We get a lot of great questions from people who call us for legal guidance. If you have any questions, fill out our contact form or call us at 312-346-5320 to speak with a lawyer for free.  Here are some questions we’ve gotten in recent months that I think the general public should know the answers to.

My boyfriend sold his house and is moving in with me.  He’s fixing up my basement.  How do I protect myself so he doesn’t have a legal right to the home if we break up?

The most important thing is to not add him to the title.  That is how ownership of property is determined. If he’s not on the title, he’s essentially a tenant.  Beyond that, don’t enter in to any contracts or agreements that indicate he has any rights to the property.

Is it legal for the insurance company to conduct surveillance on me if I’m hurt at work? I’m on my own property and they are watching me.

Yes it is legal unfortunately.  That said, it is really expensive so if you are following your doctor’s orders, they usually will call it off after a couple of attempts if it doesn’t show you doing anything that you shouldn’t be doing.

My dad paid for life insurance for 20 years. He missed his last payment because he was in the hospital with Covid.  He died and we filed a claim, but they denied it because they said his coverage lapsed.  Are we out of luck?

No, this is a common reason for Illinois life insurance companies to deny payment, but in most cases, the attorneys we know will sue for this and have been very successful in getting compensation.  The insurance companies have nothing to lose by doing the wrong thing so they often do.

My uncle is in a nursing home. He has dementia.  He asked me the other day to take money out of his bank account and gave me his ATM card.  Is it ok to do that?

I wouldn’t unless you were appointed his financial power of attorney while he was competent.  The nature of dementia means he might not know what he’s doing and it would certainly look like you are stealing from him.  The safest bet is to petition the court to become his power of attorney.

The Judge is biased against me.  Can I sue them?

The answer is almost always no.  They are essentially immune from lawsuits.  And most likely they aren’t biased against you.  They have hundreds of cases and just want to get through them. They certainly aren’t thinking about you very much.

Do I need to get a lawyer licensed in my county for my case?

No, lawyers are licensed by the State.  Any Illinois attorney can practice law in any Illinois county.

 

We provide these short answer posts every few months.  As always, if you want to ask a Chicago attorney an Illinois legal questions for free, contact us any time.