort of collapses into mudslinging. Like this commenter said, if you can document it and show it to court, it, uh, can start to carry some weight.

Speaker B: All right, well, we are out of time. Steve Palmer gives us his time each and every week just after 830 on Wednesdays to answer, um, your legal questions. Blitz Nation. So we'll talk to you next Wednesday, man. But until then, you can check out Steve's podcast, or if you want to get in touch with Steve off the air, what's that one simple number they can get in touch with you at?

Speaker A: Sure. 614-224-6142. Give me a shout.

Speaker B: All right, talk to you soon. Steve Palmer, ladies and gentlemen.

Speaker A: Thanks, guys. All right, another Blitz Wednesday in the books, on record, on the tape, whatever you want to say. The blitz. Wednesday is done. Good questions. Um, we've got some it seems like there's always these domestic questions, and I hate to hear that because you want to see family stick together. But I do want, uh, to stress something in response to the domestic questions. And some of the comments that came after is that having a good lawyer in domestic court is critical, and nobody wants to spend money. It never feels like when you're going through a divorce and you got to split up your assets anyway, and you're going to be having to get separate residences, and you're going to have to pay for your own apartment, and it just seems impossible if you just got to try to find some money to hire the best attorney you can. I can always help you. I can make some referrals and help you try to find that person to fit your budget. But, um, it's critical that when you go into domestic court, you got some professional advice, maybe I should say about almost anything in law. But domestic court, a lot people get confused and, uh, sideways, and they get orders that they're stuck with for years and years and years. So that's my, uh, follow up tidbit of the day for Blitz Lawyer Talk here on August 3, 2022. Next week, I'll probably be taking, um, a break. I'm in a homicide trial. Hopefully that goes the right way. We, uh, put a lot of time and effort into it, so we're looking forward to that. Not guilty. It's a self defense homicide. But that doesn't mean I won't be available to ask questions, uh, lawyertalkpodcast.com, uh, doesn't mean we won't be available at the office if you've got legal problems. As always, we'll be happy, uh, to help out with those 614-224-6142. So until the next time, whether it's next week or the week after, this is Lawyer Talk Blitz Wednesday off the record, on the air. At least until now.