Coming up on this edition of Judica County Radio, your host Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer, managing partners, Whitaker and Hamer Law Firm, the power behind this program, and practicing attorneys here in North Carolina. Getting into some questions that are all over the legal spectrum. The ring camera catches more than expected. We'll get to that. The seller.
Takes the appliances and the X won't refinance. We'll get into that and much, much more coming up on this edition of Judica County Radio. Whitaker and Harry. Judica County. with Joshua Whitaker and Joseph Heyman.
Welcome in to Judica County Radio. Your hosts are Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer, managing partners, Whitaker and Hamer law firm and practicing attorneys here in North Carolina. Offices located in Raleigh, Garner, Cleveland, Clayton, Goldsboro, Fuqua Verina, Gastonia, and down at the coast, Moorhead City. I'm Morgan Patrick. Each week we get into some legal questions that are brought before the attorneys and we'll see how they're going to handle those.
But before we do that, we always start off with: How was the week? Josh, you're first. It's been rainy. It's been a rainy week. We need it.
That's what people say, but A rainy Memorial Day? Like I you know, I I I The past two July's. I'm not, what do you call a meteorologist? I'm not a meteorologist. No, you're not.
You're an attorney. I'm just a lowly attorney. But. The past two July's, every time I went to the lake, It was like a washout. I I don't know.
I don't have the the data in front of me. But the past two July's, I feel like, are the wettest two July's of my entire life.
Well, and again, to defend our fans of rain, which I am. When you walk across your lawn and it crunches, we need rain.
So suck it up. Suck it up, Josh. But do we need rain? Are we waiting for rain? Our three-day Memorial Day kick summer off?
Holiday? Is that when we give me rain when I'm at work? Like today, I'm at work today. Today's fine rain. Right.
Monday Friday. Rain until. 5 p.m. I'll swim home. It doesn't matter.
Let me get to the office, then around 9:30, let it rain a little bit. And only between Monday and Friday. And if it's a holiday week, just Tuesday through Friday. I'll take it overnight, too, man. Give me some rain overnight.
I'll crack the windows, sleep good. But don't wash out three days of a three-day jumpstart summer. You only get. I told you this before, I know I've talked about this on air, but I heard this one guy say. You know, you only have so many summers, right?
You only have so many summers.
So you take your age, and I'm about, I'm 50. That's what I'm gonna be. I'm gonna be 50. What's the average life expectancy for a male in the southern United States? Mid 70s.
Mid 70s. We'll say 75, right? I'm no mathematician. Right, but how many ye how many more summers is that? You got 25, dude.
That's right.
Alright, so I got 25 more Memorial Day weekends, and this one was just a complete washout.
So now I'm down to 24. I power washed all weekend because that's the only productive thing I could think of to do in the rain was power wash. That's the universe telling you're lazy, you know what, to get out there and do some work. That's what power washing in the rain, man. Just let the rain do it.
I wish you would, man. Do your rain dance to increase the intensity of the rain enough and focus it. And then, yeah, and then you'd be good. It needs to go I need to I need to go outside and spray on the Clorox and the and the other stuff, but uh Anyway.
So, Joe, what about you? What about Joe? Let's get Joe in there. I was doing pretty good, man. I thought things were going well, and then Josh laid out that scenario about how one of the last summers I have in my life has been ruined by this rain.
And now I'm miserable, man. Everything's.
Now, wait a minute. You've got 35 summers left. I know, man. You've got summers to burn. Yeah, I hope so, man.
I hope so. That's what I'm that's my hope. But we'll see. Morgan, how many summers are you down to? Sixteen.
Did that sound crazy to think about it like that? You really got to like. you know, take a hold of these summers, man, and uh I don't know. I keep thinking the word Enjoy life.
Soak it in. Yeah. If it ever stops raining. If we have a third super rainy July, I think I'm moving south. I think I'm just gonna pack it all in and go to Florida.
You think that's gonna help you with your rain problem? Yeah, I think it will.
Well, you like cooking eggs on the sidewalk? Why would you move to Florida? I think it rains in Florida, Josh. It does. It rains a lot.
I think you yeah, I think you that might be counterproductive to you. But you're not sitting around waiting for the warm days, because every day is a warm day. They got large snakes, they got crocs, they got everything. They got gators. Yeah, I don't like the gators.
Yeah, he can't shoot a gator. If it comes anywhere near me, I can't. I was going to say, I think you can't. I think maybe it's frowned upon. I think it might be.
I could see it being frowned upon. When you're about to be eaten by a gator, I think you can take action. I think we can do it. What's the clip of, if you're familiar with the show, it's always sunny in Philadelphia. They have a clip where Charlie, what kind of animal law does he practice?
Have you seen that clip? Bird law. Bird law. Yeah. I don't practice gator law.
I'm not a gator lawyer, but I don't think you can shoot a gator. I mean, I guess maybe if it's charging you on your own property, maybe. Can you do that? Not to give it to Google.
Well, let's not test the law. Yeah. Yes. What are we talking about here? I just don't think you're going to be able to do it.
I don't think that's you can't just go on a Gator murder spree. I don't think. I don't think you can do that with most any animal, but Yeah, I think I think if i if it's you or the gator. Yeah. Is there a Gator season in Florida?
Do we even know? I don't think you're going to jail in a life and death situation. If it's you or the gator. If it's you or the gator. I think the law might favor the gator.
We're gonna have to You're saying a gator is more protected than a human being? I think, man, we're gonna have to do it we'll have to do a deep dive one day.
Well, if the gator gets you, we won't see you again 'cause they take you and they stuff you under a sunken log and they eat you later.
So Morgan's been doing a lot of gator research, man. I think I'm going to go for, I'll just challenge the courts if I have to protect myself. I keep thinking about that because you know, with everything getting a little bit warmer, the gators keep creeping up, right? The gators are in South Carolina, they're in Wilmington. If they make it to my lake in in northern North Carolina, what do you do, man?
Do you just let the Gators in? No, you shoot the Gator. I don't think you can. You shoot the Gators, you blast them. Hmm.
Have you Googled it? No, man, 'cause I don't I don't I'm just going to do it. You don't want the knowledge aforehand? Yeah, I don't. Yeah, I want to play it.
Beg for forgiveness. If it comes down to it, I'm going to. They're going to find this clip. They're going to find this clip played at your trial where you go down for.
Well, premeditated gator death. Gator death. Yeah, that's. Hey. Hey.
Anyway, it's almost.
Well, I guess when we air, it will be June, right?
So it's almost June or June. No, no, no. This is going to air the final weekend of May.
So it's almost June. Almost. Close to quiet. I want some good weather, man. I don't care if we're in a rain deficit.
I want blazing hot, good summer weather all summer. And it can rain like crazy in November and December. Yeah, everybody that's got crunchy grass in their front yard, you can send all your complaints to Joshi. Yeah, Josh. We got um We got more of these questions, right?
We got these questions. Every week, lately, it feels like me and Joe are taking some kind of weird law school exam. uh where Morgan pelts us with these These questions, but we got more of those today. I like throwing them really hard. I like the pelt.
The attorneys. We want to remind you too. Hey, Josh, before we take our first break, let's talk about the complimentary consults and what they cover. Yeah, so we've been focusing here for the past couple of weeks. You know, if you're interested in estate planning, getting a will done, talking about a trust.
If you call the radio show, if you call us, we're going to get you set up with a free consult with one of our estate planning attorneys. And then we've also been doing where if you've been in a car accident, you've got questions about what you might be entitled to, you know, what that looks like, the process, we can set you up with one of our. attorneys who practice in that area. And so we're doing both of those for free. Right, so if you call the radio show, um We'll get in touch with you.
We'll set you up with a free consult with one of our attorneys. If your matter falls under estate planning or it falls under kind of a car accident negligence kind of heading.
So that's what we've been doing, Morgan. All right, and to grab one of those consults, give us a call, 919-7727000. That's 919-77270000. You can also visit the website, and that's a great resource for you as well. wh.lawyer.
Again, the number to call to grab a consult in and around estate planning, or if you've been in a recent car accident, a personal injury situation, and you've got questions, grab one of these consults and do it right now: 919-77270000. Again, that number 919-7727000. You can also visit wh.lawyer for more information. When we return on Judica County Radio, we'll get into those questions. First one up: the ring camera catches more than expected.
Don't go anywhere. Judica County continues right after this. We are back on Judica County Radio. Your hosts are Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer, managing partners, Whitaker and Hamer Law Firm and practicing attorneys here in North Carolina. I'm Morgan Patrick.
Pleasure to jump on with the attorneys. We'll get to the questions in just a second. Want to remind you: offices placed all over the state for your convenience: Raleigh, Garner, Cleveland, Clayton, Goldsboro, Fuquave Arena, Gastonia down near Charlotte, and of course, Moorhead City on the coast. We do have the complimentary consults in and around estate planning or personal injury, and you can call at any time, no cost, no obligation. 919-7727000.
They'll set that up for you. 919-7727000. You can also visit wh.lawyer.
So we're to the questions, attorneys. Here we go. The ring camera catches more than expected. That's the category. And here it is.
My neighbor's ring camera points. Towards my front door and captures everyone coming and going from my house. I hate it. Can I make them take it down? You guys have those ring cameras?
You got those? I got a couple pointed at your house. Right. Yeah. Woods.
Yeah. Yeah. Steve Morgan. Yeah. I had one.
I've got one. I had one, and I was power washing. Going back to power washing, this was a few years ago. This wasn't this weekend. And you watched it.
I do a lot of power washing, man. I do. I do. I have I do a lot of power washing. I taped it up and everything, and it shorted out.
It stopped working. I haven't replaced it. The doorbell works, the camera doesn't.
So you were just blasting it with your power washer? Yeah. Dead on. I wasn't even trying to avoid it. Yeah, just straight on.
Cleaned it up a little bit, you know. Yeah, so it's very clean, it just doesn't work. It looks good, doesn't function. The uh Alright, so the ring camera points toward my.
So his neighbor has a ring camera. It sounds like the neighbor's got it in a normal spot. where you'd have a ring camera. And it just happens to show across the street, there's nothing to do. There, right?
You know, if you're. That's all. You have no expectation of privacy in your front yard, I would say, right? If you live on a public street, Heck, even if you live on a private street, you know, you have no expectation. Anybody could drive down there at any time, and if you're out in the front yard, Butt naked, or whatever you do in your front yard.
Hey, hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey. Family show. That's your. That's public public b now these things get tricky You know, if you got like a fenced in backyard.
And you've got a neighbor kind of trying to angle a camera into the backyard, or if somebody's trying to angle a camera to see into your house, right? That's different, you know. I've seen a situation where we had a neighbor who was putting cameras up on poles. You know, doing stuff like that, you can't do that. You can't.
You have an expectation of privacy in your house, right? And you have an expectation of privacy if you fence in, if you put in a privacy fence in your backyard. I don't think someone can come in and put like a camera on a pole to see what you're doing in your fenced end. Backyard. Um But yeah, the the the the way this question's posed, I mean that's a that's a home that's a I don't know of any way that would be Actionable.
Mm-hmm. It just sounds like, again, this hypothetical situation, it just sounds like the person that's complaining is concerned about.
Someone knowing who comes and goes from their house. What are you doing over there? Yeah. Um Well, too, you know, and and there there's not a lot you can do about that, you know. Um Maybe maybe I have a back door, I guess.
I don't know. I don't know. That was a song. That's an old blue song. What is that?
Back door. God, I can't remember now. It's a good song. I'm unfamiliar, man, but I trust you. I believe you.
It's a blues song about you don't want people to see this person come in your front door, so you make them come in the back door. Oh, yeah, that one. Yeah, you know what? Yeah. Yeah.
Well, have you got have you guys seen any HOA restrictions on cameras? uh have you seen anything like that company i personally have have not that's not to say they don't exist but yeah i don't i don't think that's something i've run into i mean if you lived in a in a really exclusive neighborhood then that might be something um that that you run into but i i've not personally run in run into those they may more they may be more popular in other states hoa restrictions on where you can place a camera and and things like that but no i haven't I haven't run into those yet, Morgan.
Okay. All right, well, let's move to this question. Here we go. The seller takes the appliances.
So here's the question. That was the category. We closed a house Friday. When we got the keys, the refrigerator and mounted T V s were gone. Seller says they were not included.
Can they do that?
So, I always, you know, when we're answering these types of questions. We're missing some facts, and so we have to make some assumptions. And so I'm going to assume. this buyer and seller were using the standard. Offered a purchase and contract that most real estate agents in North Carolina.
Use. Yeah. Right. So there's a kind of a standard offer to purchase and contract that everybody kind of uses. It's been approved by the bar, it's been approved by.
You know, the real estate agent organizations. And so, if this is being governed by the standard contract. Mounted T V s are Fixtures, right?
So, mounted TVs, unless it's negotiated otherwise, they're soon to stay. A fixture. You know, is anything that's that's physically attached. to the whole. Right.
Um Refrigerators are not by definition fixtures.
So you have to negotiate for like refrigerators. Washers, dryers, you know, things like that. If those are going to stay, those need to be put into the contract that they're going to. Stay. Yeah, convey.
I mean, I bought a couple of houses and those were part of the that was part of the conversation, what's going to stay, what's going to go. We didn't have to deal with a mounted T V situation, but I mean, everybody's got 'em now and they're all they're they're part of the home. Yeah, yeah. And I haven't seen. I don't know if you've seen that, Joseph.
I haven't seen one where people just took the TVs, you know, and left the mounts and took the. Took the TVs, but my understanding is that amounts of TV is going to stay unless the sellers are like, this is a super. Special TV, and we're taking it, you negotiate that as part of the purchase. But Yeah, that's the old fixtures versus personal property. You know, fixtures are like ceiling fans, light fixtures.
Uh I have seen closings where people take a chandelier, right, or they They take some bookcases that were mounted to the wall and they shouldn't have, right? Those are fixtures. They stay. Personal property can is, you know, because I've seen people negotiate: hey, we don't need this riding lawnmower anymore. You can, we'll leave that, you know.
But that's personal property. You negotiate personal property. Fixtures are usually staying. Yeah, and that's not an uncommon you know, in terms of the commonality of issues we see, you know, you don't see it every day, but that's definitely a thing. You know, it's definitely a a thing that happens.
And this usually comes up when you're doing, you know, you go under contract and then you get your mortgage lender involved and your closing attorney and you do title work and there's. 20 to 40 days that kind of go by, you might be back to the house with a home inspector. And then this usually comes up on the final walkthrough, the day of closing, you know, when the seller's completely out of the house. and you get to go in there and that's usually when these kind of things are discovered. Um and and and and have to be dealt with.
But uh I think from an attorney perspective it's a pretty easy question. Yeah. I would I would agree with your assessment there.
So, we've gotten to two questions already on the program. We'll get to a few more of these as we continue. The ring camera catches more than expected category, but also the seller in a real estate transaction takes the appliances from the home and what legal steps you can take. We're going to get to a few more questions coming up on the other side. I want to remind you: we have complimentary consults with Whitaker and Hamer, and it's estate planning and personal injury.
Those are the categories. You can call 919-7727000. Again, that number 919-77270000. If you've got questions in and around estate planning, get enrolling there. Or if you're in a personal injury situation, personal injury case, and you don't know how to proceed, you got some questions, grab one of the consults, 919-7727000.
Again, that number, 919-77270000. You can also visit the website wh.lawyer and treat that as a resource. There's contact information there. You can also sign up for a consult there as well, wh.lawyer. We've got more Judica County coming up.
Next question loaded and ready to go. The we never had a written lease is going to be question number three, right out of the box. That's coming up.
Next, you're listening to Judica County Radio. Um We are back on Judica County Radio. Your hosts are Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer. They're the managing partners at Whitaker and Hamer Law Firm, the power behind the program. They're also practicing attorneys here in North Carolina.
Offices placed conveniently across our state down at the coast, Moorhead City, over near Charlotte in Gastonia. You got Fuquay Verena, Goldsboro, Clayton, Garner, Cleveland, and the Cap City, Raleigh, North Carolina. I'm Morgan Patrick. Pleasure to jump on with Josh and Joe and get to these questions. The next question we're going to hit is this: we never had a written lease, and here that's the category.
Here's the question: My tenant says he'll leave soon, but it's been for months. We never had a written lease. Can I just tell him he's out? You know, if you if you listen to uh if you listen to us um you know, every week or every so often. I hope I hope you'll remember.
You can just never you can never kick a tenant. Out. The law loves tenants, man. And a lot of protections built in. There's almost no scenario where you will be justified.
And vindicated by locking a tenant out or telling a tenant they have to be out the next day. That never works. North Carolina has an eviction. process for a reason and um You know, here Yeah, this It happens, right? You got a tenant, but you don't have a written lease.
That shouldn't happen. It does happen. Yeah, that's probably. That's the first red flag. Don't do that, right?
But, you know, written lease or no written lease, you know, the tenant. Is going to have some protections, right? And if you're month-to-month, If you don't have a written lease, you're month to month, and you're going to have to give that tenant 30-day lease. written notice to to vacate. Right?
So you're going to have to do that.
Now they don't have they don't have any formal lease you haven't promised ahead of time to do that, but that's what the law is going to require you to do. is to give this tenant written notice They have 30 days to vacate. And then if they don't vacate, then you gotta start the eviction process.
So you have to serve them with a You know, with a small claims eviction complaint, there'll be a day in court. If you win. The court will give the tenant an additional 10 days, and then you'll get your order. or the sheriff can come and do a lockout if the tenant's still there. But the law is designed to a certain extent to protect tenants so that you can't just throw a tenant out on the street.
You know, the cops aren't gonna make this tenant leave, the sheriff's not gonna make this tenant leave. This tenant's going to be there until you follow. The eviction process. And so that's why it's really. And that's, yeah, I think what you're about to get to is.
That applies whether or not you've got the written lease, right? Like, there's going to be some protections afforded to this tenant, even in the absence of a written lease, and that's why. Having the written lease. Makes everything It's just it's just way better, man. There's no benefit to not having it.
Yeah, and you don't have to have a 149-page. Lease, right? You don't have to have this monumental lease, but you need a lease that says, this is who's allowed to live here. These are the ways that you can breach this lease. You can't participate in criminal activity here.
Um you know there's some there's some bare bones things you need to protect you. 'Cause it's it's hard to breach. A verbal lease, right? If they're making payments, if they're doing what they're supposed to do. But anyway.
Leasing out property is not to be taken lightly, and you should have something written in place because evictions are no fun for anybody. The tenant, the landlord, nobody likes evictions. Question and answer going to continue. We have Compton Reed consults with Whitaker and Hamer. If you've got some questions in and around estate planning or maybe a personal injury case, grab one of the consults, 919-77270000.
No costs, no obligation. 919-77270000. You can also visit wh.lawyer.
Back after this. Judica County Radio, hosted by Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer, managing partners, Whitaker and Hamer law firm and practicing attorneys here in North Carolina. Offices in Raleigh, Garner, Cleveland, Clayton, Goldsboro, Fuquai Verena, Gastonia, and in Moorhead City. I'm Morgan Patrick. Pleasure to jump on with the lawyers and just discuss these legal questions.
And you're going to have questions about your own situation. And in and around a state planning or personal injury case, we have complimentary consults. Call the number 919-77270000. No cost to it, no obligation to become a client. But if you have questions, get some answers.
919-77270000. You can also visit wh.lawyer.
All right.
Next question, gentlemen, is the ex won't refinance. That's the category. Here's the question: Our separation agreement says my ex keeps the house in. Refinances within a year. It's been two years, and my name is still on the mortgage.
What can I do? You know this. I keep saying this, this happens this happens a lot. Yeah, this is not uncommon. And this has been happening a lot, too.
You know, if you follow the real estate market, you know, since the end of COVID. You know, where mortgages got down to 2% interest there for a while, interest rates have been going. up and no one is is super eager To refinance unless they have to, right? If you're. If you're sitting on a two or three percent mortgage, and now you'd be getting six or seven percent, but um.
You know, court orders, separation agreements, I mean, those are all. Binding. You don't really. You don't really have a, you know, you can't disobey a court order. You shouldn't breach.
A separation agreement.
So here the X was supposed to refinance within a year now. Um There can be extenuating circumstances, right? The quarter can order Joe to refinance his house, but if Joe loses his job and doesn't have income, nobody's going to. refinance this house. No lender's gonna lend him money.
Right, or if Joe's credit report drops. 300 points because of the divorce and things that he had to take care of. Nobody's going to eagerly be eager to lend him money, right?
So when the court orders you to refinance, You can't dilly dally. Like you gotta do it. But if it's impossible, and that might be a thing, right? You might not qualify, you know, things change if you. can't refinance, right?
The court can't order a lender to refinance your mortgage. Um And that's usually, you know, I see a lot of people argue that. You know, if you just didn't do it and you could have done it, but you were waiting for rates to go down or whatever, that's one thing, you're going to be in trouble. Right. If You just physically can't refinance because of credit issues.
income, loss of job. And that's different, but you can't just. You got to explain that to everybody. You know, you or your attorney needs to explain that to the court, explain that to the. The other side shows proof that you tried and you couldn't, you know.
But that's, you know, a court can order a lot of things, and you've got to obey a judge and a judge's order, but you know. A judge can't make Wells Fargo refinance your loan if you don't meet. their criteria to to refinance. I don't know if that makes sense, Morgan. No, it does.
I mean, you obviously got to take the steps with the bank, but you do hear stories from divorce cases where one side just drags their feet, mainly just to. You know, maybe stick it to the man, so to speak, or stick it to the female, whatever the case may be. But certainly, you know, taking the legal steps to get things done, it just takes time, and I think a lot of people get frustrated with that.
Next question: category: the parent. Promised me the house. Here's the question: My dad always told me I'd get his house because I cared for him. In his later years, but his will leaves everything equally to all four kids. Do I have a claim here?
Probably not. Yeah. Yeah, probably not. I always want to treat these questions as more as a jumping-off point because we never. You know, when you practice law Every every fact pattern is different.
And lawyers may seem wishy-washy sometimes because one fact can change the way. That we think about your case, you know, and so there are facts here we probably. Don't know that may add or subtract from our legal analysis, but yeah, here. You know, the will's the will. This dad left a will, leaving everything to the kids, which makes perfect sense.
He didn't disinherit anybody. Um You know, a verbal promise is not worth a lot, you know? When you've got a valid will, you know, we've talked about this in the past on the show, but. It's difficult. It's very difficult to challenge the validity of a will that was well prepared, properly executed.
There's a very high bar there, and That bar is not met simply by saying, Hey, daddy told me I could have this house. Um And fortunately so, because you'd probably have A lot of that happening in the wake of people passing away and disputes that we see come from that. Yeah, yeah. And there's not a lot to do here. You know, um I always try to be very honest with people, and if you come sit down with me.
You know, I don't want to take your money to pursue a case that I don't think you have much chance of winning. And so I'm usually very, I'm like, I don't, you know, I'll tell you, like, I don't think there's much here. I don't think there's much of a claim here. You don't sugarcoat it. You don't sugarcoat it at all.
If it's there, it's there. If it's not, sugarcoating it. You know, and here. And here, like, I wish we did have some more facts that kind of uh pumped up the claim more like maybe a writing You know, that the dad made and signed, which still is not a lot, you know, but anything. Yeah, you know verbal verbal agreement Can be an agreement, but it's it's I don't know.
There's not a lot, there's not a lot here. Yeah. Well, let's hit one more question. We'll take a break. But the question is going to fall into this category: the neighbor's tree, well, it falls.
Here's the question: my neighbor's giant oak. looked dead for years. We warned them repeatedly. It fell during a storm and crushed our fence and also our shed. Who probably pays here?
Are we answering this question now? Yeah, we're doing it now. We're live on air. We're answering this question. We're not live.
We're live the tape.
So live on tape. Live on tape. To be played later. This this is another one that makes me think of that it's always sunny reference when they're talking tree law. Right, this is uh, there is a lot of case law, and there's a lot of statutes in North Carolina on.
Trees. You know, and and the damage they cause, and who's responsible. Um And the big thing here is, you know, I would say act of God versus negligence, right? If you got a tree in your yard. and lightning strikes it, And It falls on on the neighbor's property.
That's probably not the the owner of the trees. Responsibility. Yeah. Right?
An act of God is an act of God. We are all. subject to those. There's nothing we can do to control it. If lightning hits a tree, And uh that tree falls and that's probably The person whose shed got crushed, that's their problem.
Right. If the tree's been dying for a long time. And the person who owns the tree has gotten notice that the tree is dying. um and a light breeze blows it over. There's an argument that that's the tree owners.
Liability, right? You knew it was rotten, you knew it was dying, it could fall any time. A breezy summer day knocked it down. You know, that. But that's the big argument.
Was it an act of God? 'Cause we're all we're all liable for those. Or was it negligence? And it can... It's tough.
It comes down to facts again. I keep saying that, right? It keeps coming down to the facts of this. This case, but that's that's North Carolina Tree Law 101 right there. There you go.
We are educated. Judica County Radio will continue on the other side. Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer are your hosts. Complimentary consult in-around estate planning available to you right now. Estate planning or personal injury case.
You got some questions? Grab one of the consults: 919-77270000. That's 919-77270000. You can also visit wh.lawyer.
More at Judica County coming up. Oh no. Judica County Radio, hosted by Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer. They're the managing partners at Whitaker and Hamer Law Firm, and that's the power behind this program. They're also practicing attorneys here in North Carolina with offices in Raleigh, Garner, Cleveland, Clayton, Goldsboro, Fucwave Arena, Gastonia, and in Moorhead City.
I'm Morgan Patrick. Pleasure to jump on with the attorneys and we hit these questions. And they're happening every single day, and we'll get some answers.
Now, you've got your own questions. Bring them to a complimentary consult, estate planning or personal injury. Again, they're available to you during the course of this show. Just call the number 919-77270000. That's 919-77270000.
Or you can also visit the website, which is another resource for you: wh.lawyer. That's wh. All right, next question up for the attorneys. Guys, the category: speeding ticket in a work vehicle.
So here's the question: I got a speeding ticket while driving a company vehicle. My employer says I have to pay it and any insurance increase. Can they make me do this? Yeah. Yeah.
Well, I mean, they don't have to make you pay the ticket, but the law will make you pay the ticket. Like, it's. That's your ticket, man. Yeah, sure, man. You earned that ticket.
Yeah, you worked hard for it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, no, that's not your that's not your employer's Problem yet, it will be your employer's problem if you don't take care of it, right? Because if you don't take care of it and your license gets suspended or Or something like that, your employer is probably not going to want you driving a work vehicle around.
But yeah, I take it sure as you got to deal with it. You got to hire an attorney. You got to pay the fees. If you have a commercial driver's license, right? If you have a CDL, let your attorney know.
Because those consequences are a little different than regular consequences.
So, since this person's driving for work, I'm going to assume he may have a What about the increase in insurance for the company? Is the employee going to have to go pay for that? No, no.
So the employer's insurance, that's the employer's problem. But the employer's only going to let people drive That meets certain criteria. And every insurance company is different, but you. You can't have someone with a suspended license or a lot of points. That's going to be a risk.
Your employer's insurance company doesn't want to want to take.
So. You may, if you don't handle this ticket properly, you may be working yourself out of a job here. if driving is a a big part of your your your your work. Um But Yeah, the tickets are your problem. You should deal with it.
You should hire an attorney. Um And you don't let these tickets get away from you. We talk about how it's such a slippery slope. You forget one court date, everybody gets busy. Or if you just pay it in the mail because you don't want to deal with it, you're going to get some points.
And they have some wide-ranging effects.
So don't let these traffic tickets. uh trip you up too bad. Mm-hmm. All right, another question coming at you.
Social media divorce evidence is the category. Here's the question. My spouse posted beach pictures with someone new and tagged the location while telling the court they couldn't afford support. Uh can that be used against them?
Well You know, we have our family law attorneys here at the firm that live and breathe. you know, family law every day. Me and me and Joe Don't as a general rule, but what I usually tell a family law client is assume. You're Life is is an open Book. Yeah.
Right. Anything you throw out there into social media. can be used against you. You know, and and And if this was my client who was posting these pictures, I'd be like, hey man, what are you doing? Just lay low for a while until everything gets figured out.
Don't add fuel to the fire. And.
So, the answer to this question is: yeah, probably, yes, this probably is going to be used against. The spouse, you know, in an alimony hearing or a separation, a spousal support. Child support. It's probably going to be monetarily bad for you that you threw this. out there.
Um I mean, that's just a good general t rule too, you know. It just, um Be careful what you throw out there on social media because you don't know who's looking at it or who's a friend of a friend who's looking at it. Who's taking screenshots? You know, you can't pull it back very easily once it's out there. And that's not to say that this is going to ultimately be something that's like determinative and really hurts the case of the spouse, but it could.
You don't know, man. You don't know how it's going to be interpreted.
So Yeah, let's be careful when we're in those situations. You know, a lot of divorces, you know, it's real. Tight, right? Monetarily, you know, two people are getting divorced, or maybe there's not a lot of assets, there's not a lot of money. Coming into the household, and every little bit counts, and this, you know, and something like that, this can.
This can probably hurt you a little bit, you know. But again, depends on the facts, depends on what's going on in this particular issue. But Yeah, man, you put it out there It can be used against you, that's for sure. Questions. Again, you've got your own set of questions when it comes to a legal situation.
Get in touch with the firm, Whitaker and Hamer, 919-77270000. That's 919-77270000. You can also visit the website wh.lawyer. Estate planning questions or maybe a personal injury case, those are the complimentary consults this week. Just call the number 919-7727000 or visit wh.
Dot lawyer.
Next question up. Neighbor's drainage problem is the category. Here's the question. My neighbor regraded their yard, and now every rainstorm dumps water into my crawl space. They say it's just gravity.
Can I make them fix it? I'm not a gravity lawyer. Oh. It's not your specialty. Yeah, it's not my specialty personally.
Uh. Maybe. Yeah, you know, so Surface water drainage. That's a common enemy. That's everybody's enemy, surface water.
You don't really know that until you get older. Right, you get older, you start owning some stuff, and drainage becomes a, I don't know, drainage is a big deal, right? Yeah. Keeping water away from the house, keeping water away from your basement, keeping if you have a gravel or dirt driveway, keeping it from. Washing away, but everybody's got a common enemy in surface water.
That's what the law says: it's a common enemy. And so everybody has to deal with surface water. Uh but if I But if I if so in here My neighbor regraded their yard.
Now, every rainstorm dumps water into my crawl space. Can I make him fix it? Maybe. Right?
I would even give this a a probably. Um Because you can't alter You can't alter the flow of surface water. to the point where it's damaging You can't, you know, you have to, we all have to deal with it, but you can't make it exponentially worse for somebody. Yeah. Right.
That the grading is is the cause and um I don't know. It's one of those things, it's kind of like the tree law. surface water law and tree law. A lot of this happens a lot. There's a lot of cases out there.
There's a lot of statutes that try to. address it but um But we're all fighting our own secret battle against surface water. Yeah. Wake up every morning, man. I go to battle.
I mean, we're kind of chuckling, but I mean, these things come up. I mean,. Neighborhood situations, drainage situations, tree falls on a fence or a shed. I mean, these are situations that people face. Probably day to day, and just having a pathway legally that they can take, or just find out maybe there's not much of a pathway, but at least ask the questions and get some answers back.
Complimentary consult on estate planning or maybe a personal injury case that you're facing available to you right now with Whitaker and Hamer Law Firm. Simply call our number 919-7727000. It's 919-77270000. You can also visit the website wh.lawyer and really kick the tires there. That's a great resource for you.
And if you've got questions, maybe it's in a different category, man, call the number 919-77270000 or visit the website wh.lawyer. We got one more segment coming up with Josh and Joe, and it's going to be legal questions in and around the can I remove my child's co-signer. That's question number one in our next segment. We'll also get to the employee starts a competing business. What can you do there?
That's all coming up next. You're listening to Judica County Railroad. Judica County Radio, hosted by Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer, managing partners, Whitaker and Hamer law firm, and they're practicing attorneys here in North Carolina. And Whitaker and Hamer has placed offices for your convenience in Raleigh, Garner, Cleveland, Clayton, Goldsboro, Fucquave Arena, Gastonia, and down at the coast, Moorhead City. I'm Morgan Patrick.
Pleasure to jump on with the attorneys. We're hitting some legal questions today. Here's the next one, guys, in the category: the can I remove my child's co-signer question. Here it is: I co-signed my daughter's apartment lease midway through. She wants a roommate to replace me.
Uh can I just sign myself off the lease? And you were talking earlier. about, you know, if you listen to us Every week, we appreciate you. If you don't make it every week, but you hear us, you know, enough, you gotta do better. That's right.
You got to double down. Yeah, you need to double down. You got to concentrate, man. Get your priorities in order. We're all about the ratings.
Let's go. Yeah. But. No, you know, if you listen to us at all, like, you know, not to rent. Property out without a lease, right?
We were talking about that earlier. We answer these questions every week.
Some of them are kind of a little bit repetitive. Um with a little twist in them, but but but know this. If you co-sign for an apartment, or a car. or a mortgage, anything you co-sign on. That loan or that mortgage or that lease dependent on you signing.
And and you're not coming off 'cause you want to come off. And you're not coming off. If, like here, if the lease doesn't get paid, or the car note doesn't get paid, or the mortgage goes in default. You're not getting released. The lender wanted your signature for for a reason.
And you're never coming off by yourself. Um You're going to need the permission of the person who, the landlord in our question, right, the maker of the cardote. The mortgage servicer Somebody's gonna have to give you permission. To be relieved as your duties, relieved of your duties as co-signer. And so here, if this roommate qualifies, Right, if they have the financial qualifications that that landlord is Seeking that landlord may very well Allow that roommate to co-sign and then release you from your obligations.
So, the landlord in this situation may very well do that. Does the landlord have to do that? No. If they don't want to do it, they can just not. Do it.
Yeah, there's no legal requirement that they have to. And again, that comes back to the We've, again, there are certain things that we repeat and we really try to entrench into the brains of the people listening, but. If you're co-signing for something, you need to understand what you're doing. You need to understand the risk, and you understand it's not going to be. a simple way out in the event that it it goes south for you.
Um Yeah, and we get this call a lot, you know, where people are getting sued. Right, you know, hey, I signed a car note for my boyfriend, and it's defaulted.
Now I'm getting. sued and and That's what happens. Right?
And then they can go after you. They can go after, you know, you're jointly and severally liable on the debt. And so, if the person suing thinks you have more money or you have assets, they can go after you for the whole amount. They don't care who pays it. But I think some people take cosigning.
very lightly. you know um but just just make sure You're able to pay off that debt if the person you co-signed for can. That's what you're saying. And I think some people don't realize that. Until it's too until it's too late, but um Me and Joseph here will keep screaming at from the rooftops.
Yeah, we do a lot of we do a lot of streaming when the show's over from rooftops. That's right, we just go to the the roof and Yell at passerbyers. Yell at swordbers. I don't know, Joe. Do you have a fast twitch muscle in your body?
You are a ton, Morgan. You've never seen me out there on the savannah like a gazelle. Just cruising along, man. That's fantastic. I'll tell you, we get into these legal questions.
We've got one more, at least one more, maybe two that we're going to get to. I want to remind you: we do have complimentary consults with Whitaker and Hamer. Again, complimentary consults with Whitaker and Hamer, estate planning, maybe a personal injury case. Grab one of the consults. You can call us 919-77270000.
That's 919-7727000. And it's no cost, no obligation, meaning you're not obligated to become a client. This is a fact-finding mission for you. And if it's a good fit and you want to roll forward, you certainly can. 919-77270000.
And you can always visit the website, wh.lawyer. That's wh.lawyer. All right, next question, guys, is this. The employee starts a competing business, is the category. Here's the question: My employee quit Friday and by Monday launched a competing business contacting our customers.
No non compete was signed. Can I stop this? Potentially. Yeah, there's there's potential there, you know. Um Non-competes, you know, that could be its own segment.
That could be its own show, really, if we wanted it to be. What does North Carolina think about non-competes in that category?
Well, there's, there's, they're, they're. They're allowed. It's not like you can't have a non-compete. They are allowed. But there's a lot of requirements, there's a lot of regulation.
And um It's you you gotta you gotta check the boxes and make sure you do the right things or else they're gonna throw it out. Yeah, non-competes. I think, like Joe said, they're allowed. North Carolina allows them. There is a couple of statutes where certain people can't sign non-competes, right?
Doctors, lawyers, there's a list of people. Um where North Carolina does not allow them to sign a non-compete. Uh but most industries, most trades will allow a non-compete. It has to be, you hear this a lot in the law, narrowly tailored. You have to prove it's necessary to protect your business, and it can't be.
Global, right? The location has to be narrowly tailored. It can't be all of the U.S. It can't be for a decade. It has to be narrowly tailored in time.
And it all has to make sense. It has to be. calculated to prot to protect your your business.
Now most most industries have have kind of gotten away from non-competes. Um They're still out there and arguably enforceable if they meet those basic requirements. But a lot of people protect, it's easier to protect your customer list, it's easier to have non-solicitation agreements, it's easier to protect. Trade secrets. Confidentiality agreements, those things are all easier to enforce than just a straight up.
Don't compete. You can't work for any of my competitors within a certain radius for a certain amount of time. But, um,. And even in this scenario, even in this scenario, right? Because our fact pattern here, there's no non-compete.
And I think the answer, like many answers, is it does depend. Because, you know, even in the absence of non-compete, there's intentional interference with contract. You know, there's other tort. ways to go about this potentially. where you could, you know, there could be some liability.
Um, but Yeah, it's probably a little trickier than if there was a good, valid, well-prepared knock-compete. I was going to say, to flip that and ask that question, and sorry to interrupt, Josh, but if there is. A document, you did sign a non-compete. Is that ironclad? I mean, you hear all these stories, North Carolina's right to work state.
I mean, I've heard that before. Will these non-competes hold up? I mean, potentially, right? Again, I feel like a broken record. It depends on the facts, it depends on what the non-compete's trying to restrict.
It kind of depends on the industry. And so a lot of times people will come into the office and we'll just look at their non-competes. You know, if I'm not familiar with their industry, I'll ask them some questions. A lot of times these can be negotiated if we do think they're going to be enforceable. A lot of times you can kind of negotiate them away.
But. You know, and non-competes, you know, they're agreements.
So if you sign the non-compete, You know. Yeah. The question about if they're enforceable or not is a multifaceted, factual.
So, if you have a non-compete, you might not be stuck with it. You need an attorney to look at it. ask you the right questions you may be able to to beat it, there might be a strategy to defeat it or make it less. Um formidable to deal with, but there's There's things you can do. Yeah.
Judica County Radio, another edition in the books. Your host, Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer, managing partners, Whitaker and Hamer law firm and practicing attorneys here in North Carolina. Offices located in Raleigh, Garner, Cleveland, Clayton, Goldsboro, Fuquay, Verina, Gastonia, and in Moorhead City. Complimentary consult, state planning, personal injury available to you right now: 919-7727000. No cost, no obligation.
919-77270000. You can always visit the website, wh.lawyer. For Josh and Joe, I'm Morgan. See you on the radio next week. Judica County is hosted by attorneys licensed to practice law in North Carolina.
Some of the guests appearing on this podcast may be licensed North Carolina attorneys. Discussion on this podcast is meant to be general in nature, and in no way should the discussion be interpreted as legal advice. Legal advice can only be rendered once an attorney, licensed in the state in which you live, has the opportunity to discuss the facts of your case with you. The attorneys appearing on this podcast are speaking in generalities about the law in North Carolina and how these laws affect the average North Carolinian. If you have any questions about the content of this show, you can direct such inquiry to Joshua Whitaker at jmw at mwhlaw.lawyer.
