Location: Pennsylvania

I am a full-time employee working in Pennsylvania for a national company. My manager just called a mandatory meeting to tell us the company will not be paying out PTO for the rest of the year including PTO that is already scheduled. He said we can take time off, but we will not be paid for it. I have 120 hours of PTO banked and PTO scheduled for next week. After the meeting I asked for this policy in writing from him and HR. Both refused to give me anything about the new policy in writing and will not answer my questions about it. Is any of this legal?

Location: NYC

We live in New York City and my son is seven years old, in the 2nd grade. We keep getting AI materials sent home of comic strips that involve him and other "fun activity" stories that they have been doing in his speech therapy class where they 110% ran his actual photos in AI programs to turn him into a comic with other friends from his class which I don't believe are approved for elementary school use in NYC.

We actually purposely didn't sign the media consent form earlier in the school year because we knew his image would most likely end up somewhere that would potentially help train AI which we are against.

However they are straight up fucking using my son's image and feeding it to an AI program to generate school flyers and materials from class.

What can I do? Asides from telling them to stop which they hopefully listen to.

Can I sue them for feeding my son into an AI program without my consent?

Location: Colorado

So basically I needed 2 expensive root canals, $1900 each. I had scheduled both in advance in case I could come up with the funds.

I called before the appointment to let them know I was only doing one tooth, could pay in full, but would not be doing the other tooth as I could not afford it.

I'm numbed up getting the tooth done, I can't tell he's working on the second tooth because it's right next to the first one and I'm numb. Just trying to zone out because I'm terrified of the dentist. At the end the Dr said he decided to do the other tooth and just pay whatever I can whenever I can. I didn't know what to say because I needed it done but I was put off considering I specifically said NOT to do that work.

Well he sent the bill saying due in full a couple weeks later. I started making $25-$100/month payments. They kept contacting me saying pay in full. After 4 months of payments they said they were sending me to collections.

They will not take my calls or return them. When I call they literally say to call back and transfer or hang up. I leave messages and no response.

At this point it's been sent to collections. I literally cannot pay the bill.

I don't know what to do because it trashed my credit and they will not work with me whatsoever.

Advice??? Is it legal for him to have done that work when I said not to and only inform me after the fact he did it anyway?

I don't dislike the Dr, I know he was trying to help and would pay it overtime but the desk staff will not let me speak to him. And it's really really messing things up for me with credit so I can't afford to have this keep going on.

Also I no longer live in that city and cannot go down in person.

Location: Ohio

I was driving on a main interstate in rush hour traffic. I was stopped in a construction zone on the highway in bumper to bumper traffic. There were only 2 lanes and concrete barriers on each side, no shoulder. There were 2 cops several cars behind me with their lights on trying to chase a car that was up ahead of me.

The cars in both lanes were inching over as close to the median as possible to give room for them to pass. The second cop was in a larger suv and couldn't fit through like the first cop and ended up sideswiping my car. He kept going. I kept driving about a half mile and saw that both cops were stopped up ahead and had the other car pulled over. So I pulled up behind them (for future reference, was this a stupid move?). The cop that hit me comes over and says, "Did I hit you?" I tell him yes, he gets visibly frustrated. Out of curiousity, is there a consequence for him in this situation? He told me they were "chasing a felony car."

Anyway, they took my statement, he admitted fault to the supervisor, they wrote the report, gave me a card and told me someone would call me. What do I do if no one calls me?

Anything else I should be aware of?

343 days ago I posted to this sub that I thought I found the person that stole my identity. I only received one reply saying that probably nothing will happen.
Well, something has happened.
About 4 months after filing the police report, the Detective on my case had two phone calls with the person I had suspected (and had evidence) of stealing my identity. He then gathered everything I had found and was able to issue four felony warrants for her arrest.
She turned herself in (August 2026) and is now out on bail.
I am waiting for the next phase to happen and will update if anyone is interested.
Apparently, the case is in the pre-indictment stage.
I have her mugshot, but not sure if I’m allowed to share it.
I have worked so hard on this and I am super happy it’s come this far!
Location: GA

Location: Phoenix, AZ

I previously posted about my Landlord demanding that my husband and I pay for a tree that fell during a storm. Ultimately nomad the company he uses for the lease, asked we go to mediation. Mediation went awful, he didn’t want to talk to me and only wanted to talk to my husband. My husband was at work and entrusted me to resolve the issue.

I can prepared with visual evidence, arborist report, reviewed our lease with a lawyer, and remained calm and professional. Him and his wife just lost it on me and the mediation turned in to the mediation shuffling between the two of us because they could talk directly to me without yelling.

Anyways mediation amounted to nothing. I continued to state I will not be paying for anything as this was an act of god and not due to our negligence.

After mediation he kept sending emails demanding we agree to pay for it if he pays for the removal. We responded one more time saying we won’t be paying.

Well he kept asking, kept demanding we agree, and finally sent us a final notice that he wants a response (even though we had provided several responses). I again said no (it’s been over 2 months at this point) and he immediately demanded an exterior yard inspection. I stated that’s fine but I would prefer they not go in to the house (I have large dogs and firearms). He then sent a new notice changing the reason for it to be a 1yr inspection (we are on a 2yr lease).

It’s starting to feel like harassment but I understand he can request an inspection at any time. Obviously we’re happy to do the inspection our house is immaculate thanks to my husbands OCD ahaha. But it feel retaliatory for us not agreeing to paying for the tree.

Location: Seattle, Washington
I live in a high-rise apartment building in Seattle. Back in September, our building suffered a complete hot water outage that lasted for over 7 consecutive days. We have several elderly residents and neighbors with disabilities whose daily health, hygiene, and care were severely impacted.

Management has refused to grant pro-rated rent credits for the lost week of essential utility service. When residents left online reviews documenting the issue, management actively worked to get negative reviews removed.

Today, an incident occurred with tenant organizing:
We were standing in our lobby common area handing out flyers to form an independent tenant union/group outside of management’s moderated online portal. The building director came out and claimed she had “just spoken with their legal department,” who stated that what we were doing was illegal, and threatened to have security forcibly remove us if we did not immediately stop and leave the lobby.

Under Seattle Municipal Code (SMC 22.206.180), tenants have an explicit right to organize, gather, and distribute information in common areas without landlord harassment, interference, or retaliation.
Several residents have already filed official code compliance complaints with the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI) regarding habitability and tenant rights.

My Legal Questions:
What legal remedies do we have against the landlord for threatening security force against tenants exercising organizing rights under SMC 22.206.180?

What is the proper procedure for pursuing rent credits or damages for a 7-day habitability breach under RCW 59.18.060 / RCW 59.18.070 when management refuses to negotiate?

Does the landlord threatening security removal cross the threshold into illegal landlord retaliation or harassment under Washington state or Seattle city laws?

My grandfather passed away in 2014 in Long Beach, California, leaving behind his wife (my grandma, who’s still alive) and 7 children (2 sons and 5 daughters). His estate was supposedly worth millions and was meant to be divided according to Islamic inheritance rules, where the wife generally receives 1/8 and each son receives twice the share of a daughter.
There is a family trust involved, and my mom was supposed to receive a portion of the inheritance. However, she passed away in 2022 without ever receiving anything. My siblings and I haven’t received any money from her share either.
Whenever I bring up the inheritance to my aunts, they usually brush it off and say they don’t have money. I’m not sure whether the other siblings have already received their portions or why my mom’s share was never distributed.
I’ve also recently found public property records showing that my grandparents owned property associated with the family trust, but I haven’t been able to find out exactly how the trust was distributed or who is currently managing it.
My main question is, since my mom was alive when my grandfather passed away, wouldn’t her inheritance still be hers even though she died before receiving it? Would her portion legally pass to her children or her estate, or could the remaining siblings keep it?
I’m not trying to accuse anyone of anything. I just want to understand whether my siblings and I have a legal right to her share under California law and what we would need to do to claim it.
Location: California. USA

Location: Florida. A family member and I bought a car in cash in 2017 from our local VW dealership. It was a used vehicle but practically new. We are joint owners with an “OR” on the title.

I’m trying to sell this vehicle now, and I’m told there’s a lien on the car owned by VW Credit. It’s been a month of me going back and forth with this financial company and the local dealership and nobody was able to help me until today I requested to speak to a manager at VW credit and was told the lien should be released by next week. Clearly, they made a mistake in the paperwork when we bought this car as there never should have been a lien on this car. Can I take any legal action against either the dealership or VW credit? I wanted to cancel the insurance on this car as I’m no longer using it but didn’t want to drive an uninsured car to the place I’ll be selling it to eventually. This puts me out another month of insurance, plus the emotional distress of this back and forth. I also have it in writing from the dealership that someone last week supposedly requested to have the lien released, and today I confirmed that nothing was actually done. This whole situation has been very frustrating and I just can’t believe this mistake was made in the first place. Thanks in advance!

Location: North Carolina

What responsibility does a public school have to make sure that it’s reasonably accessible?

My daughter is in middle school. She has a medical condition that makes walking difficult at times. The school is two stories and stairs are impossible. Going into the front of the school, there are two entrances. One has three inside stairs that you cannot get around. In order to get around these stairs you must go around to the back of the school building to the gym entrance. The second entrance is the entrance that goes into the office. This is the only way in during the school day. This entrance was just built 3 years ago. It has 5 steps. When I drop her off after school has begun and she’s having a difficult walking day, I must go in to the school. Tell the front office desk that she needs to go in the back. Go to the back with her. Wait on the SRO to open the back door. She then must walk back to the front office because the lift is next to the office. She then has to wait for the SRO to go the office and get keys to the lift. I cannot just call because there is no cell service.

If she needs to leave early, they call for her in her classroom. Another student walks with her. That student must go to down the stairs to get the keys. Run back up the stairs. Then she gets on. The student puts the keys in the lift to make it work on the outside of the lift. The other student then must run the keys back down to the office before she returns to class. This process takes 10-15 minutes. I feel awful to take that much time from another student. Then my daughter has to go to the office. I show ID. Then the SRO is called to let her out the back door while I walk around the school building. She then has to walk back around the school building to my car.

She has a class on the bottom floor during the school day. So this entire process happens twice during the school day too.

Even though technically the school is accessible, she is missing huge portion of her down stairs class since the class is only 50 minutes and she arrives late and leaves early since she has core classes on both sides and math/ELA are more important than health careers class. On top of this they have another student helping her, so that student is also missing class. At what point does a place become not accessible enough? It looks like she may be on her way to a wheelchair, so this is not likely to change anytime soon.

Location: Massachusetts, USA. I recently retired at the age of 70. 14 years of hard and good work for the company. Professional services. Smallish group within a very large public corporation. In my final salary payment, about 2 weeks ago, I was given a bonus by the operating company that I work for, which is owned by the big corporation. The big company issued the check. It clearly says op co bonus on the statement. Now, the big corporation says I was overpaid in error, and they want me to send a big chunk of it back to them. Bonus was about 20% of my annual salary. I figured it was a nice parting "thank you for your hard work". I consistently generated a lot of revenue for them. Never any issues. Happy clients. They want me to return more than 30% of what they gave me. What are my legal obligations?

I have no particular desire to work for them anymore on a consulting basis. If I want work, I think I can find it on my own.

I only know of a celebrity couple who went thru custody and the mother asked for no posts online and it was granted. I am just a regular person, but with the rise of AI CP, I want to protect my son's privacy and safety.

Location: Washington state

Hello everyone,

I am looking for legal guidance regarding a judicial tax sale in Beaver County, Pennsylvania.

On December 9, 2025, I purchased a property at a judicial tax sale. I paid approximately $17,312 in total, including the purchase price and related costs. The deed was officially recorded in April 2026.

However, the former owner filed a lawsuit against the Beaver County Tax Claim Bureau and me, seeking to invalidate the sale. She claims that she did not receive proper legal notice before the auction.

One of the main issues involves a service record dated October 2, 2025, at approximately 8:30 AM, containing the notation “BY DAVIS ON PERSON.” The former owner claims she was hospitalized around that time. I am trying to obtain the original proof of service to determine who was actually served and whether the notice requirements were satisfied.

I previously had an attorney, but he is no longer representing me. I have been contacting law firms, but I have not yet secured new representation.

My case is scheduled for a nonjury trial on November 9, 2026. The discovery deadline is October 16, 2026, and the pretrial statement deadline is October 30, 2026.

I have several questions:

Under Pennsylvania law, can a judicial tax sale be invalidated because of improper service, even after the deed has been recorded?
How can I obtain the original proof of service and identify the person who allegedly delivered the notice?
What should I prioritize when preparing my pretrial statement and evidence?
Can I request a continuance to obtain legal representation, and what is the usual procedure?
Does anyone know attorneys in Beaver County or the Pittsburgh area who handle judicial tax sale litigation and might accept a case on short notice?

I understand that Reddit cannot replace an attorney. I am seeking general legal information and referrals to help me understand my options.

Thank you very much for your time and assistance.

location: Pennsylvania

Location: Maryland. I should preface this by saying I don’t own the place he is staying in, it’s my family house.

About a year ago my brother (19M) snuck his girlfriend (18F) into our home. I expected the situation to blow over when my parents found out but that did not happen. Since she “moved in” it’s been a total mess. She steals money from my mom’s purse as well as prescribes pills from the cabinets. They are constantly getting into blowout fights in the middle of the night and I’m left cleaning up the mess.

I ended up moving out but I still visit from time to time and things are worse than ever. I’m assuming since I’m not a homeowner I can’t do anything but is there anything that can be done ? I want to convince my mom to do something about the situation but I’m totally stuck.

This has been an extraordinary ordeal and I could write a novel recounting it, but I will try to condense it down to just the cliff notes.

I initially visited a Verizon-authorized franchise store to compare trade-in offers and pricing for switching from Xfinity. I wasn’t planning to switch that day, as the new phones hadn’t been released yet. During the visit, I unlocked my phones and provided the salesperson with the information he requested to evaluate the trade-in offers.

Later that day, all three of my phone numbers lost service. Xfinity confirmed that the numbers had been ported out to Verizon, despite my understanding that I had not authorized a transfer. I spent hours contacting both companies and eventually had to reactivate service with Xfinity under new numbers.

I subsequently visited a corporate Verizon store, where employees were also unsure how the transfers had occurred. After multiple unsuccessful attempts to restore my original numbers, I eventually proceeded with Verizon because I needed my numbers for work and upcoming travel.

During this process, I discovered that the franchise salesperson had added options to the proposed transaction and claimed insurance and in-store setup fees were mandatory. Corporate employees told me these requirements were not accurate. Nevertheless, the franchise salesperson refused to proceed without the insurance and setup fees, which I ultimately paid because I needed my phone numbers restored.

The ordeal involved over 10 hours in stores and more than 50 hours of calls, chats, and other efforts to resolve the situation. It also disrupted my work resulted in a canceled weekend trip and created problems with reservations on an upcoming large trip, it also resulted in additional expenses with Xfinity.

I submitted a formal Notice of Dispute to Verizon. Since then, Verizon has corrected several billing issues, removed two returned phones that remained on my account, and credited me for an incorrect bill and the setup fees.

However, Verizon refuses to reimburse the $168 Xfinity bill I incurred in connection with the incident. They also haven’t meaningfully addressed my request for additional compensation for the disruption and time involved. They also won’t take accountability for the number port or explain how it was even possible.

At this point, I’m looking for advice on my options. Is it worth pursuing the dispute further? Are there effective consumer-protection complaint channels, or what would be the reasonable next step?

Location: Indiana, USA

Location: Denver

Background info: My teenage daughter plays travel hockey. This is a tournament weekend for us. We drive up from New Mexico. I brought my 11 year old son with us on this trip.

My daughter's hockey club organized group tickets to go see the Avalanche play. There's this woman who I've never talked to but she's frequently watching our games and traveling with us. As far as I can tell she's family or a family friend of one of the girls but she doesn't have a daughter on the team. I don't know her name.

My 11 year old son ended up being the one seated next to her by the end of the game. There was a bit of seat swapping amongst the girls on the team so they could sit with their friends. Anyway, the 11 year old was really getting into singing, chanting and standing up and celebrating goals. When he stood up at the end of the game and cheered that the Avs won, his tin cups that he was keeping as souvenirs fell on the ground and got kicked behind the seats. This is where the trouble started.

The seating was like sardines, very very tight. When my son leaned over his chair to grab his cups on the floor behind him, the woman elbowed my child, full force, in the ribs under his armpit where it's very tender. He told me later that at that moment she said "You pulled my hair, Brat!"

It was dark and loud as it was the very end of the game and they had announced the Avalanche as the winners so the crowd was going wild. I was standing and watching my son attempt to grab the cups. I didn't see him pull her hair, or the elbowing. I could only see her scolding him a bit and noticed her tone was sharp but I couldn't hear what she had said. I just wanted to make our way out of there and I didn't want to cause a messy scene by asking her what she was saying to my kid. I figured it was probably just standard annoyance.

Once we were in the light in the hall area, I noticed my son was keeping his face down and avoiding eye contact. He was fighting back tears. It was too loud to talk and the crowds were flowing out of the building so we left the building to wait for my daughter to come out with the rest of her team. As soon as we were outside he told me how that woman had elbowed him really hard. His ribs are painful but no visible bruising yet.

I tried to justify it by saying it was a knee jerk reaction to getting her hair pulled. But the more I tried to explain it away, the more I realized that's not normal to drive your elbow into a child, even if they accidentally pulled your hair that's draped over a chair. I would never ever in a million years elbow a child even if they pulled my hair.

I wasn't sure which flair to choose, but since she had been drinking through the game, I picked alcohol.

USA Hockey dictates a lot of safety rules at team events regarding adult/minor interactions.

Should I file a police report? File incident reports at Ball Arena? File a SafeSport report since it was a team event? Couldn't she just deny it and call him or me a liar?

It was set to be a great family memory and then he got hurt by a drunk woman who's part of our own team community.

Location: Arkansas

Hi there, I need to see if this is something I can take to small claims court or civil court. Fake names are used for clarity.

My neighbor Lanie had three cats that she used to take care of, but stopped and now I am their main caretaker. We live right next to each other so they still go to her property, but I am the only one who pays for their food, their flea collars, and any vet bills. She has known this and not offered to pay and has been okay with me taking care of them.
After about a year of this Lanie moved out of this trailer and her daughter Sarah moved in with her boyfriend. They are awful neighbors. Disturbing the neighborhood with their loud fights, trashing the entire property, felons coming in and out of the trailer, police raid, constant police presence because of fights, and not taking care of their cats by putting more outside. Inevitably I will end up feeding those as well.
This last week 1/3 of Lanies cats that I had gained ownership over disappeared for three days. I texted Sarah if she knew where he was because she was familiar with him and she said she hadn’t seen him since she hasn’t been outside. After 3 days of Freckles, the cat, missing, she let me know that he had gotten picked up by her boyfriend and stuck in their trailer. He thought it was one of their cats. This scared Freckles so he hid for three days until they left the door open and he ran out where Sarah could see and let me know.
Since he’s been back in my possession he is sick. Stomach is hard, blood in his poo, lethargic, dehydrated, won’t talk or respond.
I took freckles to the emergency vet one day after getting him back and racked up a $350 bill.
What grounds do I have to make them compensate for this? How do I take this to court if possible? Would the vet bill need to be a higher amount? Please let me know!

TLDR: My neighbors boyfriend took my cat without telling me and now my cat is ill and I’m having to pay a large vet bill. Do I have grounds to demand compensation?

Location: Pennsylvania. 23 years of marriage. F 56, M 60. No kids or assets. He’s a remarkable contractor that is financially comfortable, I’m permanently disabled but not officially because of income. He agreed that I can stay in the home but will not pay for the divorce that he has asked for. He lives upstairs in an apartment, I live downstairs. I would like alimony but afraid of what he might do. Possibly a written agreement that I can stay in our home. Can this be done online or do I seek out an attorney? My children do not want me to sue for alimony but I have no income and depend on family for support. It’s been hell.

My name is not on the bank account and I have never seen a tax record. He just has me sign the tax paperwork while standing over me covering information.

There is so much more but it’s insane. He has a prison girlfriend and sends $$$ to her as well as gifts.

What ballpark in funds will I need to get this done?

My partner is currently incarcerated and on the phone he asked me to spray a paper with nicotine and put Suboxone hidden under a stamp. I panicked and felt a lot of pressure, so I on call said "I sent it" just to get him to drop the subject.
However, I NEVER actually made a letter and I absolutely NEVER sent any drugs or mail. The mailbox is completely clean and I am not going to do it.

I dont have his suboxones on me I lied because he will get mad.
Going to tell him that when I checked the mail box that it was still there and not picked up.
Location: fullerton

Its a felony and I dont want him in anymore trouble. And im
Almost 5 months pregnant and also dont want to be charged with felony.

What should I do?
I dont think he understands how stupid he is being

Location: Allegheny County, PA (Pittsburgh area).

Before anyone tells me to just call an attorney, I have about $300 to my name until payday so a retainer is completely out of the question right now. I moved out of my apartment two weeks ago. Did the walkthrough with the property manager, everything seemed fine, no red flags. Then yesterday I get this certified letter from teh landlord demanding $2,100 to replace the entire laminate floor.

His reasoning is that there is "cupping and warping" near the stove caused by "negligent failure to ventilate while cooking," claiming my boiling water and pasta ruined the glue underneath. He literally attached photos of the exhaust fan over the stove saying it had grease residue, proving I "allowed moisture to destroy the subfloor." He says if I don't wire the money by Friday at 5 PM he is sending it straight to a debt collector and reporting it to credit bureaus.

I'm having a full-blown panic attack over my credit score because I need to qualify for an auto loan next month. can a landlord actually just invent a four-figure damage claim and send it to collections without taking me to small claims court first? I lived there for three years and cooked normally, I didn't flood the place.

Location: Tacoma, Washington

I will try to explain this as best I can but, here we go. Last sumner, me and my wife moved down to Tacoma, Washington to live with my dad because we were addicted to fentanyl and we needed to get clean. He worked on the farm to build whatever they needed to instead of paying rent. He told me beforehand that me and him would have plenty of work doing remodeling and construction because thats what he did on the side. Well after a few months, he didn't bring me to work so I started to work on the farm instead of paying rent. Things were going good for a while my wife ended up getting a job down the street as a cashier, she started giving our landlords money towards rent but our landlord told my wife that instead of putting that money towards rent she would save that money for a place for us to move out, at the time we didn't think it would be that big of a deal. During winter time it got extremely cold and snowy out so I did not go outside to work as much because the trailer had no heat too. Once summer time came around I started going and helping out around the farm again, which is what I told them I would do, I was helping around the farm, my wife was giving them money every money to go towards us moving out.

Well fast forward to send of summer and my dad just stops helping and building stuff, me and my wife continue to help feed the animals and doing what needs to be done.

Things start to bad between my landlord and my dad, it gets hostile very quickly. My wife saw them taking some of his tools and stuff out of the shed that they were in and putting them outside, so she called my dad and told him. They found out and after that the landlord said that we would no longer get that ~1500 from us and was going to evict us. She said we would not get that $1500 unless we were already gone and signing a new lease somewhere else, when she was the person that told us the money no longer was going to rent it was for us to get a new place.

A few more months go by and last week my wife leaves me out of the blue, moves out, and ignores me no explanation. I find out 3 days later that she received the money from my landlord and she bought a brand new car for herself with it and I didn't get any of the money, which I was going to move out with.

Tonight my dad choked me out, and my landlord called the cops. My dad left before they could get here and my landlord told me that because we are "at-will" tenants she can kick me out whenever. When I told her that I had been working on the farm in lieu of rent, because its still a valid contract, she threatened me by saying "I work for a courthouse do you know how many lawyers and judges I know?": And was absolutely convinced that a verbal contract is not a binding one.

I don't even want to stay here because I didn't get any of the money that was withheld so I'm stuck here. But I need to know can she actually just kick me out even though I've lived here for a year and have been working instead of paying rent? I stopped helping out around the farm once she said she was not going to give us our money.

I'm experiencing the worst week of my entire life by losing my wife and now potentially being homeless I don't know what to do I am so lost and confused and I need some help please can someone please point me in a direction so I can protect myself from being evicted.

I really hope that even makes sense I can try to explain it in better deal if needed.

Location: Okaloosa County, Florida.

My husband and I have rented the same single-family home in Fort Walton Beach for eight years. We have a good relationship with our private landlord and would prefer to remain in the home once it's safe.

The house was built in 1986, and our landlord has owned it since 1993. Before the hurricane, I specifically asked whether the house had ever sustained storm-related water damage. He told me it hadn't.

Although the property isn't in a designated flood zone, we've experienced significant drainage problems for years. Water from the cul-de-sac collects in our yard and driveway and can take days, sometimes a week or two, to dissipate. I have approximately eight years of photos and videos documenting this.

Earlier this year, I asked our landlord about installing a French drain and obtained estimates from landscapers. They believed it was possible, but our landlord disagreed, so we didn't pursue it further.

In July 2026, I contacted the county about the drainage problems.

County personnel subsequently placed survey flags around our property and four neighboring properties and marked four trees for removal. I was told they planned to install a swale, with work anticipated around September or October.

One neighbor has already moved their fence in preparation for the proposed work.

The improvements were not completed before the hurricane.

We evacuated October 8th and returned October 12th to find the entire home's flooring saturated. We don't know exactly when water entered or how long it remained inside.

We've since disposed of damaged furniture, moved belongings into storage, and begun removing the flooring. During removal, we discovered suspected mold, including a substantial amount underneath the kitchen flooring.

My husband owns a licensed and insured flooring/remodeling business. He offered to handle the flooring removal and replacement, and our landlord agreed to hire and pay his company. They'll have a written estimate and signed contract outlining the scope and costs.

We're aware that the moisture and suspected mold need to be properly addressed before new flooring is installed.

We have two toddlers, and our temporary accommodations end October 21st. We also discovered that our renters insurance was no longer active, so we're currently covering our damaged belongings, storage, and temporary housing expenses ourselves.

I have two main legal concerns:

1. County drainage issues and potential liability

- Could a county potentially bear responsibility for flood damage when it was aware of longstanding drainage problems and had planned improvements that weren't completed?

- I understand that planning improvements doesn't necessarily create a legal obligation to complete them by a particular date. Is there anything about these circumstances that would warrant further investigation?

- As tenants, could we potentially pursue compensation for damaged personal belongings or displacement expenses, or would a claim primarily belong to the property owner?

- What documentation would be most important if we decided to consult an attorney?

Most of my communication with the county was by phone. I plan to submit a public records request for the assessments, proposed plans, work orders, and related communications.

1. Tenant rights and habitability

- If the house remains uninhabitable on November 1st, what are our rights concerning rent?

- Does Florida law require any particular written notice or procedure to preserve those rights?

- Is our landlord potentially responsible for temporary housing or other expenses while the house is being repaired?

- Since my husband's company is being hired to perform some of the repairs, are there legal considerations we should address to keep our roles as tenants and contractors separate?

We're not looking to terminate our lease or pursue litigation unnecessarily. We've lived here eight years because we love the house and neighborhood, and we'd genuinely like to return.

I'm also not assuming the county or landlord is legally responsible for our losses. I'm trying to understand whether there's a reasonable basis to investigate, what rights we have as tenants, and what we should be doing now to protect ourselves.

Would these circumstances warrant a consultation with a Florida attorney? If so, what type of attorney would be appropriate?

As the flair says, I was caught with just under 2 grams of crack, a crack pipe and 3.5 heroin/fentanyl. I obviously have some problems. I have 5 prior misdemeanors, minor consumption, minor possession of an alcoholic beverage, possession of paraphernalia, possession of marijuana and battery. I obviously need to get an attorney. I'm in for the worst and a bit hopeless amongst other things. I'm on methadone and thats been the best treatment for me. I am employed but I'm gonna need a moment to get a grip on the wagon again and actually change things. Any recommendations for lawyers in the area? Or ideas of what kind of time I'm looking at?

Location: NE Indiana, Kosciusko county, charges in St. Joseph county.