Posts by Cooper Legal Firm PC
Chickens? In an Apartment?
I’m very proud to say that my beautiful grandmother was a member of the Women’s Army Corp in the 1940s. That’s her in the middle. Veteran’s Day and the law reminds me of the day that I found out that I couldn’t evict a man who was keeping chickens in his apartment. Yes,…
Read MoreYou Make The Rules. – Wills and Trusts.
A strikingly beautiful, elderly Chinese woman got out of a cab in front of my office one day in the 1990s. She had a long white braid of thick hair and a frail frame. As I met with her, I learned that she had been a refugee as a young woman fleeing the Japanese attacks…
Read MorePick the Right Lawyer – A Lesson in Family Law
INFLATION AND MARRIAGE/DIVORCE
The two things may seem unrelated at first. How could inflation have anything to do with marriages? I was interested in finding out since I was a lawyer for the banks during the Recession in the late 1990s and early 2000s. I saw a lot of families lose their homes and the turmoil that…
Read MoreThe End of Alimony Because You Found a New Boyfriend/Girlfriend
In the state of North Carolina, alimony, by law, terminates when a former spouse begins cohabitating with another person. Rhett Atkins made a song about “That Ain’t my Truck” but I am sure that’s only one of many country songs about how a man sees another man’s truck in his old driveway once he…
Read MoreA CHECKLIST FOR UNMARRIED PEOPLE BUYING A HOME TOGETHER
The threshold things to decide BEFORE you buy a house together if you aren’t married. Here’s why you need to talk about them. If the two of you split up and can’t decide how to work out the house issue, then a partition action will be filed. A partition action is the sale of…
Read MoreFinancial Abuse/Financial Misconduct in Marriage
My husband would probably jokingly say that my weekly Amazon packages on the front porch may justify financial misconduct in our marriage but in reality, financial misconduct in marriage is and can be a real form of abuse. Within the realm of divorce law, it is a factor in determining whether alimony is warranted and…
Read MoreGRANDPARENTS RIGHTS IN NORTH CAROLINA
ABOUT ME Not everyone is ready to be parents when they have children. It took maybe, thirty or forty years for me to appreciate that but I digress… my grandparents raised me. They did an amazing job at it. My parents were 19 when they had me and they divorced shortly afterward. Despite numerous times…
Read MoreWho does the Engagement Ring belong to when the Engagement or Marriage doesn’t work out?
Man-made diamonds or actual diamonds, round or square, marquis or pear shaped, platinum or white gold? In a generation of changed expectations, many couples are opting for man-made diamonds and many couples are choosing to finance engagements and weddings differently than they have in years past. The large weddings and giant natural diamonds of generations…
Read MoreInherited Property and Divorce
I sold my family’s land and bought a house for my spouse and I, now we are getting divorced. Since it would’ve been my inheritance money, that means it’s mine, right? Maybe. Yes, that’s a lawyer answer but the truth is that it’s pretty clear in North Carolina whose property it is. The devil is…
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