https://www.michaelgopin.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GOPIN-Ask-A-Lawyer-P2.mp3 Announcer: You are listening to Mike and Tricia Mornings 93.1 KISS FM. Mike: Its called Ask a Lawyer. Its our new monthly feature with special guest Michael Gopin. It starts today. Its your opportunity to get legal advice on problems you may have and anything related to personal injury law from a qualified professional. Tricia: Okay. So on the KISS FM free mobile app we have got a question from Jasmine and she said she was in an accident. She was rear-ended about a year ago. Before the pandemic she didnt have a chance to hire a lawyer. She said her car is still not fixed and the person who hit her isnt answering her calls and now she cant get a hold of the evil insurance adjuster so she wants to know is it too late to try and be compensated for the damage? Michael: Yes thats a very good question. No its not too late. You have two years from the date of the accident to bring a claim or bring a lawsuit actually against the person who caused the accident. So its not too late. Now certainly the insurance company as I know from experience likes to dodge things and not answer the calls and puts you off but certainly you can go to a lawyer and seek to get your proper damage fixed. And if you were injured I dont know by the question if you were hurt or not but its not too late for that also. But if you havent been to the doctor and its a year out you know then its probably not gonna be a very strong case for anything in terms of personal injury because you hadnt treated yet. So its not too late so you can certainly call a lawyer. Tricia: Okay. The second one off of the KISS FM app this person says I have a notarized agreement signed by a person who owes me money. Hes now refusing to pay and I was wondering if I need to take this to small claims court. Michael: You certainly can take it to small claims court. For that type of case you have a little bit more time. You have probably four years from the date of the contract or the notary agreement to file a claim in a small claims court. The problem that youre gonna run into is collection. So lets just assume for this question that you win your case and you have a judge say Pay me $1000 or whatever the amount is owed youre still gonna run into the same problem of collecting the money from the person who owes it to you. They cant throw you in jail or do things like that for not paying the money so thats the difficult part. So thats where youre going to have a problem. Mike: But if you have a claim against a person that somehow you can be able to collect eventually cant you? Michael: Just depends. In Texas you cannot take away their home. You cant take away their car. You cant take away a certain amount of personal property. So most people in Texas are called what they call judgment-proof which means you can have a judgment against them but theres no way to be able to collect it or enforce it. Itll stay. So if they at some point own more than one piece of property or have more wealth Mike: Or win the lottery. Michael: Or win the lottery then you can collect. And the judgments are good for 10 years at a time and you can renew them so they can last for a lifetime but its a lot of work and theres certainly no guarantees that youre gonna recover. So thats the problem a lot of times with cases that theres no insurance at all because most people in Texas are protected by the homestead laws and the laws regarding creditors so its a tough issue. Mike: I know that this one it was like a person to person kind of thing with a notarized letter saying I borrowed this and I owe you this. Tricia: Ill pay you back. Yeah. Mike: Does it work the same way when you sign a contract with a business? Michael: Same way same thing. Mike: So if I signed a contract saying I would pay the window installer a certain amount and they install the windows and then I default on the payment it would work the same way? They could come after me but theyre not necessarily gonna get my money if I dont have it? Michael: The question in that type of case is was there a mechanics lien filed because that would protect them also. So if they did a lien and did things proper on their end they may have some additional rights that youre not gonna get around because therell be a lien on the house or the home. Mike: Thats what a mechanics lien is. Michael: Correct. Tricia: For the work done yeah. Michael: Yeah. So that would be the question. If they did it legally and properly to preserve a lien then the person would owe the money and they really cant get out of that debt because when the house is sold the lien is gonna pop up and it will be paid. Mike: So I mean its not like they cant take your house away but Tricia: Right. But eventually if you sell your house Mike: One of these days someday part of your estate or whatever that house is gonna have to change hands. Michael: Correct. Mike: And thats when. Tricia: And that happens all the time. My dad does probate law. Yeah. My dad does probate law and that happens all the time. People you know the heirs are like Hey wait a minute. Michael: We didnt know we had that debt. Tricia: I didnt know that there was a $50000 lien against my dad you know whatever. But this it kind of illustrates that even though you think to yourself I have this piece of paper its notarized. You say youre going to pay me back. Im going to get this money. If you dont go and spend a couple of hundred bucks on an attorney to make sure that youre writing whatever it is written correctly to save you know both of you guys then you really do need to go see that lawyer. A lot of people think I dont need to do this. Come on. Its written on a piece of paper everybodys signatures are on it and stuff like that but thats not the case. Michael: Thats not the case because the paper is only good as you know what its written on. So you know you have to be able to collect you have to be able to have some protection. Thats why with a car for example you have a contract with a car would they have a lien on the car? So thats the banks collateral. And in the case of this person who lent the money out theres no collateral. Theres no lien. They have a duty a moral duty and a legal duty to pay it back but it doesnt mean that theyre going to actually get it because of the collection laws. Mike: Okay. So then like I dont even know if you could answer this but so then how would a person in this kind of situation go about making sure that he wouldnt be in this kind of situation? Is there something on top of a piece of paper with a signature saying Tricia: Like if you owed somebodys money. Mike: Yeah I promise that Im going to pay you the money back brother-in-law. Michael: Well you can attach it to something you know real estate for example. Not your home. The home has special laws to protect it so you cant necessarily give away someone a lien unless they really are proper in what they do and thats pretty difficult to do. But you know you could have your car as collateral for a loan. So you know you can put them in the title you know for the cars that they have a lien on that. So that would be the only way to protect yourself. Or you could you know if theyre borrowing money you could take jewelry or something as collateral or something that you have in your possession thats valuable to protect yourself otherwise blind trust. Mike: Otherwise they dont pay you keep it. Okay all right. Tricia: Yeah. And so okay. So the other question that a lot of people ask is So can I get a free consultation? Michael: Most lawyers give free consultations. Not all. I know in family law typically there is a charge for the initial consultation. For our office for all personal injury-related you know ideas or possible cases we certainly give a free consultation to them. These days that would be you know by phone or Zoom as opposed to in person but yes certainly you can get a free consultation with any questions that you may have. Mike: Okay. All right. Lets take a break and then when we come back I know you also have an ebook that people can access and learn a little bit more about your services. Michael: Sounds good. Mike: So well talk about that next 93.1 KISS FM its Ask a Lawyer with our special guest Michael Gopin. The post 93.1 KISS FM Ask A Lawyer Part 1 appeared first on . via https://www.michaelgopin.com/blog/93-1-kiss-fm-ask-a-lawyer-part-1/