How can I remove a joint owner’s name from a residential property deed?

Q: If a cosigner on a mortgage has assumed all financial responsibility due to the joint owner’s default what is the process to get that joint owner off the deed or title? In Pennsylvania. No relation or marriage was involved just an act of good faith. The other party is not agreeable or even available or whereabouts unknown. Concerns around the other party’s debts continuing to mount in the way of liens on property. Intent to keep property but need to remove negligent party’s interests and ownership.

A: If your information is correct, that you are on the deed to real estate with someone else and the someone else will not sign off on a deed, you have a problem. If they are disagreeable, you may need to buy their interest out, or otherwise convince them to sign a new deed from both of you to you. If that is not possible, you will need to file an action for partition for real estate, which is expensive and time consuming. If their whereabouts are unknown, you may be able to serve them by public notice or advertising. You would need to discuss all the details with a lawyer for a more definite answer. Also, you may have a potential problem if the mortgagee (bank/lender) will not agree to taking the other person off the deed. You would need to seek their permission.

Can I get off probation if I still owe $16, 000 in restitution?

Q: I just saw my probation officer today and I expressed that I really want to get off of probation next year. It ends in five years. However, the amount I still owed is lower but not the full amount. The probation is in Westmoreland County. But I’m supervised in Allegheny. My PA said that the county might not let me off until the monies are paid in full and my probation will be extended if I do not meet the deadline. Is there any other option I can go with beside paying it all off in one-year. Will it help getting a lawyer, paying off half in one year or something? Should I rob a bank?

A: Normally, a probation case cannot close until all conditions are met, including restitution. However, I would review all the facts with local counsel and see if it is worth filing a Motion for Early Termination of probation. For example, if the victim to whom restitution is owed will accept a negotiated lowered lump sum payment and the DA agrees, maybe it can happen. I did this once or twice over the years. The chances are against you but it might be worth asking.

I got this email from Cash Advance Inc. threatening law suit.

Q: It says you are going to be legally prosecuted within a couple of days in the Court House and Internal Revenue Service will put your social security number on hold causing severe damage to your credit history or credit report and your income paychecks will be put on hold any child support or disability or unemployment or retirement benefits will be either place on hold or will be stopped until you will pay the outstanding amount of 783.67 dollars to us

A:  It is nothing but junk mail from a con artist hoping you will give them a credit card number.

How do get mom’s house changed to my name?

Q: She is elderly. We can’t qualify for needed services because of the house. I can’t afford to pay for a nurse or provider. I am barely making ends meet with medical bills and all the essentials needed to care for her.

A: The legal procedure to transfer title from her to you is easy. However, whether it is advisable with her circumstances is a decision that can only be made with advice of counsel. If there is any potential that she will need to apply for Medicaid, such a transfer can make her ineligible for Medicaid. Plus, if you have lived in the house as her caretaker for two years prior to her institutionalization, you may be able to remain in the home after her passing. Also, if you transfer the home into your name only and you do not reside there, her real estate taxes may increase. She will lose her homestead exclusion and possibly any senior citizen’s discounts.

How can the court change my DUI to a 3rd offense?

Q: I was charged with DUI and my lawyer wanted to challenge the stop because the cop has a reputation of pulling people over on “hunches”. (the judge ruled the stop was legal). All my paperwork says that I am being charged with DUI 1st offense. Now, 10 months later the court changed my charge from dui 1st offense to DUI 3rd offense. I only found out about this because I looked up my court status online at the clerk of courts. How does the court get an elementary school “do over” when this thing went on for months as a 1st offense?

A: I would need more information to give you a specific answer. However, it sounds like the DA just discovered your prior two DUI’s. They can amend the information when they receive new evidence. This can happen especially if the prior convictions were out of state. Your counsel can object to an amendment of the Criminal Information (charges). However, I don’t know if that would be a valid defense if a jury has not been sworn in and double jeopardy has attached. I believe the Commonwealth can amend their Criminal Information (charges) upon discovering new information. You either have two priors or you don’t have two priors.

What legal recourse do I have as Co- Executor with my disagreeable sister?

Q: I live in Pittsburgh and was my dad’s primary caregiver for past 2 years. My sister, who lives across the country, and I are named co-executors and equal 50/50 beneficiaries of the estate. I am anxious to get probate started, will filed and wrapped up as quickly as possible so my wife and I can move on with our life. Two years of caregiving and working full time have me and my wife exhausted. There are No debts or creditors. Cut and dry, but my sister, who has been estranged from our dad for 10 years, is preventing probate from getting started because she doesn’t like the attorney I consulted with (who was very good but did advise us if we wanted the process to go faster and cheaper, because she is out of state she could renounce executorship. Well my sister had a fit and got highly offended refusing to allow us to use that attorney. The two other attorneys I contacted suggested the same. Sister is also disagreeable to how I remove trash that she and I bagged up together from our dad’s home. And she opposed the amount flowers cost at the funeral. I am starting to resent her attitude and how controlling she is trying to be–for no reason as we are both equal heirs.

A: It is more efficient to have a local executor. Your sister doesn’t need to renounce her right to serve as Co-Executor, just because she lives out of town. The attorney may charge more if he must send her copies of everything and get her signatures by mail, but if she understands that, it should not be a problem. If she doesn’t like your attorney, you and she can pick a few local ones, then pull names from a hat. If she is totally disagreeable and continues this course of conduct, you can petition to remove her as Executor through your attorney.

How much jail time for lying on a gun application?

Q: My fiance very stupidly went to buy a shotgun at Walmart and checked the “no” box for having prior felonies. He has prior felonies, including weapons charges. They just called him yesterday and pressing charges for a felony offense of Sale of Transfer of firearms under 18 Pa.C.S.A § 6111(g)(4)(ii) for “knowingly and intentionally” making a background check materially false written statement in connection with the purchase, delivery, or transfer of a firearm. Making a false statement includes completion of the gun application form. The other charge is a misdemeanor offense of Unsworn Falsification to Authorities and he had his arraignment today. His preliminary is going to be on March 15th. What can I expect? I am pretty sure it will go to trial, but will I get lucky and him not get jail time? A:  Sometimes I get these cases withdrawn at the Preliminary Hearing where the person is otherwise a good citizen, has one criminal case in their history and it is believable that that they were unaware that the past crime carried a term of incarceration of more than one year. Other times the police officer and/or the DA are not so generous. The wording of the form that one must sign when purchasing a firearm, in my opinion, contains insufficient notice and is confusing to those untrained in the law. However, your fiance is well-aware of his prior four felonies and his actions are more difficult to explain. Does he have brain damage or is he incompetent? Is he illiterate and couldn’t read the form? I say this seriously as mental health and cognitive problems are the plague of many violators of the law. As for him going to jail, with four felony convictions, the sentencing guidelines will call for incarceration. However, due it being a non-violent offense, and the confusion of the ill-written form, I can usually keep people out of jail. You should have a lawyer review the entire case before you give up on it.

How good are my chances of getting an extension of my ARD program?

Q: I was given ARD probation of one-year for a DUI. This is my tenth month on ARD and have completed all the conditions of my ARD program except for the 30 hours of community service, which I will complete before my ARD term is over. The only other condition I have not completed is the $3,000 in fines and restitution. I am a student and working every day to get a job.

A: You do not want to lose your ARD. Try to get an extension from the ARD probation officer. If you are summoned to the court for an ARD revocation hearing, be prepared. If you cannot afford counsel, bring all records of your bills, and income to prove to the judge that you are trying but are financially limited.

What rights and options do we have?

Q: Landlord died, no will, I have lived there for eight years, cousin got involved with an attorney so he says, and won’t give me a receipt for this month’s rent. What rights and options do we have as renters from this point on?

A: Your rights will be stated in your written lease. If you don’t have a lease, or no current lease, your tenancy is month to month and you could be required to move with as little as thirty days of notice to you. Pay with a check, not cash. The check is your receipt.

If I fell through a rotted deck. Is landlord responsible.

Q: I was on my friend’s deck. I took a step towards the front door and my leg broke through a board causing me to go down and landed on my sacroiliac joint (cross beam broke my fall all the way down) I have permanent injuries to my SI joint, back, knees, feet, ankles. neck and ended up with Fibromyalgia as a result of this. I’ve been in physical therapy for over a year and I am looking for a clear answer of liability.  My understanding is whether this landlord knew the deck was unsafe or not or they should have. Was it up to code? How old is this deck? Was it inspected? Done by a professional contractor or shoddily built by that homeowner? The boards were unsealed, weathered, potential to splinter, but not wobbly, so myself nor my friends (the occupants) would not have had any reason to think the deck was unsafe. Especially since the landlord came up and painted that deck over the rotten boards. I have over 20k in medical bills and a ton of Doctors now. To be clear, this is a rented manufactured home with a small deck built on to front entrance The tenants do not maintain the property. The landlord fixes everything.

A:  Al these questions you ask are good questions and need to be known. Do not try to settle this with the Landlord or the insurance company yourself. You will end up losing. The landlord could be responsible, it could be the deck manufacturer, it could be the contractor who built the deck, who knows at this point. That is why you get an attorney. The attorney will investigate and conduct discovery. There is probably insurance coverage somewhere. Do not waste time nor let evidence be disappear.