Coming up on this edition of Judica County Radio with Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer, managing partners, Whitaker and Hamer law firm and practicing attorneys here in North Carolina. We're going to get into some listener questions that are centered in and around high school graduates, college students, and the young adult, and obviously with roots in North Carolina. My son is 18. Why won't the hospital talk to me? Also, my daughter signed an apartment lease, and can my parents handle my bank account?
All these categories and more coming up next. Mm. Whitaker and Hamer presents. Judica County. with Joshua Whitaker and Joseph Hayner.
Judica County Radio hosted by Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer, managing partners, Whitaker and Hamer law firm. And again, practicing attorneys right here in the great state of North Carolina. Offices placed everywhere. Raleigh, Garner, Cleveland, Clayton, Goldsboro, Fucquave Arena, Gastonia, and down at the coast, Moorhead City. We get into legal questions on this program.
And again, we also offer up complimentary consults in and around estate planning. And also, if you've been in a personal injury case or you're currently in one, you've got questions, you can grab one of our consults and you can do that at any time. We'll tell you how to grab one here in just a little bit. I'm Morgan Patrick. It's a pleasure.
Just to jump on with the attorneys before we dive in on some of the legal questions that we have in front of us. And just a reminder, it's going to be for our younger set, the high school graduate, the college student, the young adult, and some things they're facing right here in the state of North Carolina. But guys, we always start off with how the week went.
So, Josh, you're up first. I've been thinking about two things this morning. Two different things that kind of made me ask some questions to myself. It seems like a heavy start, man. I've had a heavy summer, man.
I don't know what it is. I usually. With Josh. Deep thoughts with Josh. I you know, I usually told you I try to start Sunday afternoons and Mondays, I try to start.
Kind of with with With bigger thoughts, right? More abstract kind of things like planning type things. And then as the week goes on, I try to narrow. down and and then And then enjoy Saturday and then Sunday I'm back to kind of. Anyway, so you know, I'd watched it.
I watched an interview. I think it made rounds on the social media, but Elon Musk got interviewed by the, I think it was the BBC, but he was talking about. He was talking about saving money. You're a fool to save money because in 10 years there'll be this abundance. Right, you know, there'll be this, you know, you won't be working, AI and robots will be doing everything, you know, and we'll live in this age of abundance.
And so that made me think, you know, we all spend a lot of time. You know, we talk about estate planning on here. You know, we work with a lot of CPAs and we work with a lot of financial advisors who their whole thing is we're helping people plan for where they're going to be in 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, you know.
So this planning ahead, and here comes Elon, who Politically, you may feel one way or the other about him, but I think we can all say he's a pretty smart guy. And he's coming and he's saying, A. You're wasting your time. Don't sweat it. Five to 10 years from now, everything will be okay.
You just gotta make it five or 10 years, right? And then And so then I was kind of thinking about summer break, right? I have three boys in school. And uh Summer break, you know, the oldest has had a job and worked and and has had football practice and has a has a has a busier schedule than he's probably ever had. in his life during the summer, right?
My youngest is just rolling into sixth grade, has had no no appointments. of of any kind this summer. And I'm trying to get him up before noon, right? That's my goal: this sixth grader rolls out of bed because he stays up with his older brother. Anyway.
So I was thinking about If Elon is correct, and we're going to enter this age of abundance where you don't have to save money. Right, you don't have to. working nine to five, you know. Um I was trying to compare that to my sixth grader who sleeps. a ton and plays a lot of video games.
Like what What does that life of abundance look like for like us? Like people who have grown up. Doing the nine to five or the fifty hours a week or the sixty hours a week. Do we revert back to our sleeping? Sleeping a lot, playing a lot of video games.
Yeah, is that really what it is? Like, if your food's free, you don't have to save money, robots are doing the work, mowing the yard. Is that what we do with all this? What do we do with all this free time? I love how the question was: how was your week?
That was my week. I was thinking about that. If we go, if money doesn't matter, Robots are doing all the work. I mean, somebody's got to. I mean, do we just become?
What was the movie where everybody became real fat and lazy and was on a ship? Idiocracy. Oh, you're talking about. I thought you were talking about idiocracy. Everyone becomes stupid.
No, you're talking about fat and lazy on a shit. If there's a cockroach in it. The robot's friends with the cockroach. Come on. I'm sorry.
What do you mean? I'm sorry, man. I don't have the answer. The robot didn't say anything. It was a little robot.
He was cleaning up the earth. All the earthlings had been in a ship. waiting for the earth to get cleaned up. I don't know, man. You're losing me.
It's a Pixar movie. I'm going to go.
Okay, so it's like a one-word name. Yeah.
Well, I don't live the same life of abundance that you do where I can watch cartoons all day, Josh. I don't know. I I you asked the question, you know, what would we do? Because we grew up nine to five, work hard, try to save our money. I don't know if we could handle not doing things.
While it's with you now. Yeah, I mean, on vacation, I get up at six in the morning just because that's what my body does, you know? Right. Um I don't know. I was just I was just thinking about it 'cause 'cause, you know, Elon.
He doesn't fill in a lot of gaps here. But I don't think he's right. I don't think he's right. I don't think five to ten years doesn't matter if you save money. We're all going to have a bunch of stuff.
Like, I'm sure. there's lots of fantastic things coming down the pipeline, but uh But I was thinking about that today. What's our natural state? What's human's natural state if we don't have to work anything? Are we like a hamster in a cage?
You know, what it anyway, that's what that was my week. That's what I don't know. It's like a nice Saturday or Sunday for you. Just adding a lot of things. I see us all turning into Java the Hutt if that happens.
Yeah, I'm going to get fatter for sure. I'm going to do that regardless, though. I think. You know, whether it's another corner for it. It's coming anyways, man.
It's always on the horizon for me.
Alright, well that was an interesting start to the show. Josh's week. Joe.
So good? Is that the answer? Good? Your week was good? Bad?
Pretty good. Yeah, the week was fine. Just you don't want to be in Josh's brain? Is that what we're trying to? I was just trying to I was you know and and and yeah, I was just trying to figure out like if you didn't have to if you didn't have to do anything, would we just make up stuff to do?
Yeah, you'd have to do yeah, you'd go crazy, man. You'd have to do something. Yeah, you'd get a hobby.
Something. Playball. Tune up your robots. Keep them in order. Yeah, somebody's got to be working on these droids, right?
Like, somebody's got to be. Yeah, robot mechanic is probably a pre-future-proof. No, there'll be robots working on robots. We won't have robots working on robots. Jeez, the.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I figured that'd be the number one job in 20 years. Like every 98% of the population are robot mechanics. Yeah, yeah. No, we'll just create a robot mechanic to work on robots.
That's what we do. That's what Elon's probably working on. Right. He's not a bleak start at all, man. We're all used to this.
We don't even need to show up.
So Joe. I had a good week, man. Pretty simple, straightforward. Good, man. No complaints.
Everything's great. All the kids living and breathing. Everything good. All the kids are alive. Yep.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Everything's good, man. Everything's all right. Before we dive in on our first question, Josh, just break down the consults. I think a lot of people out there probably have questions about legacy, probably have questions if they're in a personal injury case, but talk about those consults. Yeah, here at the law firm, you know, we talk about this from time to time.
This is a topic that comes up or a question we get. It's how. How do attorneys get paid? Right, if you've never used an attorney before, if you've never consulted with an attorney before. Um You know, sometimes we do free consults for things.
Sometimes we don't. But here on the radio show, we do estate planning is always a free consult. If you're listening to the radio show, me or Joe, we'll sit down with you and talk about wills, power of attorneys, your assets, estate planning. We meet with you for free. And then, if you want to hire us to do something, we tell you up front, this is what we charge.
But a free consult for estate planning, we always do that. And then if you've been in any kind of a car accident, That's a free consult, too, right?
So if you tracked your trailer, motorcycle, car accident. You need to talk to an attorney about your rights, what your case is worth, because the insurance company, even your insurance company. uh they they run a business they're not they're not your they're not your friend so um that's what we do the free consults on all right and to grab one of those consults just give us a call 919-77270000 again 919-77270000 you can also visit the website wh.lawyer again a complimentary consult estate planning personal injury case you're facing got some questions Give us a call, grab one of the consoles. 919-7727000. 919-77270000.
And also, WH.lawyer. Great way to get signed up there. Again, Whitaker and Hamer, your law firm for life. Judica County rolls on right after this. We are back on Judica County Radio.
Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer are your hosts. They're also managing partners, Whitaker and Hamer law firm, practicing attorneys here in North Carolina. Offices placed all over our fantastic state, Moorhead City, down at the coast, over near Charlotte and Gastonia. But right here in the triangle, you got Fuquay Verena, Goldsboro, Clayton, Garner, Raleigh, and Cleveland. Again, offices to serve you better.
And we have complimentary consults in and around estate planning or personal injury. And you can call at any time and grab one: 919-77270000. No cost, no obligation. 919-77270000. You can also visit the website, wh.lawyer.
I'm Morgan Patrick, and our first question. Question. And again, we're focusing in. On our younger listener, and maybe parents of these younger listeners, but these are high school graduates, college students, young adults with a North Carolina slant.
So here comes your first question, guys, and the category: My son is 18, why won't the hospital talk to me? Here's the question: My son turned 18 in June. and started college in August. He was taken to the emergency room after a serious bicycle accident. The hospital wouldn't tell me anything because they said he was an adult.
I pay his tuition, he's on my health insurance, and he's still my dependent on my taxes. Is that really how it works?
So we we put this question list together because we've um We get a lot of these questions from parents. Um, from newly minted 18-year-old adults, you know. And so this is one, this comes up. A lot, right? This comes up a lot.
So, you know, your parents have kind of managed your health care. Probably, right? More or less, they made your dentist appointments and your doctor's appointments and uh Maybe that's not the way it is for everybody, but that's the way it is for a lot of people. Your parents have kind of managed. Your health care.
But then once you turn 18 That's it. Right. You're an adult, man. You're an adult? That's what.
You may not. We may not. There's some eighteen year olds out there. It's arguable. what their mental capacity and intelligence level is.
But the law. Looks at you as an adult. And, you know, I can't, you know, this, I was 18 back before HIPAA. HIPAA is a law, a federal law that changed how you deal with medical healthcare information and what's. and privacy rights and and and certainly my parents made my uh doctor's appointments for a while.
Even after I was 18, I remember I went to my pediatrician. I think I was 21. I'm still going to my pediatrician. He finally told me that was it. He ended our relationship.
You're an adult for purposes of this pediatrician's office as well. Everybody else is four feet tall. You're six feet tall. You need to move. That kid's got a full beard.
Yeah.
But um But yeah, you need you need if you want your parents and some 18-year-olds don't want their parents involved, right?
Some 18-year-olds, they like that law, right? They'll take it over, they'll handle their business, and but a lot of people still want their parents involved. And if you do, you know, the answer is there's some legal documents you can have signed. That would allow your parents to get this information and people to talk to your parents. We want every adult to have a health care power of attorney.
Right. Every state calls it something different here in North Carolina. We usually use the The healthcare power of attorney language, but Basically, you designate who's gonna make your medical decisions, who can talk to your doctors, there's a HIPAA release you can sign. But you have to do that before you need it. Right, if you're in a like this, this 18-year-old was in a serious bicycle accident.
I'm going to guess he's not conscious. Um And you can't do it then, right? You gotta plan ahead, which is hard for some 18-year-olds have that in them where they can plan ahead and some 18-year-olds don't. I was definitely an 18-year-old who did not plan ahead, right? Um But, yeah, healthcare power of attorneys and a HIPAA release and possibly a living will.
That's what's needed here. But you gotta do it. When you turn 18, right?
So we had a lot of kids going to college that came in this summer. and did kind of like a college graduate estate plan. Healthcare power of attorney, living will. HIPAA release, that's good for the medical information. A lot of these kids did a general power of attorneys, so their parents could still deal with banking or whatever they needed to deal with.
And then, you know, as sad as it is, a will, a very simple will. can leave everything to your parents or leave some stuff to a charity, but um A very simple will because it happens, right? We lose some young people. In that college age to accidents or diseases, and unfortunately, I've had to help parents. Through that estate process, that estate admin process, when that happens, and a will makes it a lot easier.
Yeah, you know, we talk about it. There's triggering events, right? Like, when should you... When should you reach out to an attorney and either revisit an estate plan, or when's a good time? That that college period is is is a Just as good of a time as any for that, for sure.
Yeah, and you know, a lot of times for parents, once a kid turns 18. A lot of times that maybe changes. Things, you know, now that you've seen your kid as an adult. If you had a trust where they weren't getting anything till they're 30, but now you've seen them at 18, you might want to change like some trust provisions. You may want them to participate as a fiduciary in your estate plan.
I've got one kid. I'm waiting for him to turn 18 so I can make him a backup on certain estate planning documents. But anyway, turning 18 changes a lot. To answer this question, they need a healthcare power of attorney, a HIPAA authorization, and possibly a living will, and then his parents could have. been more help and gotten some information.
Because yeah, being a parent, In this situation, it's terrible, right? Not only is your 18-year-old hurt. and in a serious accident, but you can't really Do a lot. without the proper documentation, so Well, and it's it's I mean you've been watching them your entire life and all of a sudden you don't have access. And that that can be That can be frustrating for the parent, but the law is the law, right?
And I would say, too, there are some exceptions, you know, in emergency, like super emergency type situations, you know, HIPAA does allow. You know, if someone needs to make medical decisions for an 18-year-old, even if there are not proper documents in place, there are some exceptions.
So it's not like. Mm. Your 18-year-old's gonna die in there, and the doctors aren't gonna reach out to you. But still, it's easier if all the documents are in place. Yeah, for sure.
Well, let's slide one more quick one in here, and that is: the daughter signs an apartment lease question. And here it is: My daughter and three roommates signed a 12-month lease near campus. Two months in, one roommate transferred schools and moved home. The landlord says the remaining three students. are responsible for the entire rent, Uh is that probably true?
Yeah.
Yeah.
A lease is a lease, right? Yeah.
Next question. There's no need to elaborate. No, this, you know, I remember my parents telling me I had some friends and we all moved into an apartment, and this is what we did. You know, my parents. being adults, you know, were like Hey, maybe that's not the best idea, you know, you know.
Anyway, but they knew they knew my friends, and it all worked out. But this happens a lot. Um But yeah, you sign a lease you can sign a lease with twenty eight people. And 27 of those people can can leave. Um Mm.
But they can go after anybody for the right. At least isn't invalidated by somebody leaving. And you can't. You can't use that as your reverse Uno card. Like, I'm moving out.
Tough luck guys. Deal with it. It's not how it works. And the roommate who lefts that off the lease. I was going to say, yeah.
Yeah, the roommate who left is still on the lease and can still be sued. She doesn't care if they live there or not, right? And that's the, you never, you never want to go into any, so signing a lease, that is a business transaction, right?
So you don't want to go to any business transaction with somebody who doesn't care. This is what I would say. I was like, you don't want to go into any kind of business transaction with someone who doesn't care about their credit. No. Right.
That's not a winning plan. Right. Because if that, there's people who don't care if they get sued, there's people who have bad credit. If you care about your credit and you don't want to get sued, you don't want to partner up with those people on anything because. They'll they don't care.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's great. Opportunity to grab a complimentary consult with Whitaker and Hamer in and around a state planning personal injury case. You're facing got some questions. You can grab one of those consults at any time, 919-77270000. Just leave your contact information.
They'll be back in touch with you and they'll line up one of those consults. Again, estate planning personal injury case. Got some questions. Grab one of the consults: 919-7727000, 919-7727000, or visit the website wh.lawyer. Judica County continues right after this.
We are back. Judica County Radio, Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer, your hosts and also managing partners of Whitaker and Hamer Law Firm, the power behind the program, and their practicing attorneys here in North Carolina. Office is located in Raleigh, Garner, Cleveland, Clayton, Goldsboro, Fuqua Verena, Gastonia, and down at the coast, Moorhead City. I'm Morgan Patrick. We're hitting some legal category questions for the youngers out there: the high school grad, the college student, the young adult, but also kind of factoring in the parents that would be involved in some of these situations.
So, here is the category: Can my parents handle my bank account? Here's the question. My 19-year-old son is studying overseas next semester. If his debit card is stolen or the bank freezes his account, can I just walk into the bank? and take care of it.
What's a What do you th what do you think, Morgan? Yeah, yeah, I like that. Um I mean i if if the account possibly was opened up in your name and their name, maybe, but if not, no. Yeah, well, I mean that's a good answer. Yeah, if the 19-year-old son is the only one on the account, if he is the owner of the account, then the bank's not going to talk to anybody as well they should.
You wouldn't want them to about that account.
So I mean, that's pretty much it.
Now, a lot of kids have accounts where their parents, you know, you opened it up when you were under 18 and the parents are on there as a guardian.
Some banks automatically take you off, some banks will leave you on. I mean, you can be. Co-owners of the account.
So, yeah, like you said, Morgan, if the, if the, if, is it a mom or a dad here? Does it say it's just a parent, just a general parent? If the parent is not a co-owner of the account, the answer is is no.
So, from an estate planning perspective, financial power of attorney, so if you've got it in your estate plan, Either yours or, I mean, I don't know if the 19-year-old has one at this point, but if you list the parent as a financial power of attorney, obviously that would be a green light. Yeah, yeah. So if you've done your, like we talked about in the last segment, if the college-aged kids done their A state plan, then they would have a power of attorney that just says, hey, if I'm unavailable, then my mom or my dad can talk to you in my place. And once the bank has that, they might send it through their legal first. They might make you go down to the register of deeds and record it so it's on record.
But but Most banks are going to take that power of attorney and and and talk to you. But but similar to what you said earlier, Josh, about how your mom made your uh doctor's appointments until you were thirty and you went to a pediatrician. Uh You know, a lot of times these accounts are going to be joint accounts that were set up by parents. And, you know, in that scenario, y you're good, but that kind of gets phased out as you get older. And like you said, you need.
When you're an adult, man, you're treated like an adult. You get that right of privacy in a sense, and yeah, it's got to be figured out. And I think, you know, I think, I think it was probably changing our generation, but I think this generation, you know, in the past like five or 10 years, I think I feel like parents are a lot more involved. with their kids as they as they get older. You know, not that our parents kicked us to the curb or anything, but I feel like, in general, most parents are more involved.
With their kids at that age, that 18, 19, 20, 21 age, than maybe they were in the past. That's just a gut feeling. That might not be right.
Well, I was just going to jump in and say, you know, now that we're following Elon and 10 years, we're not going to need anything like that. I mean, it's just, you know, everything's free like the Google Cafe. You go work at Google and you can just walk in and get pudding. You can get in the Jetsons, you still had to work. Yeah.
He still had a job. Yeah.
They had robots. Opportunity to get a complimentary consult, and you won't be talking about free food, but you'll be talking about estate planning or personal injury. Give us a call, 919-77270000. Got some questions about a case you're in, maybe estate planning's been on your plate, but you haven't just had the opportunity to get around to it. This is an opportunity for you: 919-77270000 or visit wh.lawyer.
We've got more Judica County coming up. Junica County Radio, hosted by Josh Whitaker, Joe Hamer, managing partners, Whitaker and Hamer Law Firm, and again, the power behind this program, their practicing attorneys. Right here in North Carolina, offices convenient for you in Raleigh, Garner, Cleveland, Clayton, Goldsboro, Fuqua Verina, down near Charlotte in Gastonia, and on the coast at Moorhead City. I'm Morgan Patrick. Each and every week, we hit these legal topics, these categories, these questions, and you're gonna have your own set of questions.
And we have complimentary consults through Whitaker and Hamer available to you. Estate planning, personal injury case you might be facing. Grab one of the consults at any time, 919-772-7000. That's 919-7727000. Or visit the website, wh.lawyer.
All right, so here's the next category: My freshman got a fake ID ticket. My freshman got a fake ID ticket.
So the question is: My daughter was caught using a fake ID at a college bar. She wasn't drinking yet, but the police charged her anyway with. Will that probably impact graduate school or future? Employment. I think people I think people when you get old when you get old and crusty like we are I think people old and crusty.
Right. If we were in Animal House, like if you take it back to Animal House, we're older than the crusty dean, right? Who was the dean of Faber College in Animal House? Wimmer, Wimmer? Dean Wimmer?
I bet you not. Maybe not Joseph, but me and Morgan, we're probably older than the Dean. Oh, I'm definitely. Not me, man. I'm definitely.
Well, I don't know. He was probably in his 60s to be a mean, you know? Yeah.
But I think we forget. The dumb, how many, how many dumb things did you do? Right? 18, 19, 20, 21. I don't know.
We don't have enough. More than I'm. Yeah.
And we're smart. People, and we made it to the other side. We have professional lives, right? I mean, we made it through it, but that's um. People d people that age do a lot of dumb stuff.
Yep. Up you know and uh man here this was dumb Right, fake ID, college bar. That's a criminal charge. You have to deal with it. you know, here the the daughter who got caught using the fake ID It depends on what county you are in North Carolina.
I don't live in the criminal traffic district court world. We have attorneys here at the firm that handle it. Me and Joe don't live in that space every day, but a lot of counties. Have deferral programs, right? Um You know, it doesn't matter that she didn't drink yet.
That's a different charge. Using a fake ID, you know, using a fake ID at all is one charge.
So that's a charge you have to deal with. There's deferral programs and And community service, anyway. Yeah, there's ways you can lessen the blow, but I mean, anytime you get a charge, you run the risk of anybody who knows how to check your background. You know, at least asking you some questions about it.
So, I don't know if that's the end of the world, but. The question is, you know, could it affect And yes, it it could.
Well, and I'll ask you guys this. I mean, do you remember honor codes back in the day? Yeah.
You'd go to school and there's an honor code. You basically sign it when you enroll wherever you're at. And if you break it, It's a big, big deal. And there are a lot of rules you have to follow, but basically, fear. They wanted to kind of keep us, you know, on track.
But I remember the honor code. especially during exams. You're signing it every single time. But really when we walked into university, it was like, this is the honor code, you got to stick to it. And fake ID is a big a big no-no.
I don't remember. I'm sure when my undergrad had one, I'm sure undergrad had one. I don't remember it.
Now, law school, it was a real big deal. A lot of people. Who ran afoul of the honor code got expelled or, you know, in serious trouble, but. You know, in a perfect world, it'd be great if it didn't happen. I think I think future employers and things like that, I think they'll look past.
Some things, you know, and credit that to you. And then there's other things. This might be something you can get expunged from your record. There's other things you can do, but. You know, if this is just a a thing that happened when this daughter was 18 and Anyway.
Yeah, it's It's uh it can it can come up, you know. Things come up like if you apply for the to sit for the bar or you apply for your real estate license, certain professional licenses do a background check. and they make you disclose stuff ahead of time, then they do the background check. And then give you a chance to explain, you know. But if you don't disclose it, that's a problem.
You know, so it's something that to be mindful of. But hopefully this one won't be too bad. We're going to move on to this particular category. Can my parents see my grades?
So here's the question: I'm paying my son's entire college tuition. The university says they can't tell me whether he's even attending class because of federal privacy laws. Is that probably correct? Yeah, I mean, that's not something that comes across my desk as an attorney very often. But again, this goes back to the 18-year-old's an adult now.
I don't think the university cares who's paying them. You know, they're going to protect privacy. And I think it's probably pretty easy for the student to give access to the parents, right? If they. That they want access, but these are all kind of the a lot of these are the same flavor, you know, and just really re-emphasizing the fact that.
You go from a minor to being an adult, and while there's not some magical leap in maturity that comes from 17 to 18, but you're treated very differently. Bottle all. And there's real implications for that.
Well, and you hope you have a relationship with your child that they're going to, and obviously they're young adults, but they're going to share that information. Obviously, your partner's in the tuition part, he's going to school or she's going to school, and you're helping with those bills. You want to be on the same team. Uh Again. I know that there are situations where kids might not want their parents to know because they don't want the extra pressure.
Yeah.
But I mean, there there's a lot that goes into that. But at the same time, I get it from a parent standpoint. You kind of want to know how they're doing. And again, you hope it's just, hey, how's it going? How are your grades?
And they tell you. and you're you're not in some big surprise, but also You know, this day and age, the portal, everything that's going on with that, and how we pay for tuition. you know You know, our kids share pretty much everything with us. All right, so I remember. Go ahead.
I remember back when we were. Back when I was at NC State, you had to. There was like a day where they opened registration for different classes and you had to call on the phone. Oh yeah. And you had to Or show up at the gym and wait in line.
I I mean that's that's kind of what we did. Yeah, that was crazy. That's crazy how we did things back in the day. Maybe we are evolving to doing nothing in 10 years, Josh. Maybe possibly.
Getting fat, don't forget. We're getting fat. That's right. Job of the hut over here. Princess Leia in the bikini, that's the way it's going to be for all of us.
And role reversal as well. No worries. Is Princess Leia a robot in this?
Well, she could be. I mean, yeah, she could be. I don't know if my wife would appreciate that, but yeah. All right, we're going to take a short break or give you an opportunity. To get on the counter with Whitaker and Hamer.
These are complimentary consults. Think about it: if you have been pondering estate planning, we talk about planning all the time. You really need to have everything in order. And some of the issues we're talking about today, some of these categories, you know, with an estate plan, you know, the path is going to be much clearer. And obviously, you're working with your other family members to make sure you have this estate plan in order.
And you haven't started and you're thinking about it. This is an opportunity for you. Grab one of our consults, 919-7727000, and get the ball rolling there. Again, no cost, no obligation. 919-77270000.
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We've got more legal questions, different categories, and this is in and around the young adult. Think about it: high school graduates, college students, the young adult, and it's got that North Carolina flavor to it. You don't want to miss it. Come back on the other side, hit a few more questions. You're listening to Judica County Radio.
Yeah.
Judica County Radio, hosted by Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer, Managing Partners, Whitaker and Hamer, law firm, practicing attorneys here in North Carolina. Offices all over the state, Moorhead City, down at the coast, over near Charlotte and Gastonia, but also right here, middle of the state, Fucwave Arena, Goldsboro, Clayton, Garner, Cleveland, and the Cap City, Raleigh, North Carolina. I'm Morgan Patrick. It's a pleasure to jump on with the attorneys. We also provide complimentary consults in and around estate planning.
And also, maybe you're facing a personal injury case and you've got some questions, grab one of the consults and you can do it. No cost, no obligation. 919-7727000. That's 919-7727000. Or you can visit wh.lawyer.
So, the categories today in and around the young adult, the high school graduate, the college student, the young adult, but also, you know. mingling with Dealing with your parents. And if you're a parent out there, you're probably facing some of these issues as well.
So, next up, category: my son wants to buy a house at NC State.
So here's the question. My son is starting graduate school at the Wolf Pack at NC State. Instead of paying rent, we're thinking about just buying a townhouse in his name with us co signing the loan. What legal issues should we probably think about before we do it? There's I guess there's a couple of different ways to do it, you know.
You know, if you're given money, there's some tax issues, and we're a lot of things, but we're not CPAs, we're not. uh we're not allowed to give uh tax advice by any means, but I guess there are some issues, you know, if you're Providing money for a down payment, you know, you may want to talk to somebody about gift tax. Um And then I would think about, you know, what you want, what, what, what do you want to do with that property? Graduate school's two or three years usually. Is this somewhere where he's going to stay?
Is this somewhere where you guys might rent it out after he's gone? Um You know, what are you going to do? The property is going to have a roommate, rent a room. You know, there's a lot of things like that to think about liability and ownership. You know, I think.
You know, I think this question, I'm going to say that the guy plans to, he wants to stay in Raleigh. The son's going to go to graduate school here. This is going to be his primary residence. I'm assuming he can't qualify for a mortgage without the parents. He's just coming out of doing four years, undergrad, and probably doesn't have the income requirements to get a mortgage on his own, so the parents probably are going to have to join in.
and Cosan and and then you know, in that case they're all on the deed. Yeah.
Right, so you got you got parents on the deed and a kid on the deed. Um And Jay, you get that question a lot because that goes back to tenants in common or joint tenants right or survivorship. You got to think about what happens. you know, if the parents die, does this does their half of the property need to go Through their estate to their heirs, or do you want to make sure that if you have multiple kids, or do you want to make sure the son gets the house if you pass away? I don't know, there's a lot of different things there depending on You know what we're doing with the townhouse after the son's finished graduate school.
Yeah, and I mean, project it out even further, right? Like, you know. For in the future, what other issues could there be? I mean, anytime you've got joint ownership of a property, the you know the person that is the joint owner along with you. They you hope everything goes well and and you keep getting along forever, but You know, they they you're bound by What they want to do.
They've got an ownership interest. You can't do anything without the joinder of their ownership interest. And you may love your son and get along with him great. But, you know, relationships can change and and beyond that, Your son's at an age He may get married at some point. And if he gets married, He's got a spouse and you're potentially...
Looking at an additional marital interest that you got to deal with.
So I think just understanding. What that can look like. That's not necessarily a bad plan. You know, I mean, I think that.
Someone could do that. It could work out perfectly, make a lot of sense, end up being a rental property down the line.
So, you know, smart thing to do. You just want to make sure you understand what you're getting into. Yeah, the biggest thing that I see come up in that situation is what folks haven't thought about is if You know, the parents are on there and the parents both pass away. What happens to their interest in the house? Is it going to go where they want it to go?
Do they want to make sure, again, if there's multiple kids, all their kids share in this, or do they want to make sure this just stays the son's? property and there's ways to to do that, but a a lot of time, you know, you never You never, a lot of people just don't play it out that long, and maybe it's 'cause they're not attorneys and they haven't seen it go south, right? But another thing on that same front, man, if the parents pass. You know, I don't know what the son's financial situation looks like, but that mortgage payment still has to get made as well. And you know, that's it's the same thing as you can't move out of a house and just magically remove your obligation to pay rent.
Uh that y you know, someone's he's gotta make that payment and he's gotta figure that out. Yeah.
And I just that just is what it is. Different categories really get you thinking. You've got questions of your own in and around estate planning, personal injury case. You can grab one of our consults, 919-77270000. That'll get you in touch with Whitaker and Hamer.
919-77270000. It's no cost, no obligation. You can also visit wh.lawyer. All right, next category, guys, is the internship agreement.
So here's the question: My son was offered an unpaid internship with a startup. The company wants him to sign a contract saying anything he invents. even on his own time, belongs to the company, Should he probably sign this? I mean, no, I I guess is, you know I would wonder the startup, you know, some sometimes these companies overreach. And sometimes you can make edits.
Right. You know, if you're going to go work for. You know, a huge international conglomerate. Like, they're not going to make edits to their own boarding documents or to their. uh contractor documents, right?
You're just it's it's a Take it or leave it, type of thing, right? But, um, Smaller companies, there's probably some room here where you can send back a red line edit and be like, hey, we're not. He'd love to work here, but we're not going to agree to that, you know. And ultimately, what I tell, you know, we see this, right? Like, there's companies that.
onboard you and present you with these miserably the one-sided agreements. And You know, that's not to say if something's so unconscionable. There could potentially be like legal recourse for you somewhere down the line, like to revise or get out of that, but. I would not personally plan on that myself. And so you tell folks like Uh How bad do you want to work here?
That's really what it boils down to. Like, how bad do you want to? Yeah, if this is just an amazing opportunity that your son or daughter doesn't want to, well, it says son here, that your son doesn't want to pass up. It may be worth it because how long is he going to intern? If he's got sc I mean, what's he gonna invent on his own time?
If he's got school and he's doing this.
So it may be worth the trade-off. I mean, at least you've read it. You know he knows what he's getting into. I would just tell him, don't invent anything. Yeah.
Right now, cool it, hold it on the back burner. Stop with all of your inventions. Wait until they hire you and go, Oh, by the way, I'm sick of you inventing so many things. But yeah, just read it. They probably take an edit, these guys.
I think this. startup would probably take an edit if they want the the kid on board, but um Yeah, intellectual property. That's an intellectual property question. When you go to work for somebody where you are doing research, and universities do that too, right? If you're doing research for a university.
So you just need to be aware of. Your your agreement. what you're agreeing to. Yeah, one of the one of the famous stories locally, I won't mention names, but NC State was helping with a project and it kind of hit a dead end, but the students wanted to continue the project and they Bought the patents. They bought the.
Whatever NC State had spent at the time, they just bought it back and they went on to make a fantastic company out of it.
Now State doesn't do that anymore. We should do more inventing on the side. That's probably our problem. Yeah, but who's got the, which one of you guys has the ideas, man? That's the key to inventing.
You have to know what you want to invent. I don't know. I mean, Josh is all over robots, working on robots. I think I actually brought that up, but we're not going to do anything in 10 years. I'll sit down next Sunday afternoon and smoke a cigar and see what I'm talking about.
I was going to say, your deep thoughts before you jump off of the cliff. Maybe think about productive inventions that we can. Sell to wonderful users of listeners of our radio show. All right, so complimentary consult in and around estate planning. Grab one at any time with Whitaker and Hamer, 919-77270000.
That's 919-7727000. You can also visit wh.lawyer. Final segment coming up on the other side. You're listening to Judica County. Judica County Radio, hosted by Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer.
They are managing partners, Whitaker and Hamer Law Firm, practicing attorneys here in North Carolina. Offices placed conveniently for you in Raleigh, Garner, Cleveland, Clayton, Goldsboro, Fuquave Verena, down near Charlotte in Gastonia, and over at the coast, Moorhead City. I'm Morgan Patrick. Pleasure to jump on, hit these different categories. And right now, talking about that young adult.
Think about this: high school grads, college students, a young adult here in North Carolina in some cases that might be coming up. And if you're a parent, obviously you're very interested in these topics as well. Complimentary consult in and around estate planning or personal injury with Whitaker and Hamer available to you. Again, that's no cost, no obligation. 919-772-7000 is the number to call.
That's 919-7727000. Or just visit the website, WH. Dot lawyer. All right, next category: daughter injured at a fraternity house. Here's the question: My daughter slipped.
On broken stairs at an off-campus fraternity house during a registered university event. She broke her ankle and missed an entire semester. Who probably has legal. Responsibility. I wonder what registered university event means.
Just a s uh s I think that's a school sanctioned function, Josh. Mm. I think that's what that is.
Well, this is a question. Attorneys call this premise liability, right? If you get hurt. If you get hurt somewhere. Um You know, are the people who own that building or that establishment are they liable?
And usually it's like a car accident, it's a negligence issue. Were these steps in disrepair? Right, were they not Was something wrong with him? Did the Fraternity house that the fraternity, were they negligent in some way? Even if they were negligent, should you have been aware of it, right?
Should you have avoided the. The issue there. It's kind of like if you're in the grocery store and they just mopped and they didn't put a wet sign out and you slip and fall and hurt yourself, that's premise liability. That's negligence.
So here, I guess the question is probably designed for us to say what we've said before. a plaintiff's attorney, the the the the young lady who broke her ankle. If she goes to an attorney, that attorney doesn't care who pays. That attorney is going to sue everybody who might potentially be liable and let them sort it out.
So the attorney here would probably sue the university, would probably sue the. fraternity Whatever entity owns the house, sometimes it's the fraternity, sometimes it's another entity. But a plants attorney is going to sue everybody. and say, hey, this step was, you know, shaky. Or, you know, somebody just mopped the steps or cleaned the steps and they were wet and there was no sun.
Like that, that's what the attorney is going to say: is like, this happened because of your. Negligence and then let them figure it out. In this situation, it sounds like probably be a lot of insurance companies. on the other side trying to figure out. Who's going to pay this claim?
But this is a slip and fall, right? This is premise liability. All right, guys, next category. My son co signed for a friend. Here's the question.
My college age son co-signed a car loan for his roommate because the roommate couldn't qualify a loan. They have since had a falling out and the roommate stopped making payments. Is my son probably on the hook? Uh-oh. Yeah, yeah, we we've had this we've had this question this question is asking about co-signing and liability.
And we've talked about this in different variations over the years. But never cosign for anybody. No, it's not. Never cosign for anybody that's not like directly. Like, if you want to co-sign for your kids, that's.
It's like you're going into business with your friends. They say don't do it, right? Oh, man, that would. I have friends I've had all my. I think it's weird if a friend.
Ask you to cosign for a car, right? That's a weird. You're admitting that you're a liability. I mean, right? I mean, I agree with you.
You've lived your life. You know, this friend has lived their life in a way where they're not, one can't qualify. Qualify for a car loan. Like, there's car dealerships that want to lend to everybody, right?
So, you've you can't qualify, you don't have the income necessary to qualify for a car loan. Yeah.
And you're not going to. What you're trying to say is it's a it's a low bar. Yeah, you're not. You're not going... You're not going to your family for this, you're going to your friend.
And I've got good friends, I'd help out a lot of people. Um But if you you co-sign, you just assume I just assume we're making those payments at some point, right? Yeah.
But yeah, you're both on the hook. The friend can have the car and be in a completely different state. Maybe he drove to Colorado and just started over, stopped making payments. Your son is going to be stuck with the payment. And not having the vehicle, or he's going to take the hit to credit, right?
Um But yeah, besides my my besides my wife Who doesn't need me to co-sign, right? Or my kids who may very well need me to co-sign. I don't know another situation where I would co-sign. on anybody's auto loan. Maybe there's a good reason to do it, I don't know.
I mean, necessity. I think that's the reason, right? If someone really can't do it on their own. But yeah, it's a huge risk, man. If I was in college and one of my best friends, people I've known since kindergarten, came to me and said, Hey, Josh, I need you to co-sign on my auto loan.
I was like, I don't think we can be friends anymore, man. I think this new 2026 vet. I think that ended up. You're going to sign to co-sign for me, Josh? I was like, I'll let you borrow the car.
I'll drop you off some places, you know, like, but co-signing a new auto loan. Hey, it's B-U-S. Take the bus. Take the bus. All right, final category.
I'm gonna go sign a bus loan for you. Yeah, buy them a bus ticket. But anyway, here's the final category: the student athletes NIL deal. Here's the question, and this is timely. My daughter signed an NIL agreement with a local business.
The contract lasts five years, even after she graduates. and gives the company rights to use her image. Forever. I said, forever. Should she probably have had a lawyer review that?
Yeah.
Easy ticket, man. I have read a lot of I have I have read a lot of NIL agreements for the high school, college, aged folks. And I've read a lot of agreements. That some of these, I'm doing air quotes. You can't see it on the radio.
It looks good. Agents. have tried to hi have college Um kids side. And a lot of these NIL deals are you know, just drafted horribly. And, you know, if it's enough money, then maybe, again, kind of like our internship thing: if it's enough experience, if it's enough money.
Maybe you don't mind signing a bad deal, but this sounds like a bad. deal. With this NIL is still in a real sketchy Area, you know, and there's a lot of pretend agents out there who want your college. player to sign with them And they they come in and they advertise I hate we can get you an NIL deal. We got a lot of local businesses or whatever, but the agreement doesn't really offer anything up front.
But then the agent also, they're phrasing a way where the agent gets a piece of any NIL deals you get on your own. Yeah.
Right. So there's a lot of real sketchy stuff transpiring in this in this NIL. I mean, if you're like the number one basketball center in the country, you're going to get a real upstanding NIL deal. But if you're you know, you're projecting to be a backup. You know, just be careful about who you're dealing with.
I've had a lot of parents just email me what they got, and I was like, I would never have my kids sign this in a million years. It's a newly developing. thing and and I'd argue rapidly changing in some ways. Yeah and a lot of these a lot of these people who show up to be NIL agents or to represent your your college athlete are not licensed in in in any way and and uh uh just a real sketchy sketchy area so just be Mindful of what your kid's doing and signing and protect them. And again, this is happening all over our listening area.
If you've got questions, Grab a consult, estate planning, personal injury case. You can call Whitaker and Hamer 919-77270000. That's 919-7727000 or visit wh.lawyer. That is complimentary. No obligation.
Another edition of Judica County is in the books for Josh Whitaker and Joe Hamer. I'm Morgan Patrick. We'll 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.
