(This is the second part of a two-part series on the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.) Misleading Acts Misleading acts are prohibited. A debt collector may not Falsely represent or imply that he or she is vouched for, bonded by, or affiliated with the United States or any state, including the use of any badge, uniform, or similar identification Falsely represent the character, amount, or legal status of the debt, or of any services rendered, or compensation he or she may receive for collecting the debt Falsely represent or imply that he or she is an attorney or that communications are from an attorney Threaten to take any action that is not legal or intended Falsely represent or imply that nonpayment of any debt will result in the arrest…Read More
Updated: Apr 17, 2018 The federal government found there was evidence of abusive and deceptive practices by debt collectors. Legislators believed this contributed to the number of bankruptcies, marital instability, loss of jobs and invasions of personal privacy. To remedy these problems, it passed the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. To understand the Act, it is important to understand how the Act defines “debt” and “debt collector." “Debt” is defined as an obligation or alleged obligation to pay money related to a personal, family or household transaction. This would include, for example, debts owned on personal credit cards but not credit cards owed by a business. Likewise, a car loan for a car primarily used by a company would not be covered but a car loan for your personal car…Read More
Updated: Mar 26, 2018 Parenting is tough. It is far, far tougher when you and the child's other parent live apart. Following are some tips to consider to make it easier and more effective for your child. First and foremost, DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO YOU. It does not matter if you are a Christian, another religion or no religion at all, this is good advice. If you If you wouldn't like it if two people you love were trying to get you to choose one of them, don't do it to your child. If you don't want to be yelled at or cursed, don't do it to your co-parent. Everything else is a variation of this rule. Keep conversations about your child about your…Read More
Credit repair is the correction of incorrect items on your credit report. Negative items on your credit report can cause you to be denied a loan, apartment or job. Even if you get a loan with poor credit, you will likely pay a higher interest rate. Over the life of a major loan such as a home or car loan, the higher interest rate can cost you hundreds or even thousands of dollars. It is important to correct information on your reports that is incorrect if it is negative to avoid denials and high interest rates. There are a lot of credit repair companies that will perform these services for you. Some are legitimate. Some are not. Both the Federal Trade Commission and the Georgia Department of Law warn consumers…Read More
Updated: Mar 22, 2018 Georgia makes a distinction between the biological father of a child and the legal father of a child. A legal father has legal rights such as custody or visitation. The biological father may or may not have legal rights depending upon whether he is also the legal father of the child. The husband of the mother of a child born during a marriage is automatically the legal father of the child even if he is not the biological father. Both spouses have legal rights. By contrast, a child born out of wedlock has one legal parent – the mother. She has all the parental power. She makes all the decisions including whether to permit visitation with the biological father. The biological father has almost no legal…Read More
An annulment is a legal proceeding that legally nullifies a void marriage. Annulments are rare today. It is not sufficient that there is adultery, abandonment, abuse, etc. These would be grounds for a divorce. An annulment can only be granted if the marriage is void. A void marriage is a marriage of persons unwilling to marry, fraudulently induced to marry (tricked into the marriage by deceit, for example)) or unable to contract a marriage. To be able to contract a marriage, a person may not already be married unless the marriage has been dissolved (i.e., there was a divorce or annulment of the prior marriage). To be able to contract a marriage, the parties must be of sound mind and at least 18 years of age (or 16 or 17…Read More
Custody, in general, means the care and keeping of something. It usually refers to physical care and control of that thing. For example, you might say that assets in a trust are in the custody of the trustee or an inmate in a county jail is in the custody of the Sheriff. When referring to a child, custody means the person who makes decisions for the child and with whom the child resides. When parents separate, decisions must be made about where the child will reside and how major, non-emergency decisions (such as where the child will attend school, his religious upbringing, extracurricular activities and medical care) will be made. In a perfect world, the parents will agree upon custody of their child. However, if they disagree, the court must…Read More
Yes, you can get a free copy of your credit report. Credit reporting agencies are required by law to provide you with a copy of your own report once each year free of charge. You can get your report from Experian, Equifax and Transunion at Annual Credit Report. These reports do not include your credit score (they charge extra for that). You can see your credit reports from TransUnion and Equifax (but not your Experian) free of charge at CreditKarma, too. CreditKarma lets you see your reports more often than once per year and shows you credit scores for Transunion and Equifax. Whatever method you choose, you should view your credit reports at least once each year to make sure the information on the report is correct. If it is…Read More
Updated: Mar 12, 2018 Mediation is a method of resolving a dispute. Litigation (going to court) is another method of resolving a dispute. Mediation falls under the category of alternative dispute resolution because it is an alternative to litigation. Mediation is a voluntary method of resolving a dispute. You may be ordered to go to mediation but the mediator won't force you to agree to anything. At most, he will try to persuade you to agree; he can't make you. Mediation is also private. What is said in mediation, stays in mediation. Neither party is allowed to testify about it if mediation fails and the case goes to court. There are exceptions, however. For example, if you threaten the other party or there is evidence of child abuse, the mediator…Read More
Updated: Mar 20, 2018 Service of process is how we formally notify a party that a lawsuit is pending that affects him by delivering papers on that party. It is required for the court to have jurisdiction over the party being served and to give him notice of the case. The case cannot go forward if there is no service of process. But what if you don’t know the whereabouts of the other party to your lawsuit? Service by publication is a method for serving process on someone you can’t find. It could be that the person is hiding or has simply moved away. Either way, we must make a reasonable effort to find the person before we can employ service by publication. This is often called “diligent efforts.” If…Read More
