Memos from the Legal Pad
A rough week at the courthouse this week. Among the people I spoke with:
- A lady losing her kid because a paralegal she paid $500 to do her case messed up her divorce. Paralegal is now m.i.a., refused to give her back her documents, and can't be found. Because of these delays, her husband has filed for a default, effectively ending her right to respond, and she will now probably lose custody of her children, without some seriously extreme legal maneuverings. That would require an attorney. That she can't afford.
- A mentally ill woman's lawyer refused to see her, even though her divorce was never finalized. We couldn't help her until she was able to get his official withdrawal in writing, but when she went to his office to get this from him, his administrative assistant threw her out. Gave her contact information for the State bar to file a complaint, but the last time he did any work on her case was in 2005. It might be too late to help her, too.
- Grandson came in with his mono-lingual spanish speaking grandmother because his grandparents were getting evicted from their apartment; he wanted to help them keep their place. The elderly woman was very upset and did not understand why they were being evicted. The grandfather had recently been admitted to the hospital with a heart condition and wasn't well enough to respond in court, as he did speak some English. The more I probed into their case, the sooner I found out the reason for their eviction was because of suspected criminal activity. On the part of the grandson.
- Man married 35 years served with divorce papers weeping as I explained to him his rights to respond to the petition.
I should do well to remember these people in a few years.
- A lady losing her kid because a paralegal she paid $500 to do her case messed up her divorce. Paralegal is now m.i.a., refused to give her back her documents, and can't be found. Because of these delays, her husband has filed for a default, effectively ending her right to respond, and she will now probably lose custody of her children, without some seriously extreme legal maneuverings. That would require an attorney. That she can't afford.
- A mentally ill woman's lawyer refused to see her, even though her divorce was never finalized. We couldn't help her until she was able to get his official withdrawal in writing, but when she went to his office to get this from him, his administrative assistant threw her out. Gave her contact information for the State bar to file a complaint, but the last time he did any work on her case was in 2005. It might be too late to help her, too.
- Grandson came in with his mono-lingual spanish speaking grandmother because his grandparents were getting evicted from their apartment; he wanted to help them keep their place. The elderly woman was very upset and did not understand why they were being evicted. The grandfather had recently been admitted to the hospital with a heart condition and wasn't well enough to respond in court, as he did speak some English. The more I probed into their case, the sooner I found out the reason for their eviction was because of suspected criminal activity. On the part of the grandson.
- Man married 35 years served with divorce papers weeping as I explained to him his rights to respond to the petition.
I should do well to remember these people in a few years.
Labels: legal pad
This entry was posted by VJ, on
Saturday, January 27, 2007.
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