Who gets the inheritance if the beneficiary of the will dies before the testator? When the beneficiary dies before the will maker, or testator, the gift to the beneficiary is said to have lapsed. Some states have anti-lapse statutes so that when a beneficiary does die before the testator, the gift goes to the heirs of the beneficiary anyway, depending on the circumstances. → Read More
Texas Marijuana Laws: Is Marijuana Legal in Texas? Possession of marijuana is illegal in Texas. No bills to legalize marijuana have been proposed in any form since 2008. For purposes of Texas law, marijuana is spelled’marihuana’ in all statutes. If you are arrested for possessing marijuana, the charges you face will depend on the amount of marijuana in your possession and how you intended to use it. → Read More
Can I be charged with possession of marijuana if I’m a passenger in someone’s car and marijuana is found? What does’possession’ mean under Texas’s marijuana laws? ‘Possession’ in Texas can be either physical or constructive. Physical possession, as it sounds, is physically having the marijuana on your person. Constructive possession means having some degree of control over the marijuana even if it is not on your person. → Read More
Mail Fraud Mail fraud occurs when the US Postal Service is used in any way to commit a crime (i.e., to unlawfully obtain money or items of value). → Read More
Public Corruption Public corruption involves a breach of public trust and/or abuse of position by federal, state, or local officials and their private sector accomplices. → Read More
Kickbacks A kickback is effectively a quid-pro-quo bribe designed to help or influence an individual, company, or government entity. → Read More
Florida Crime Victims’ Rights The following is a transcript of an interview with Florida personal injury attorney, Jason Turchin, conducted on February 9, 2007. In this interview, Mr. Turchin discusses the laws that govern crime victims rights, Florida’s Crime Victims’ Compensation Fu → Read More
Criminal Appeal Process When you are found guilty by a judge or jury after a trial, you can appeal the conviction. When you learn of your loss at trial, state or have your attorney state on the record that you will file an appeal, and you want a new trial. Later, you must file paperwork. The most important documents to file are a notice of appeal in the court in which you just lost and the actual appeal with the next higher court. If you did not go to trial, but entered a plea of guilty or no contest (nolo contendere), you cannot appeal the judgment entered against you. In this situation, you must make a motion to withdraw your plea. You go through a different process to withdraw a plea than you do to file an appeal. → Read More
Will the state pay my private attorney if I run out of money right before trial? If you have hired an attorney of your own, it is your responsibility to pay that attorney. Should you run out of funds to do so before the trial takes place, you will be forced to switch to the services of a public defender unless you can find another way to pay the attorney or unless it is so close to the time of trial that the court refuses to excuse the private lawyer. → Read More
Is taking the Fifth Amendment under oath considered perjury? The crime of perjury is very specific. If after taking an oath to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, the witness then intentionally gives false testimony, he has committed the crime of perjury for which he could potentially go to jail. → Read More
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