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Illinois Lawyer Referrals and Legal Guidance
Archive for December, 2009
FYI, we are open today and all weekend
Thursday, December 31st, 2009Illinois lawyers advice- Five quick legal tips
Wednesday, December 30th, 2009Every Wednesday we present five legal tips based on questions we have recently received from readers.
I am charged with assault and criminal trespass in Cook County. I called on lawyer and he wanted $1,500.00 to defend me. Is that a fair price?
Yes. There are literally hundreds of Cook County criminal defense lawyers. It’s competitive to get clients so we do see some attorneys that will only charge a few hundred dollars to defend a case. But our experience is that most of those attorneys don’t really fight to get the best result and will often just help you plead guilty. You can do that for free. There is no guarantee with any attorney, but the ones we know that charge around that price truly fight for their clients and are usually successful.
How long do I have to challenge a will?
In almost any case you have six months from the date the will is filed per the Illinois Probate Act. There is an exception if there is an intentional interference of an inheritance where you couldn’t have filed within six months. Moral of the story is that if you want to challenge a will do it as soon as possible.
Can your employer ban you from using the internet at your desk on your lunch break? This seems unfair.
Yes and they can monitor anything you say on your computer. Not fair, but legal.
I live in Chicago, but was injured in a car accident while vacationing in Florida. Can an Illinois attorney represent me in a lawsuit?
They “could” represent you, but unless it’s a catastrophic injury it’s probably not cost effective for that to happen. They can get special clearance from the Florida courts to handle a case there, but they still wouldn’t know the Judges, local rules and you’d probably have to pay for their travel costs. We suggest that you get a lawyer in the state where it happened. (FYI, we do know attorneys throughout the country for various areas of law).
I had a surgery in 2004. I’ve had abdomen pain ever since. They finally did a CT scan last month and it was determined that a surgical clip was left inside me. I face another surgery due to their error. Do I have a medical malpractice case?
Unless you were under 18 when the surgery happened, it’s too late for a lawsuit. The statute of limitations for Illinois medical malpractice lawsuits (the time you have to sue) is two years from the date you knew or should have known malpractice might have occurred, but no more than four years from the date of the incident. The only possible exception to that is if you suffered some sort of mental disability such as being in a coma. It appears that it’s too late even though they were negligent and you just discovered it.
Since 2001, findgreatlawyers.com has been the leading resource for Illinois attorney referrals and legal guidance. If you would like our help please contact one of our lawyers via our on-line form or call (800) 517-1614. We are based in Chicago, but help people find attorneys for legal matters throughout Illinois. All inquiries are free and confidential
Mortgage application fraud lawyers in Illinois- the new problem
Tuesday, December 29th, 2009I’m sure it will shock your senses that mortgage companies aren’t always following the law. Check out the following via the AARP:
Common wisdom would suggest that consumers with top-notch credit should have no trouble getting a mortgage or refinancing approved. But an 800 credit score may not be enough if you have a dispute on your credit report-even one from several years ago. A relatively new policy from mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Macflags any application where the applicant disputes something on a credit report. That’s causing big hiccups and even denials for applicants, no matter the strength of their qualifications, loan officers say.
“When this started, loan officers were just in shock,” says Christopher Cruise, a Maryland loan originator who trains loan officers on compliance
with finance regulations. “It’s a violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which allows you without penalty to challenge issues on your credit
report.” The problems arise when consumers have a dispute noted on their credit report, which can occur if you question charges on your credit card statement, for example. Computer underwriting software flags mortgage applications with these disputes. In theory such applications are then referred for manual underwriting.
Trouble is, in practice, loan officers say a rush of new applicants wanting to take advantage of historically low mortgage rates means underwriters are swamped, and many flagged applications instead get put on hold or simply denied. “Some of these underwriters . won’t process a loan” with the notation “consumer disputes this item,” says Eddie Johansson, president of Credit Security Group, a credit services company in Texas.
Johansson began seeing this problem surface in February. One of his clients was denied a loan because of a disputed collection from eight years prior. In another case, a client had a credit score of 785 but faced trouble over a dispute on a gas credit card from seven years earlier.
For their part, both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac say having a credit dispute alone should not prohibit a consumer from getting a loan approved.
“Our policy requires the lender to determine and document whether or not the disputed information is accurate and underwrite the borrower’s credit accordingly,” says Fannie Mae spokeswoman Amy Bonitatibus. “We are reviewing the policy to ensure that borrowers with legitimate disputes are not adversely affected by our underwriting criteria.”
If this has happened to you it is illegal. There are attorneys who will prevent this from happening and they all work on a “paid if they win” basis, or at least the ones we know do.
Chicago criminal lawyers- what we won’t do
Monday, December 28th, 2009A pretty respectable Chicago criminal lawyer asked us recently to refer him cases in Lake County, IL. He has 20 years experience, is a former high level felony prosecutor in Cook County, does nothing but defend criminal cases, returns calls in a timely manner, fights for his clients and has a really strong track record. He has done an amazing job with cases we have referred to him in Cook County including recently getting a not guilty verdict in a trial where the State was insisting on five years jail time in a plea deal. So why won’t we recommend cases to him in Lake County?
It’s because he has no practice up there. Criminal courts, especially a tight knit group like you will find in Waukegan, are all about who you know and who knows you. A Chicago attorney could do a fine job in Lake County, but for most cases you are best served by a Waukegan criminal defense attorney being in your corner. In other words, someone who on paper is just like our guy in Chicago, but is based out of Waukegan and is in those criminal courts almost every day.
It shouldn’t work this way, but prosecutors typically give better deals to the attorneys that they know and regularly see. Same deal with Judges. The only real exceptions to this are when you have a complex case or unique case.
So whether you get an attorney recommendation from us or somewhere else on a criminal case, make sure that the lawyer you hire does a lot of work in the court where the case will be heard. Otherwise you are fighting with one hand tied behind your back.
Since 2001, findgreatlawyers.com has been the leading resource for Illinois attorney referrals and legal guidance. If you would like our help please contact one of our lawyers via our on-line form or call (800) 517-1614. We are based in Chicago, but help people find attorneys for legal matters throughout Illinois. All inquiries are free and confidential
Illinois family law attorneys- having your cake and eating it too
Thursday, December 24th, 2009Since Thanksgiving has past and Christmas is upon us, it’s time to talk about one of the most common topics for the holiday season. I’m talking of course about divorce.
Family gatherings that aren’t so fun or the lack of any meaningful gathering at all prompts more divorce calls to our office than at any other time of the year. Makes sense if you think about it.
It also brings the most emotional and angry divorce calls that we get. Also understandable. The problem is that a lot of callers want a lot of things and they want it fast. E.g. custody of their kids, their house to sell, child support and the ability to move to another state. And they don’t want to pay a lot for it.
Much like hoping old St. Nick himself will be coming down your chimney tomorrow, these wishes aren’t realistic. Unless you have a spouse that is willing to roll over on everything that you want and do so in court, a contested divorce is going to take time. The longer it takes the more money it costs in lawyer fees.
You surely aren’t going to give your spouse everything they want so it’s not reasonable to expect that they won’t do the same. You might get everything you want in the long run, but it’s going to take many court appearances, depositions, possibly appointments by the court of psychologists, mediation and other steps first.
Our advice is to come up with a list of your most important goals and work to achieve those things. And if you have a spouse who is willing to give you everything you want, run, don’t walk to an attorney who can get it into court and make it official.
Since 2001, findgreatlawyers.com has been the leading resource for Illinois attorney referrals and legal guidance. If you would like our help please contact one of our lawyers via our on-line form or call (800) 517-1614. We are based in Chicago, but help people find attorneys for legal matters throughout Illinois. All inquiries are free and confidential
Illinois lawyers- Five Quick legal tips
Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009Every Wednesday we present five tips on various areas of Illinois law based on questions we have received from readers. This week it is inspired by the holidays.
I was at my company office party and while dancing I slipped and tore my meniscus. I did not drink anything and quite honestly didn’t even want to be there. Is this a workers’ compensation case?
Unless it was mandatory that you be at the party (e.g. you’d get fired if you didn’t show or have pay docked) then it’s unfortunately not a case. Feeling pressure to be there isn’t enough. It has to be mandatory.
My child’s school is putting on a Christmas play. We are atheists. Does he have to participate?
No, and we’d be surprised if the school gave you a problem. Don’t seek a lawyer, talk to the school.
I am Jewish and my employer won’t give me a day off for Hanukkah like others get for Christmas. Can they do this?
It’s illegal to treat one employee different than another based on religion. So if you are willing to work Christmas, they should probably let you take off Hanukkah. But we think since Hanukkah doesn’t have the same meaning as Christmas that they don’t necessarily have to. It would be different for a holiday like Yom Kippur which has similar significance.
My divorce decree states that I am to have my kids every other Christmas. My ex wants to take the boys to Mexico and wants to leave the 24th because that is the only flight she can get. The kids are hers from the 26th through the 30th. Do I have to let her do this?
No, you just need to follow the decree.
I turn 21 on January 1st or midnight on New Years. I called the bar my friends are going to and not only will they not let me in before midnight, they said they won’t let me in after. Is this legal? I’ll be 21 at midnight.
It is legal, not because of your age, but because the bar is a private establishment. Unless they aren’t letting you in because of your race, gender, religion, etc. then there is nothing you can do. Kind of dumb on their part though.
Since 2001, findgreatlawyers.com has been the leading resource for Illinois attorney referrals and legal guidance. If you would like our help please contact one of our lawyers via our on-line form or call (800) 517-1614. We are based in Chicago, but help people find attorneys for legal matters throughout Illinois. All inquiries are free and confidential
Chicago litigation attorneys- the fastest result we’ve seen
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009
Lawyers in Illinois usually aren’t this efficient.
We received a call last week on Monday by a guy who was owed $30,000.00 in commissions from his former employer.
On Tuesday he met with the lawyer we suggested and hired him.
On Wednesday the attorney faxed a letter with a threat to sue, outlining the facts.
On Thursday the company’s attorney called the attorney that wrote the letter and promised that a check to resolve the matter was forthcoming.
On Friday a check for $30,000.00 arrived.
This result is not typical. Usually having a lawyer write a letter does nothing, but in this case it did everything. Usually a lawsuit or negotiations are needed, in this case it wasn’t.
The only problem for the worker owed the money is that he didn’t have the funds to hire an attorney to begin with so he came to us looking for a Chicago contingency lawyer. That is he wanted someone who required no money up front and only gets paid if they are successful. Attorneys who work that way typically receive 1/3 of what they recover or in this case, $10,000.00.
It’s risk-reward for the client and the attorney. This time the client would have been better off paying by the hour, but they didn’t know that on Monday. The lawyer made a lot of money for not much work, but also has taken cases on a contingency basis where he worked hundreds of hours only for an employer to go bankrupt and have him recover nothing.
As far as what arrangement is best for you, that really takes a crystal ball. But don’t expect that if you hire an attorney on Tuesday that you’ll have everything you want by Friday. It usually does not happen that way.
Since 2001, findgreatlawyers.com has been the leading resource for Illinois attorney referrals and legal guidance. If you would like our help please contact one of our lawyers via our on-line form or call (800) 517-1614. We are based in Chicago, but help people find attorneys for legal matters throughout Illinois. All inquiries are free and confidential