Are You Anxious About Giving A Deposition? If the thought of being confronted by an attorney while a court reporter hammers away at your every word scares you, you are not alone. If you are like most people, watching an episode of “Law and Order” is the closest you have come to being involved in a trial. Now you have been asked to give a deposition and it is understandable that you have apprehensions. We will look at deposition modus operandi, your do’s and do not’s, what to look out for, and tips for success. At the end of this blog, you should be able to perform well at your deposition. Show Up You can probably think of a dozen better things to do than to spend a day being grilled by an attorney. But if you are thinking this… Read More
What is the secret to Happy Co-Parenting? You Go First What is so happy about divorce? Well, depending on your circumstances divorce can make you happy. But for many of us, divorce is anything but a happy experience. Especially when we start to think about the impact it may have on our children. We all want our children to be happy. And one way to do that is to be happy ourselves. One way to make ourselves happy is to make others happy. That’s a lot of happiness in one paragraph, so let’s unpack it. The Old Order Of Things You may have fallen into an ugly dance with your partner. You may have gotten good and practiced at taking imperfect steps. Now the music has died, and the dance is over. It’s time to go home and no one… Read More
Why Mediate? If you’re planning to divorce, the process of mediation can save you time, money, and stress. Mediation will give you and your spouse an opportunity to hammer out the details of your divorce settlement before going to Court. Because you and your spouse took the time to mediate, you will both already know what to ask the judge for and what your spouse will agree to. It will greatly expedite your divorce proceeding because any conflicts will have already been negotiated and settled. Another advantage of mediation is privacy. Mediation is a confidential process and details of your negotiations with your spouse do not become a part of any public record. So, if you prefer to keep your private affairs private, mediation is a good choice. Mediation has proved successful in 85% of the cases where it has… Read More
What Is A Quiet Title Action? A quiet title action represents an equitable proceeding whose purpose is “to establish superiority of title in property.” Ownership of a parcel of real estate is not an absolute concept. A lawyer will typically associate “ownership” of land with having the legal rights to the “highest quality estate which a person can have in [a parcel of] real estate.” This is commonly known as “fee simple title” to the parcel in question or a “fee simple estate.” American Land Title Association describes “fee simple” as follows: Generally speaking, it means unqualified ownership of land with unqualified power of disposition. Unqualified ownership does not mean that such ownership cannot be subject to outstanding encumbrances and interests of a lower quality than fee simple. A person may hold a fee simple title to real estate, but… Read More
What Is Foreclosure? In simple terms, “foreclosure is the legal process by which a lender attempts to recover the amount owed on a defaulted loan by taking ownership of and selling the mortgaged property.” - Investopedia In foreclosure situations, your home gets auctioned off to the highest bidder. Sometimes, the house gets sold for more money than the liens against it. This extra money is called foreclosure surplus funds. What Are Surplus Funds? If you haven’t been able to keep up with your mortgage payments or taxes and your house is foreclosed upon and sold at auction for more than the debt amount against it, you are entitled to those surplus funds. Let’s say, for example, that you own real estate with a mortgage owing of $80,000 that is foreclosed upon. The bank, at auction, gets a purchase price of… Read More
Don’t lie about your injuries Insurance adjusters are savvy investigators. He or she can, and will, find every claim and every medical record in your name. They will use Google and your social media accounts to spy on you. They will hire private investigators. If you are caught in a lie the consequences can kill your claim or lawsuit. Many insurance companies have provisions in their policies that will void claims for providing false information. If your case goes to court, you will lose favor with the jury if it is shown you attempted to mislead. It can be tempting to lie when confronted with seemingly contradictory information. But the truth is, recovery is a process. Some days will be better than others or perhaps you took more pain medication on a certain day. It is always better to provide… Read More
A decree finalizing a divorce in Kansas may award either party an allowance for future support. This allowance is more commonly known as spousal support, maintenance, or alimony. The purpose of spousal maintenance is to even the playing field between the parties as they attempt to rebuild their lives post-divorce and to maintain the standard of living the parties developed during their marriage. Kansas Spousal Maintenance Law Under K.S.A. 23-2902, a maintenance award must be in an amount that the court finds to be fair, just, and equitable under the circumstances. This language gives the Court broad discretion in determining maintenance awards. The overarching principle in making this determination is the ability of one party to pay and the other party’s need for support. The method used to calculate a spousal maintenance award varies for each individual divorce case. Kansas… Read More
#1 Do Not Give A Statement If you receive a call from an insurance adjuster, keep in mind that anything you say can and will be used against you. Even simple answers to simple questions can be misconstrued or taken out of context. It is best to simply and politely inform them that you have nothing to say at this time. Let them know that you are taking all medical advice and following all doctor’s orders and will contact them through your attorney at the appropriate time. They likely will not be happy with this reply and will press for cooperation, but stick to your guns. You are under no obligation to give a statement to an insurance company. #2 Seek And Follow Through With All Recommended Medical Care An insurance company’s defense strategy will be to cast doubt on… Read More
You may be tempted to assume that having received a traffic ticket in a motor vehicle accident that resulted in your injury necessarily precludes your filing a claim against another party. Such is not the case. Traffic citations, along with police reports, are common documents in personal injury cases. These documents are often much less decisive than you might think. It may surprise you to know that traffic tickets and police reports are of not much evidentiary value to your personal injury claim. A traffic citation may give some guidance to adjusters as to how the accident occurred, but in a court of law it really is just a hearsay document. The fact of the matter is that tickets and police reports really don’t prove anything. They are, essentially, someone’s (a police officer’s) guess as to who did what at… Read More
You are getting ready for a court case, either representing yourself or talking to your lawyer about things that you think the court should know. Documents or information submitted to the court are called evidence. There are rules about what types of things the court will actually consider. These rules are governed by Federal and State laws. We will be discussing what evidence can be presented as governed by the Federal Rules of Evidence—as most of the states follows some version of the Federal Rules—and the Rules of Evidence in Kansas and Missouri. There are six basic things that courts look at when deciding if they can consider a piece of evidence. These six things are simply a beginning, and not a comprehensive list. Nevertheless, these six questions are a good starting point for a very basic introduction to evidence… Read More
