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patentmagus posted:Also, just an anonymous tip, right? No police report. Just out of curiosity, how do you fight the "anonymous tipper"? I've got an old man neighbor who I believe calls every city organization with anonymous complaints (lies). I've had the fire department show up lights flashing, sirens going at my house because of this, police, building inspectors, zoning inspectors, code enforcement, etc. A few of them multiple times. And all end with an "Sorry, we received an anonymous complaint, have a good day/night." He refuses to say a word to me, but will stand on his porch laughing whenever I have to deal with these things.
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Aug 12, 2016 20:29
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Start putting dog poo poo in his mailbox
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Aug 12, 2016 20:31
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Mr. Wookums posted:Start putting dog poo poo in his mailbox Well, I mean besides that. Explaining this to the city ends with: "That sucks. The complaints are anonymous. Sorry." Do I start a campaign against allowing anonymous complaints in my city?
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Aug 12, 2016 21:07
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Is the dude going down the block and using a pay phone or something?
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Aug 12, 2016 21:36
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Public records request to the city for the complaintsEwokEntourage posted:Is the dude going down the block and using a pay phone or something? No, the first responders know better than to tell him who it is because it will start problems so they're probably just lying.
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Aug 12, 2016 21:51
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There's basically nothing you can do about a "concerned citizen" constantly looking for excuses to report you to authorities, particularly if their complaints are semi-valid things like unmowed grass or whatever, unless you can demonstrate a pattern of harassment based on completely false calls (at which point the authorities care only because the tipster is wasting their time and potentially making them look bad). The chance of making an injunction or protective order stick is pretty slim unless they're just genuinely insane people or have threatened you. The individual people responding to the calls are unlikely to be the same people each time so there's not much more they can do but do their job and be apologetic about it if it proves to be nothing. From their perspective they have to respond and they probably don't know about the pattern so there's not a whole lot they can say or do. If you're complaining to anyone it needs to be supervisors who are likely to be aware of the person's behavior. Not that they will necessarily do anything about it. blarzgh posted:Public records request to the city for the complaints
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Aug 12, 2016 22:25
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Hey, just looking for some help with a landlord issue, trying to field some advice. I'm sure a lot of people ask about security deposits, and well. This is relevant for Maui county's jurisdiction within the state of Hawai'i. There's no active case about this yet, but I'm considering small claims if I have a good chance at getting back the entire security deposit because of my landlord's ineptitude. I recently moved out and made an effort to clean the apartment I was renting from June 2015 until August 2nd, 2016. My landlord is withholding the entire security deposit, and sent me a 2 page letter detailing the deductions. She did not provide any receipts. I requested and am awaiting receipts for the repairs and cleaning. I am not going to contest any of her withholding that she claims was due to cleaning or replacing broken items, because that all seems too ambiguous to me. What is clear to me, however, is that her listed deductions include 375 dollars for a brand new tv, on the claim that I took the power cord to the TV and now the TV can not be utilized. I do not believe I took the power cord to the TV. Regardless, and internet query suggests the price of a television set's power cord is $6.81 from walmart.com. I have requested she refund the 375 dollars for the television set, and in response, she has told me to "shut up", "**** you", threatened a countersuit for more damages than my deposit was worth. She is also actively trying to add damages and charges for cleaning to the list of itemized deductions she sent, signed and dated to August 7th, 2016. Is this possible? For example, on August 7th, 2016, in her itemized list of deductions, she claimed 200 dollars for cleaning. But on August 12th, after I contested the deduction for the television, she claims that the cleaning cost her over 1200 dollars. In addition, in my encounter on August 12th, she said that I had either broken the television, OR stolen the power cord. She does not even have her own claim straight. Can a landlord add damages to their list of itemized deductions in retaliation for my contest over her fraudulent 375 charge for a new television? What is my best recourse?
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Aug 13, 2016 00:56
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The fundamental questions are: 1) Do you intend to sue her over the $375 + whatever else you can come up with? 2) Do you think she intends to sue you for additional damages (legitimate or not) over and above your security deposit?
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Aug 13, 2016 02:07
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This is exactly what Judge Judy is for
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Aug 13, 2016 02:55
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blarzgh posted:The fundamental questions are: 400 is not a lot in the big picture but it would make a difference in my life right now, and I need the money, so for the time and filing fee I think it would be worth it. Especially if I can have the entire security deposit returned, because: a) she did not send receipts with the itemized list of deductions; and, b) she is going to change the itemized list of deductions when she sends me the receipts, that I had to request, to not include the tv and adjust the cleaning cost to make up for it. She definitely intends to sue me for additional damages over and above my security deposit, and has explicitly said she is doing so in retaliation that I "have the nerve" to contest the fraudulent TV charge. And yes I realize this reads out of People's Court, and imagined myself in there earlier, but honestly, this woman is a bit insane. The only other piece of information that I can think of as being relevant at this time is that she does not know my new address so it would be hard for her to file a claim against me, unless it is as a counterclaim after I file first. But any of her legitimate claims are already covered in the original itemization of the deductions - I don't see how she can claim 200 dollars for cleaning on one day, and the day after I confront her about a potentially fraudulent charge she can say, "Oh sorry, I meant to charge you 5x the amount in that category, I just didn't out of the kindness of my heart until you had the nerve to confront me about the tv". And also that she does not even know if the power cord to the tv is missing, or if the tv doesn't work. Which is it? I didn't take it. The most important thing I am trying to figure out is, can a landlord change their deductions from your security deposit after they send you an itemized list of the deductions? For what it's worth, I had taken these photos while I was cleaning, which doesn't really help show that I cleaned everything to a pristine condition- but that's not really what I'm arguing. http://imgur.com/a/SxCQk Anyways thanks for reading and for any advice and help. edit: also just to throw this out there, I was a good tenant that paid rent early and on time: Landlord (removed phone number) 3/16/2016 3:06:22 PM Hey so I was wondering if u could pay rent a day early on Friday morning we have had some unexpected expenses this month and there going to turn off our electric if not paid first thing Friday. I will give u some smoke for paying it early .. Let me know if u are able to do so .. Thanks Landlord Me 3/16/2016 3:37:22 PM Sounds good and no worries, I should be able to, I will have to check when I get back tho. I'll let you know Landlord (removed phone number) 3/16/2016 3:38:36 PM Thanks so much I'm going to hook u up. Also just notice u out of hot water just put on a new tank for u edit2: Ok I just stumbled upon something that may or may not be significant and would like some input on this specifically - My lease actually ended on the 19th, and I stayed with her permission until the 2nd of August. For the second period we were supposed to exchange a lease but I never actually returned a signed copy to her, or even signed it at all. Is this my out? Can I claim she has exceeded her 14 day limit to return my security deposit from the 19th? With texts to support: Landlord (removed phone number) 6/20/2016 12:24:04 PM Hey I left some papers for u in the back door.. The house sold and I just received final notice that new owners will be taking possession of property on August 11 th we all must leave as they want it empty.. I wanted to give u as much time avalible to find a new place .. U are paid until July 19th and if u still need time u can stay until August 1 st and I will pro rate the rent.. Also we bought a house down the road that has a upstairs that's separate from the downstairs and has 2 bd 1 bath and kitchen living area with seperate entrance .. My son who just turned 18 will be in one room upstairs and I'm thinking about renting out the others bedroom.. Let me know if ur interested thanks Me 6/20/2016 5:05:41 PM Oh whoa, nice, thats exciting. Im potentially interested, keep me in the loop! Ill let you know about the prorate as it gets closer and I figure things out Landlord (removed phone number) 7/11/2016 2:59:16 PM Hey there so I'm just checking to see if u will be moved out on the 19 th or if u need to stay until the 8-1 and I will pro rate the rent from 19 th until the 1 st of August.. Lmk thanks ULL NEVER RID ME fucked around with this message at 11:38 on Aug 13, 2016 |
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Aug 13, 2016 03:05
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Nothing is a magic out. Read your first lease to see what it says about end of term. It probably became month-to-month.
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Aug 13, 2016 13:49
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Guy Axlerod posted:Nothing is a magic out. Read your first lease to see what it says about end of term. It probably became month-to-month. Even if the first lease doesn't say, a lot of states have that conversion by statute, including Hawaii. quote:[§521-22] Term of rental agreement. The landlord and tenant may agree in writing to any period as the term of the rental agreement. In the absence of such agreement, the tenancy shall be month to month or, in the case of boarders, week to week. [L 1972, c 132, pt of §1]
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Aug 13, 2016 15:23
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evilweasel posted:In some cases you can drop a representation because your client won't take your advice but I don't think this would fly in most jurisdictions. I've done it before. Helps if you are friendly with the judge and they trust you, obviously.
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Aug 13, 2016 15:45
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Not to be all, "here's where you went wrong" or anything, but if a landlord offers a tenant drugs via text in exchange for something like that, would that be a pretty good way out of a lease? Keeping in mind that asking this question is proof I'm far too square to ever need that info practically, obviously. No one would ever offer me drugs.
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Aug 13, 2016 16:13
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Please go into court with a text message about drug use.
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Aug 13, 2016 17:16
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Guy Axlerod posted:Nothing is a magic out. Read your first lease to see what it says about end of term. It probably became month-to-month. It looks like this. This Rental Agreement will begin on 5-19-2015 and will be a: CHECK ALL THAT APPLY: [] Fixed Rental Agreement which, unless otherwise agreed to in writing, will end on [ ] This fixd Rental Agreement will automatically convert to a monto-to-month rental agreement, unless you receive written notice from LANDLORD thirty days prior to end of lease. [x] Month to Month Rental Agreement: If you are on a month - to month Rental Agreement, you must give written notice at least twenty eight days in advance to terminate and you must pay rent for the twenty eight days. We must give you written notice at least forty-five days in advance to terminate. You may move at any time during the last forty-five days and shall notify us of your vacate date and pay a prorated rent for the time you occupy the unit. If the unit is to be torn down, converted to a condominium, or changed to a vacation rental, we must give written notice at least one hundred twenty days in advance to terminate. You may move at any time during the last one hundred twenty days and shall notify us of your vacate date and pay a prorated rent for the time you occupy the unit. So they never gave me the required 45 days to terminate, only 29 or 30 from 6/20 until 7/19. Its only 42 or 43 days until the 2nd, if you consider her first notification the notice about the termination with the 2nd being the day to terminate instead of the 19th. And it only says the lease converts over in those specific cases. Or rather, pointing out the bit about the pro-rate in the rental agreement and with the first lease only applies on the ending side of the lease- I had paid until the 19th and the lease ended as a month to month lease, so there's nothing to prorate for that period of time. For the prorated portion of time I think I needed to sign a new lease? Also since she texted me that everyone had to vacate by the 11th can I argue that she had the time available for me to stay or to give me the full 45 day notice? It isn't as though the sale of the house precluded her from following the lease we both signed. And also on a semi-serious note how would those drug related texts play out in a small claims case? I never texted her anything about drugs or related to drugs. ULL NEVER RID ME fucked around with this message at 22:19 on Aug 13, 2016 |
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Aug 13, 2016 20:06
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You will 100% spend more time and money attempting to collect $400 than you can ever hope to receive back. Your landlord is the kind of person who has trouble paying utilities on time/paying the mortgage on the property, and offers drugs in exchange. Even if you win in small claims court, the landlord is almost certainly judgment proof. That means you'll never be able to collect the money she owes you.
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Aug 13, 2016 23:34
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Hot Dog Day #91 posted:You will 100% spend more time and money attempting to collect $400 than you can ever hope to receive back. Your landlord is the kind of person who has trouble paying utilities on time/paying the mortgage on the property, and offers drugs in exchange. Even if you win in small claims court, the landlord is almost certainly judgment proof. That means you'll never be able to collect the money she owes you. Well you are right about that, but it still may be worth it, and if she is insane enough to try to find me to serve me papers for a small claims case I would like to be prepared for a countersuit. Or I may attempt to pursue the security deposit in full if I can get it back on a technicality, or even aim to just hit her credit, because there is no way her cleaning and other deductions are as legitimate as they could be. She has also texted me recently about getting papers that the "bank that bought it" gave to her, so I can only assume the house was foreclosed on. Aside from that if I stick around the area I may very well just press my own case on it because I am able to, and this lady has been doing this to other tenants for years. I was even warned by a previous tenant about this landlord. My question about the landlord being able to change their itemized list of deductions still stands though : she sent me one dated on the 7th that included the television, and has since stated that she will send me a new one with new charges to take the place of the television's money. Isn't this textbook fraud? Where can I report fraudulent actions taken by a landlord against me? ULL NEVER RID ME fucked around with this message at 03:16 on Aug 14, 2016 |
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Aug 14, 2016 02:50
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Walk away and don't rent from a landlord who can't keep the loving lights on and offers weed for early rent payments. No matter how right you are you will never come out ahead in this situation.
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Aug 14, 2016 04:33
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I'm such a loving choir boy, I didn't know what "smoke" meant. Also, in my state, providing the landlord with a valid forwarding address is a prerequisite to getting your security deposit back.
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Aug 14, 2016 05:17
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Right, but my forwarding address is my PO box, and a mailbox is not enough for certified mail. And at the time I got the box I gave the post office the address of where I was staying with that landlord.
ULL NEVER RID ME fucked around with this message at 06:33 on Aug 14, 2016 |
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Aug 14, 2016 06:31
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The answer from the lawyers is don't bother. You have a simplistic view of how easy it is and you're looking for magic bullets. You should do yourself a favor and vlog your quest to recover $325. Please post the YouTube channel for us to enjoy.
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Aug 14, 2016 17:54
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No but you see, he knows more about how this works than lawyers, because he totally has some saved texts about drugs, and the lease totally backs him up. Seconding the request to chronicle your adventures trying to gallantly defend your honor against the sinister, evil landlord who besmirched your good name.
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Aug 14, 2016 18:41
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It's kind of difficult for lay people to understand that "yes that's illegal" is different from "you're going to get any money out of it". If you don't believe me, I think this thread serves as Exhibit A.
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Aug 14, 2016 18:43
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Guy IANAL, but I was in a similar situation (stiffed on security deposit by a crazy/lovely landlord) and actually went to talk to a lawyer about it. Their legal advice was 'You don't want to spend months embroiled in legal matters with a crazy/terrible person because it is going to take forever, drive you nuts, and at the end of the day you will probably end up with nothing but a bill for fees/legal help to show for it'. Write it off, forget about the terrible person, move on with your life.
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Aug 14, 2016 18:47
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Additional reason: You don't think landlords do checks of prospective tenants to see if they've sued previous landlords (and then run like hell from those that did)? They do. Even if you win, you're hosed if you sue.
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Aug 14, 2016 19:06
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I'm trying to avoid writing a long post for legal advice because I really just want to know what kind of lawyer I should be seeking advice from but I also have no idea what things in this whole awful clusterfuck would even be punishable/illegal. Here is the most TL;DR I think I can get it. The main culprit is my Aunt J (name changed, duh). * I live in New York state. My immediate family lives in NYC, my grandfather lived and died in New Jersey. * Aunt J & her daughter were aware that grandpa was sick/dying but basically encouraged/helped him to keep that from everyone while they waited patiently for him to die. Grandpa dies a month later (early April) and aunt J immediately tells her siblings (minus my mother of course) that grandpa's sister, great aunt R, is trying to keep the money from everyone. (aunt R worked with Grandpa in the last month to get all the account in order and absolutely $0 was going to her and she knew it and was fine with it.) Grandpa is in the hospital bed, having been dead for only a few hours, and aunt J storms into the hospital demanding to know why aunt R has not withdrawn all the money from all the accounts to hand over to his kids and is instead "scheming" by waiting for the funeral to happen and the death certificates to be issued so that everyone can just access the accounts on their own. * at some point on the day of his death day Aunt J + her brother Uncle J use the key to grandpa's condo that they insist they were never given to empty it of literally everything. The condo was supposed to go to Uncle J, but no one was given a chance to get anything. Thousands of pictures are gone? * aunt J finds his check book for the account that is to be left to her (it already has her name on it at this point, she just needs to show a death certificate). She writes several checks, signs them with grandpa's signature, has her daughter S cash them and starts spending money. The checks don't clear, all the money is taken back, and now S is thousands of dollars negative in her bank account. * aunt J and S threaten to kill me, my mother and my sister if we dare to show up at the funeral. My mother does call the police but they say they cant do anything but make note of it. In the end we don't go to grandpa's funeral. * keeps all of the death certificates issued at the time of death because she doesnt want my mom and aunt R to use them to "steal her money"  we wind up ordering our own and waiting weeks for them.* At this point she gets access to my grandfather's pension and finds out that his late wife was still listened as the person to receive it when he dies. she died in 2008/9. Aunt J claims the money in her place (?) and doesnt tell them grandma died and convinces them to send $10k to the funeral home to cover funeral costs. * Grandpa's life insurance is cashed out and since aunt J is "planning the funeral" she takes all of that money for "funeral costs". * She gets money from several relatives because she "has no money for the funeral since aunt R has "stolen" all the money", pockets that money * Repeatedly tries to gain access to the bank account left to my mother. (during the weeks my mother couldn't access it because of not having a death certificate) I'm sure lots of threats and stuff have happened since then but I don't think theyre worth noting. The pension stuff was brought to my attention today, and I think my mother didn't find out until this past week. Surely I can at least inform the pension people (??) that she completely lied about my grand mother still being alive? My mother technically didn't lose any money except the pension money which i guess was supposed to be split between his 4 remaining kids, but she doesn't care (i.e. wants the moral high ground by not demanding her money) and everyone else doesnt think aunt J is at fault and if anyone is to blame it is my mother/aunt R. But I'm honestly sick of my aunt getting away with doing these kinds of things (she did exactly this when grandma died. Also she loves to arrange events, collect money, and then suddenly oh no i guess we're not going to hersey's park, weird anyway here is this way cheaper place instead  also i dont have enough money for anything I said we would buy with that money, please bring your own!). All of this stuff happened months ago though. :/GenericGirlName fucked around with this message at 19:47 on Aug 14, 2016 |
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Aug 14, 2016 19:42
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GenericGirlName posted:Many words This is why I'm glad I'm an only child.
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Aug 14, 2016 20:05
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You need a probate attorney and to freeze the estate while it goes thru probate. The court can order your aunt to give stuff back if it shouldn't belong to her get an attorney asap
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Aug 14, 2016 21:00
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i recommend an immigration attorney, to help you move as far away from these nutbags as possible.
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Aug 14, 2016 21:05
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EwokEntourage posted:You need a probate attorney and to freeze the estate while it goes thru probate. The court can order your aunt to give stuff back if it shouldn't belong to her :/ Am I allowed to do that if none of it is my money, and its been months and has all been handed over...? And I don't think anyone other than me would want to do legal stuff or "waste" the money on it. EDIT: I will definitely contact a probate attorney on monday though.
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Aug 14, 2016 21:05
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GenericGirlName posted::/ Am I allowed to do that if none of it is my money, and its been months and has all been handed over...? And I don't think anyone other than me would want to do legal stuff or "waste" the money on it. Not sure, depends on if you're in the will or if you're owed something and whatever the probate laws. If you're not gonna get anything out of it, and no one else wants to litigate the matter, then maybe you should just cut your losses and never speak to those people again. Actually, either way, never speak to those people again. People that take advantage of dying relatives aren't gonna change
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Aug 14, 2016 21:33
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EwokEntourage posted:Not sure, depends on if you're in the will or if you're owed something and whatever the probate laws. If you're not gonna get anything out of it, and no one else wants to litigate the matter, then maybe you should just cut your losses and never speak to those people again. Actually, either way, never speak to those people again. People that take advantage of dying relatives aren't gonna change I'm not in the will, I'm not owed any money, no one else thinks they can legally do anything about what shes done or doesnt care to do anything. I do not plan to ever speak to these people again ever, i just.... very badly want aunt J to be told unequivocally that shes a terrible human being, but not by me, because she has 6 kids of which 5 would probably willingly go to jail for killing me lol :/
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Aug 14, 2016 21:48
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GenericGirlName posted:i just.... very badly want aunt J to be told unequivocally that shes a terrible human being What an internet-y thing to want.
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Aug 14, 2016 22:07
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blarzgh posted:What an internet-y thing to want. Yeah, the court is not a machine for validating you.
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Aug 14, 2016 22:08
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GenericGirlName posted:no one else thinks they can legally do anything about what shes done or doesnt care to do anything. Then nothing will happen and all you can do is vent about it on an internet forum. Sorry. (There's a really unlikely possibility the insurance company would care about insurance fraud.)
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Aug 14, 2016 22:08
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I wonder if I could somehow invent a service that unequivocally tells people they're terrible through an arbitrary means and market it to people for money....
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Aug 14, 2016 22:37
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pathetic little tramp posted:I wonder if I could somehow invent a service that unequivocally tells people they're terrible through an arbitrary means and market it to people for money.... I suggest charging people a modest fee, say $10, to create an account on your service. you could also run ads and sell account upgrades
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Aug 14, 2016 22:43
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or it could be a service where you write down your complaint on paper, and the service would deliver it wherever you told them.
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Aug 14, 2016 23:11
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pathetic little tramp posted:I wonder if I could somehow invent a service that unequivocally tells people they're terrible through an arbitrary means and market it to people for money.... I swear, I'm trying to get Microsoft to do a return under warranty for a single Xbone controller for PC and they're literally stonewalling me because their system can't cope with the fact that it's an accessory that's not registered to an XBOX console. I want to tell everyone there that they're terrible, and I'm about to write a letter to their legal department insisting that they honour the warranty because it will literally cost Microsoft more money to have someone open the letter, read it, and think for a moment about how to respond to it than to just replace my stuff.
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Aug 14, 2016 23:38
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