Latest / Ask the Lawyer / 05/07/2026 Ask the Lawyer with Tom Peyton

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05/07/2026 Ask the Lawyer with Tom Peyton · Ask the Lawyer

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Speaker 1: The views and opinions expressed on this program do not
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Speaker 1: necessarily reflect the views and opinions of five eight wchs
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Speaker 1: it's employees or WVRC media.
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Speaker 2: Of course, Oh create equal, were nice, come here in
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Speaker 2: the kitty and rock up.
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Speaker 3: Well, you don't have to put you don't have to
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Speaker 3: break the law today. You can put the law on
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Speaker 3: your side in studio with us this morning. Tom Payton
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Speaker 3: is here from the patent law firm taking your phone
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Speaker 3: calls at three zero four three four five fifty fifty eight.
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Speaker 3: Three zero four, three four five fifty eight fifty is
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Speaker 3: our number if you want to give us a call
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Speaker 3: this morning. I'll get our other contact information out there
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Speaker 3: as the day goes along. But Tom, good morning, how
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Speaker 3: you doing this morning.
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Speaker 4: You don't want to be breaking the law today, But
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Speaker 4: you don't have to fight the law either, because you
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Speaker 4: can get the rest of the call and we can
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Speaker 4: educate you on the law with some information. And that's
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Speaker 4: we kind of preach that, you know. I try and
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Speaker 4: answer folks questions every day, questions not just on the
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Speaker 4: radio but around the office. If you I mean, I've
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Speaker 4: probably answered ten email inquiries with information this week, and
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Speaker 4: it's hard when you've been a lawyer for gosh, it's
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Speaker 4: twenty five years now, and of course grew up with
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Speaker 4: a father who was a litigator and lawyer, so it's
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Speaker 4: hard to kind of bring your mindset back out of
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Speaker 4: that and remember what you don't or what you didn't
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Speaker 4: know before you became a lawyer. And so try and
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Speaker 4: always kind of remember that when I'm educating people on
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Speaker 4: what the law is and helping them out. But certainly,
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Speaker 4: don't hesitate to give us a call, a text, or
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Speaker 4: if you're not comfortable talk on the radio or don't
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Speaker 4: have the opportunity and our time from here, don't hesitate
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Speaker 4: to send us an email through the website or give
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Speaker 4: us a call at the office so we can help you.
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Speaker 4: We'll be glad to do a lot of litigation. That's
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Speaker 4: what we like to do, and that's what we're good at. Frankly,
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Speaker 4: we like that and I both enjoyed trying cases to jury's.
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Speaker 1: It's kind of like.
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Speaker 4: It's not directly analogous, but it's it's kind of like practice, practice,
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Speaker 4: practice for a game, and then you get have your game,
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Speaker 4: and we usually perform pretty well. And that's what cases
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Speaker 4: settled for us too. You know, I think we've got
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Speaker 4: a reputation of a firm that's willing to go all
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Speaker 4: the way through a jury trial, and we've had a
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Speaker 4: lot of success doing it over the years, and that's
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Speaker 4: what ultimately, Unlike a sport where you have to play
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Speaker 4: the game at the end, as much as we like
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Speaker 4: trying cases, getting our clients satisfied as the number one goal, and.
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Speaker 1: And being prepared and.
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Speaker 4: Having prior history of performing well in jury trials gets
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Speaker 4: a case, get cases settled. Now, there's no these lawyers
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Speaker 4: commercials I don't know out of state a lot of
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Speaker 4: times about oh we call the insurance company, they're shaking
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Speaker 4: in their boots, and that's not how it really works, folks.
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Speaker 4: So if you hear that type commercial, i'd i'd run
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Speaker 4: from that firm because that's you know, insurance companies are
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Speaker 4: based on They operate on risk and financial numbers and
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Speaker 4: data and statistics for the most part.
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Speaker 1: And so there's no.
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Speaker 4: Law firm out there that you know, lets an insurance
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Speaker 4: company know they're representing somebody and the insurance company just
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Speaker 4: jumps and throws a bunch of money on the table.
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Speaker 1: That's that's puffery.
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Speaker 4: I would say, as far as advertising if not something worse,
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Speaker 4: but any event, if you've got an issue, any issue,
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Speaker 4: give us a call. As we talked about a little
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Speaker 4: bit last week. You know, we do a lot of
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Speaker 4: insurance work, meaning not working for insurance companies. But everyday
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Speaker 4: people get in the car accident, you're going to be
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Speaker 4: dealing with the other person's insurance company nine percent of
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Speaker 4: the time as opposed to the other person. And of
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Speaker 4: course if you've got to dispute with your own insurance carrier,
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Speaker 4: homeowner's insurance claim, life insurance claim, those are all right
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Speaker 4: in our wheelhouse. But at the same time, we do
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Speaker 4: everyday thing. So if you need some basic a state planning,
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Speaker 4: some deed work done, do a decent amount of so
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Speaker 4: security disability work, which is really important to people because
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Speaker 4: if you've ever been through that process, you know, unless
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Speaker 4: you had unfortunately a really really bad cancer or a
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Speaker 4: kidney disease or something terminal beyond those, there's a long
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Speaker 4: waiting period. It can be frustrating. You don't have any
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Speaker 4: income coming in during that waiting period, and normally you
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Speaker 4: only get one bite at the apple, one hearing before
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Speaker 4: a judge. A lot of times it's remotely these days,
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Speaker 4: but that hearing is extremely important. So if you're going
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Speaker 4: through that process, which you don't have to be a
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Speaker 4: law you can represent yourself in those so security disability case.
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Speaker 4: But we and I think most other lawyers that do
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Speaker 4: that work, do those social scary disability cases on contingency fees.
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Speaker 4: So if you hire us and we accept the case,
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Speaker 4: we do not you do not owe us any money
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Speaker 4: for costs for experts or getting medical records, that kind
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Speaker 4: of thing, unless we prevail in the case. And federal
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Speaker 4: law actually such parameters for what lawyers can get paid
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Speaker 4: in so scared disability cases. It's a percentage twenty five
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Speaker 4: percent of only the back pay benefits, so you won't
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Speaker 4: have to keep paying your lawyer in the future as
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Speaker 4: you get your monthly benefit. But it's extremely important to folks,
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Speaker 4: and I have folks go through and maybe they go
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Speaker 4: their hearing or maybe have another lawyer that won't take
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Speaker 4: no for an answer, But then if they lose the
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Speaker 4: hearing they take, they tell them the client, no, we
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Speaker 4: can't appeal it. We've got a call coming in. I
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Speaker 4: think we have a call ringing over there. Yeah, let's
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Speaker 4: see if we have caller that's come on air, right,
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Speaker 4: away here. You're on the air this morning with Tom Pick.
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Speaker 3: Can go ahead. What's your first name?
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Speaker 5: Ry?
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Speaker 2: Hey?
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Speaker 5: Ryan?
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Speaker 3: What's your question this morning for Tom?
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Speaker 1: Good morning?
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Speaker 5: Ryan? Hey, good morning. Yes, I had a question about
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Speaker 5: I tried to contact or a good contact one of
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Speaker 5: my county commissioners there in Jackson County and this wholefuffle
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Speaker 5: with do all these data centers coming in everywhere and whatnot? Well,
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Speaker 5: they sign non disclosure agreements. So how is an elected
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Speaker 5: official can't explain what they're doing through their constituents. How
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Speaker 5: is that legal?
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Speaker 1: Right?
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Speaker 5: Obviously it's definitely not ethical, right, Well.
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Speaker 1: Maybe not? Yeah, I agree, I think my theory is.
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Speaker 4: And there are some there have been for years, some
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Speaker 4: exemptions to FOIA requests Freedom of Information Act requests for
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Speaker 4: economic development projects you may be referencing, and I frankly
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Speaker 4: I haven't had a chance to read the law closely, but.
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Speaker 1: Not I don't think it was this year. It could
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Speaker 1: have been this year or last year.
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Speaker 4: They passed some legislation, particularly geared I believe, towards data
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Speaker 4: centers that in essence strips any local control or influence
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Speaker 4: over you know, zoning and restricting where and how they
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Speaker 4: go in you'll see some of that type of those
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Speaker 4: approvals going through like the state level with the Deep
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Speaker 4: Department of Environmental Protection, but they the legislature's passed laws
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Speaker 4: basically permitting that process. Frustrates me because I'm a big
7:51
Speaker 4: you know, the government is us in essence. I mean,
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Speaker 4: we elect the officials for the most part, or folks
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Speaker 4: get a pin pointed by folks that we elect. And
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Speaker 4: I'm like you, I think more sunshine the better, and
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Speaker 4: it you know, in many walks of life, silence breeds contempt.
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Speaker 1: I mean, it's not.
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Speaker 4: What you have to disclose, but what you should disclose
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Speaker 4: and what keeps the constituents informed. So I think it
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Speaker 4: just feeds mistrust for government. I've got a case right
8:28
Speaker 4: now actually has a little It didn't when I took
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Speaker 4: the case on, but it does now have a little
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Speaker 4: connection to the data center that might be going in.
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Speaker 4: We've heard about the Google data center down in Putnam County,
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Speaker 4: and I know there's a lot there's a few well
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Speaker 4: I don't know, I haven't been to the meetings, but
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Speaker 4: there's a decent number of constituents down there, citizens that
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Speaker 4: are concerned about, you know, the data center. What's kinduch noise,
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Speaker 4: is it going to make how's it going to handle water?
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Speaker 4: Are there going to be other environmental concerns? And it's
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Speaker 4: it's literally right. The land they've purchased is right in
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Speaker 4: the town of Buffalo, which isn't a large town, but
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Speaker 4: it's got a lot of people that live right there
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Speaker 4: next to it, and folks who are going to County
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Speaker 4: Commission meetings and express and concern And I think for
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Speaker 4: the most part, the County Commission, as far as having
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Speaker 4: input or control over things they normally would have some
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Speaker 4: input and control over via planning or even the town,
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Speaker 4: their hands are tied and they really can't do a
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Speaker 4: whole lot because of the law the legislature passed. But
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Speaker 4: my case, it involves little intersection between the main road
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Speaker 4: Route sixty two through Buffalo and a little I think
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Speaker 4: it's a unlined road for the most part, eighteen mile
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Speaker 4: Creek Road, and their Department of Highways is trying to
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Speaker 4: take my client's front yards there at the beginning to
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Speaker 4: widen this road out. And normally and when DH wants
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Speaker 4: to do a road project, you really can't. I mean,
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Speaker 4: they've got traffic studies, they've got other data, local citizen
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Speaker 4: have complained about an issue with a road, it's extremely busy,
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Speaker 4: et cetera. In this case, it appears that they're widening
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Speaker 4: this road to help landowners that some of which have
10:14
Speaker 4: now sold their property to the data center. And when
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Speaker 4: those same folks had the right in a deed to
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Speaker 4: build a really wide road for access themselves but decided
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Speaker 4: not to. Now that's been terminated that private right away
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Speaker 4: because of the purchase of the property from those folks.
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Speaker 4: And all I'm trying to do on behalf of my
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Speaker 4: clients is get like, why are you doing this project?
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Speaker 4: Department of Highways? Okay, it seems rather simple. Well, we're
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Speaker 4: just doing it because you know, they vaguely reference traffic
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Speaker 4: and things, but I've seen no traffic studies that justify it.
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Speaker 4: We've pushed them and pushed them to get this information.
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Speaker 4: Finally we got the court to order them to provide. Well,
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Speaker 4: here it is in a in a large federal report.
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Speaker 4: This this this project is going to get done, but
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Speaker 4: we still don't know why it was instigated in the
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Speaker 4: first place. You have these kind of government connected folks
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Speaker 4: like break Harry, who also sold a big swath of
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Speaker 4: this land for I think seven million dollars to the
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Speaker 4: Google Connected outfit. So I thought we were going to
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Speaker 4: get somewhere because recently the court specifically ordible you need
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Speaker 4: to go back and you know who requested this be
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Speaker 4: done in the first place, and there was a deadline
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Speaker 4: actually a Monday for the Department Highways to disclose this information.
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Speaker 4: Now instead of just disclosing it and telling me it
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Speaker 4: might be nothing, it might be perfectly legal and there's
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Speaker 4: nothing my client's can do about it.
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Speaker 1: But instead.
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Speaker 4: The doh lawyers told the judge and me yesterday that
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Speaker 4: all no, we're not going to abide bye order. We're
11:55
Speaker 4: going to file a petition for rent a prohibition with
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Speaker 4: the Western Spring Appeals for the sole purpose of not
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Speaker 4: disclosing why they instigated who was involved in the instigation
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Speaker 4: of this project in the first place. It's not a
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Speaker 4: it's not newsworthy. I guess it's not coming here because
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Speaker 4: it's a small town of Buffalo, and it's you know,
12:21
Speaker 4: we've done a lot of work for the people in
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Speaker 4: Buffalo over the years, and it's important to me, so
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Speaker 4: I put a lot of work into this one because
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Speaker 4: it doesn't mean anything to Dohs. When you start, you know,
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Speaker 4: people that have owned property for decades and you're gonna
12:34
Speaker 4: cut out half their front yard. It's important to them,
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Speaker 4: And I think it's important for people to know why
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Speaker 4: are we doing this what seems like on its face
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Speaker 4: it's not necessary. Uh, And it seems like, uh, you know,
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Speaker 4: there's enough there. It just smells because there's government actors
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Speaker 4: involved in the property that the widening of this road
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Speaker 4: seems to be serving versus the public good. But I
13:01
Speaker 4: can't even get doh too, you know, as opposed to
13:03
Speaker 4: just abiding by the Circuit court order and looking into me,
13:08
Speaker 4: I'm asking for things like, well, how does get started?
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Speaker 4: Other emails familiar with the governor's office and break herey,
13:14
Speaker 4: because back when this was started, break herey. If you recall,
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Speaker 4: he was some kind of governor assistant or something and
13:22
Speaker 4: it was a made up position. And you have other
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Speaker 4: members of the legislature that were all over the paperwork
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Speaker 4: on this, Roger Henshaw being one of them. I'm not
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Speaker 4: sure if he's involved in any longer, frankly, but why
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Speaker 4: not just tell us and so we'll see. So maybe
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Speaker 4: the Supreme courtill get a chance to weigh in on that. Obviously,
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Speaker 4: the Department of Highways thinks they have a good argument
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Speaker 4: to prevent the public from knowing information that I think
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Speaker 4: everyone should be automatically entitled to go back and look
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Speaker 4: at the emails, look at the data.
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Speaker 2: You know.
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Speaker 4: Normally, I think projects like this start because you know,
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Speaker 4: kind of commission or a town or a local group
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Speaker 4: of citizens has complained about a road issue or they're
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Speaker 4: having major problems. I don't see any of that here.
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Speaker 4: If that's the case, and that's the reason why this
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Speaker 4: project was started, then just tell us. But they don't
14:18
Speaker 4: want to, and now they're going to you know, I
14:20
Speaker 4: don't know how much. It's not an attorney general's that's
14:23
Speaker 4: representing the state. It's a private law firm, So who
14:25
Speaker 4: knows how much they're paying them to now take this
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Speaker 4: to the Supreme Court just to prevent the citizens from
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Speaker 4: knowing why you started this project. It's abhorrent to me,
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Speaker 4: But we're going to keep fighting the good fight on
14:37
Speaker 4: that one and we'll see how it comes out.
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Speaker 3: We have another caller that's called in this morning. Thanks
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Speaker 3: a lot for your phone call. You can get in
14:43
Speaker 3: this morning three zero four, three four five fifty to fifty.
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Speaker 3: Remember we'll go in to hold Q as soon as
14:47
Speaker 3: you call in and we'll get you on the air
14:49
Speaker 3: as soon as it's time a caller. You are on
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Speaker 3: the air, And now what's your first name?
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Speaker 2: Bob?
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Speaker 3: Hey, Bob, what are you doing this morning?
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Speaker 6: Done?
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Speaker 2: Well?
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Speaker 6: Tom? I wanted to ask a question concerning transfer on
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Speaker 6: death deeds. Sure, my daughter has suggested to us. I'm
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Speaker 6: eighty eight, my wife's eighty eight. We both have our
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Speaker 6: own wills, and as far as I know, neither one
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Speaker 6: of us is terminal right now. But she suggested we
15:25
Speaker 6: do that. And I don't know the law, but I'm
15:29
Speaker 6: thinking that that would be since we both have our
15:33
Speaker 6: own will, it would be better to wait until one
15:37
Speaker 6: of us survives the other and have the survivor get
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Speaker 6: a transfer on death deed. And I'll hang up and listen.
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Speaker 1: Okay, thanks for the call, Bob. Thanks Bob.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, we've had a lot of discussion about transferring death
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Speaker 4: deeds over the last few years. It was a it's
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Speaker 4: a deed that the legislature created I think in twenty
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Speaker 4: fifteen if I recall correct, and it's a really good
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Speaker 4: a state planning tool. So what a transfer on death
16:07
Speaker 4: deed does you? Bob and his spouse would sign the deed,
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Speaker 4: it gets recorded, but it doesn't actually take effect until,
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Speaker 4: in essence, the last one of him and his wife
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Speaker 4: pass away. And there's language in the deed that says,
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Speaker 4: when we pass away, this property belongs to A and B.
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Speaker 4: Let's just say they have one daughter and that's who
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Speaker 4: they want to get it. And so in that deed
16:35
Speaker 4: we can say who gets the property the moment you
16:37
Speaker 4: pass away, who owns it. You can also put contingent
16:40
Speaker 4: beneficiaries in the deed, so if that person had happened
16:43
Speaker 4: to pass away before you, because unfortunately we can't predict
16:47
Speaker 4: that and it doesn't always go in the order that
16:48
Speaker 4: we want. But maybe more to the point for Bob's inquiry,
16:55
Speaker 4: it's I would probably go ahead and do it now
16:58
Speaker 4: if it makes sense for for Bob, as opposed to
17:01
Speaker 4: waiting for one of them to pass away, because you
17:04
Speaker 4: can't have tunnel vision on this. I mean, it's not
17:08
Speaker 4: I get the cases when things don't go as expected,
17:11
Speaker 4: you hear about them. So you know, Bob and his
17:12
Speaker 4: spouse were in an automobile accent together and something happens
17:15
Speaker 4: to them, or a fire, anything, you know, do they
17:18
Speaker 4: pass quickly? Or when I'm as a you know, Alzheimer's
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Speaker 4: or a dimension in the future doesn't have the ability
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Speaker 4: to sign a transferring death deed. So there's there's no
17:27
Speaker 4: harm in going ahead that I see in doing the
17:31
Speaker 4: transferring death deed. Now now I will if a transferring
17:35
Speaker 4: death deaed is not in place, I will will take
17:37
Speaker 4: care of it. However, it will go through probate, and
17:42
Speaker 4: probate's not it's not some it's not Darth Vader over
17:47
Speaker 4: in the corner that you just have to avoid absolutely,
17:51
Speaker 4: and especially in West Virginia, it's really not that complicated.
17:55
Speaker 4: But when assets go through probate, there is a time
17:59
Speaker 4: peer in a process where creditors can file claims against
18:02
Speaker 4: your assets that go through the probate process. So when
18:06
Speaker 4: it goes by your will, it is going through probate.
18:11
Speaker 4: So transferring death deed generally prevents creditors from you making
18:17
Speaker 4: claims to that property because it doesn't go through probate.
18:20
Speaker 4: It's automatic the moment the last one of you passes away,
18:25
Speaker 4: title passes to.
18:27
Speaker 1: The new owner.
18:28
Speaker 4: And in particular, people have concerns about, you know, if
18:32
Speaker 4: they need to go into a nursing home and they
18:34
Speaker 4: need to use medicaid, which is a welfare benefit to
18:37
Speaker 4: pay for that care.
18:40
Speaker 1: Normally.
18:41
Speaker 4: Normally, if it's your home place, you know, nobody comes
18:45
Speaker 4: in and takes your home while you're living. There's some
18:50
Speaker 4: basic paperwork that can be completed, not really through the lawyer,
18:53
Speaker 4: but during the application process for the Medicaid long term
18:57
Speaker 4: care benefit that doesn't require you to liquidate your home
19:02
Speaker 4: to pay for long term nursing home care. You get
19:07
Speaker 4: an exemption for your home up to a certain value,
19:09
Speaker 4: so you can retain that. So maybe even though you
19:11
Speaker 4: have a two hundred thousand dollar home pay that's where
19:14
Speaker 4: your mortgage is paid off free and clear, you can
19:16
Speaker 4: still be eligible for Medicaid long term care or welfare benefit.
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Speaker 4: Welfare has negative connotations, but that just means it's not
19:25
Speaker 4: based on you paying tax over the years or be
19:27
Speaker 4: invested in any type of benefit. If you financially qualify,
19:32
Speaker 4: you qualify, so you can't have very much money in
19:34
Speaker 4: the bank, and you can't own other investment property and
19:37
Speaker 4: things like that, but your home is generally exempt from
19:39
Speaker 4: that calculation. So then folks feel like, well, I want
19:43
Speaker 4: to be able to pass at least my home down
19:45
Speaker 4: to my children for example, and a transfer on death
19:48
Speaker 4: deed is a tool that can help you do that
19:54
Speaker 4: because even though they don't come take your home while
19:57
Speaker 4: you're living, there is a process called a state recovery
19:59
Speaker 4: that can and happen where when you pass, then the
20:02
Speaker 4: government can come back and place a lien on your home,
20:07
Speaker 4: you know, for the value the care the government paid
20:09
Speaker 4: for you in a nursing home. So it doesn't it
20:12
Speaker 4: becomes you think of a lean as like it's like
20:14
Speaker 4: a mortgage or something that they would place on it,
20:16
Speaker 4: and then your children will have to deal with that
20:19
Speaker 4: if your property goes by the will. Generally that can
20:21
Speaker 4: be prevented right now via these transfermed death deeds. So
20:26
Speaker 4: if the only and on it TRANSFERM death deed, you're
20:31
Speaker 4: not giving up any ownership interest in it when you
20:33
Speaker 4: sign it as the owner, the parent somebody in Bob's position.
20:36
Speaker 4: So if you change your mind, you have a child
20:39
Speaker 4: that goes bad or whatever, you can just do another
20:43
Speaker 4: TRANSFERM death deed or even revoke the one you already did,
20:47
Speaker 4: either changing the beneficiaries or reverting it to the way
20:49
Speaker 4: it was before and so, and you don't need you know,
20:54
Speaker 4: your beneficiaries permission, or they don't even need to know
20:56
Speaker 4: about it. Although the deed's recorded, it's a public record,
20:59
Speaker 4: so it's an excellent tool in that regard and used
21:03
Speaker 4: to see people do things like parents would need property
21:06
Speaker 4: their kids but reserve a life estate. That was a
21:10
Speaker 4: pretty popular state planning tool before transferring death eaeds. I
21:13
Speaker 4: haven't drafted one of those, maybe one or two for
21:15
Speaker 4: some particular factual scenarios since they started allowing transformed death
21:21
Speaker 4: deaeds because I mean, I don't want to give up
21:24
Speaker 4: my property and put my kids on there, because then
21:26
Speaker 4: when you reserve a life estate, you can't borrow against it,
21:29
Speaker 4: you can't sell it. You could potentially be subject to
21:31
Speaker 4: your kid's creditors claims even while you're living when you
21:35
Speaker 4: reserve a life estate, So the transferm death needs a
21:37
Speaker 4: way to go. Another reason maybe not to do it,
21:40
Speaker 4: and I don't think it applies in Bob's case. But
21:42
Speaker 4: if you're trying to do something complicated with your property
21:45
Speaker 4: multiple beneficiaries, maybe some part of the sale of the
21:49
Speaker 4: home should go and trust because you have a disabled
21:51
Speaker 4: child or some other reason you want somebody to manage
21:55
Speaker 4: the funds and a trust, then you really got to
21:58
Speaker 4: go through a will because you can only do so
22:00
Speaker 4: much in the transform death y. But if you have
22:03
Speaker 4: two adult children and you want them to get your
22:06
Speaker 4: home when you pass away, you can do it for
22:08
Speaker 4: other property, not just your home.
22:11
Speaker 1: But it doesn't have that.
22:13
Speaker 4: Same Medicaid benefit because you don't get exemptions. You're going
22:16
Speaker 4: to have to probably liquid at your other land if
22:18
Speaker 4: you need to pay for your nursing home care before
22:21
Speaker 4: you get on Medicaid. But other than that, it's an
22:24
Speaker 4: excellent estate planning to one if anybody. If you want
22:27
Speaker 4: to transform death deed, just call the office. We normally
22:31
Speaker 4: don't need an in person appointment. Me Dad or our
22:35
Speaker 4: staff will have a short conversation, make sure you understand
22:38
Speaker 4: what it is. Pretty much every county we can access
22:44
Speaker 4: deeds via our online accounts now, so literally you call,
22:48
Speaker 4: tell us you want it done. We go over you
22:51
Speaker 4: know who do you want to be your beneficiaries? Do
22:52
Speaker 4: you want a contingent beneficiary in case something happens to
22:55
Speaker 4: that person before.
22:56
Speaker 1: You we draft the deed.
22:59
Speaker 4: How busy we allre you so we can get it
23:00
Speaker 4: done fairly quickly, within ten business days, maybe a couple
23:04
Speaker 4: of weeks. Then we just leave it out front of
23:07
Speaker 4: our office and we're all notedy. So you stop by
23:10
Speaker 4: your convenience and sign it and give us a check
23:15
Speaker 4: for the recording fee that the clerk charges. We record
23:17
Speaker 4: it for you and it's all done. Pretty simple process.
23:20
Speaker 3: It's pretty simple. Can't can't get much better than that.
23:22
Speaker 3: Peyton Law Firm. If you're looking to maybe get some
23:24
Speaker 3: help on this or other issues, it's one line Paytent
23:26
Speaker 3: Lawfirm dot com. P e y T you in Payton
23:28
Speaker 3: Law Firm dot com. Phone number three zero four seven
23:30
Speaker 3: five five fifty five fifty six. Three zero four seven
23:32
Speaker 3: five five fifty five fifty six is the number you
23:34
Speaker 3: can call for the next fifteen minutes or so. You
23:36
Speaker 3: can call Tom here if you have questions. We've already
23:39
Speaker 3: had several listeners do that this morning, and you can
23:41
Speaker 3: get in on the action. Three zero four three four
23:43
Speaker 3: five fifty eight fifty eight. Three four five fifty eight
23:45
Speaker 3: fifty eight is a number that you can get in here.
23:47
Speaker 3: No text messages yet this morning. Usually we have some
23:49
Speaker 3: text messages, so you can do that as well. Three
23:51
Speaker 3: zero four non three five five zero zero eight three
23:53
Speaker 3: zero four nine three five five zero zero eight.
23:56
Speaker 1: Let's do this.
23:56
Speaker 3: Let's go ahead and take our break when we come back.
23:58
Speaker 3: Then we'll have a clear landing for the rest to
24:00
Speaker 3: the show to take your phone calls and tackle your issues.
24:03
Speaker 3: If you have any of those, you can give us
24:03
Speaker 3: a call three zero four three four five fifty eight
24:06
Speaker 3: fifty eight. You're listening to Ask the Lawyer this morning.
24:08
Speaker 3: Tom Payton is here from the Paton Law Firm in Nitro,
24:10
Speaker 3: West Virginia. Online Payton Lawfirm dot com. That's Payton Lawfirm
24:14
Speaker 3: dot com. P E Y T O N. We'll take
24:16
Speaker 3: a break and be back right after this. You're asking too.
24:18
Speaker 3: You're listening to the law He're on five eight w
24:21
Speaker 3: c HS, The Voice of Charleston.
24:22
Speaker 7: I'm doctor Stephen Eschiner, Eagle Scale Army Colonel, emergency physician
24:27
Speaker 7: and a father of six, including four by adoption. Because
24:30
Speaker 7: in West Virginia we take care of our own. I've
24:33
Speaker 7: spent my life serving in uniform, in the er and
24:36
Speaker 7: on the farm. Now I'm ready to serve in the
24:38
Speaker 7: State Senate, fighting for better healthcare, real jobs, and the
24:42
Speaker 7: conservative values that make West Virginia home. I'm doctor Stephen Eshnauer,
24:47
Speaker 7: proven conservative, ready to.
24:49
Speaker 3: Serve, paid for by Eshenhower.
24:50
Speaker 1: First Senate.
24:51
Speaker 8: I'm Lance Wheeler, and I'm the conservative Republican running for
24:54
Speaker 8: the West Virginia State Senate. I'll fight for stronger schools
24:57
Speaker 8: with more choices so our students can succeed, stand for
25:00
Speaker 8: safer communities with support of our law enforcement and first
25:03
Speaker 8: responders who protect us every day. And as a proven
25:06
Speaker 8: job creator, I'll work to bring high paying jobs, smaller government,
25:09
Speaker 8: and push for lower taxes so families can keep more
25:12
Speaker 8: of what they earnt. It's time for proven conservative leadership
25:15
Speaker 8: for West Virginia, for families, for you. I'm Lance Wheeler,
25:19
Speaker 8: and I asked for your vote on May twelfth. Paid
25:21
Speaker 8: for by Wheeler for State Senate.
25:36
Speaker 3: It is forty eight minutes past the hour. You're listening
25:39
Speaker 3: to five ADWCHS the Voice of Charleston. This is Ask
25:43
Speaker 3: the Lawyer. Tom Payton from the Payton Law Firm is
25:45
Speaker 3: in studio with us this morning. You can give us
25:47
Speaker 3: a call this morning three zero four three four five
25:49
Speaker 3: fifty eight three zero four three four five fifty eight
25:51
Speaker 3: fifty eight. You can put the law on your side
25:53
Speaker 3: at Peyton Law Firm can help you out this morning
25:55
Speaker 3: with any questions that you have with the law. And
25:57
Speaker 3: we've had some callers already this morning. You can get
25:59
Speaker 3: in that Q as well at three four five fifty
26:01
Speaker 3: to fifty eight. You can text three zero four nine
26:03
Speaker 3: three five five zero's a rate yeah up.
26:07
Speaker 1: First callers question.
26:08
Speaker 4: So I was looking at the code just to refresh
26:11
Speaker 4: my recollection, and it was I don't know if it
26:15
Speaker 4: was this year or last year's bill, but there's an
26:19
Speaker 4: Economic Development Act of nineteen eighty five that was a mended.
26:22
Speaker 4: It's questioning code. Section five B is in boy dash
26:25
Speaker 4: two dash twenty one lowercase A, and it it has
26:32
Speaker 4: a bunch of information about while data centers are so important,
26:36
Speaker 4: even referencing something about China becoming the world leader in
26:40
Speaker 4: data centers or something maybe that's.
26:43
Speaker 1: A threat.
26:45
Speaker 4: But more importantly has a record keeping section and it
26:50
Speaker 4: says that any information provided by a data center pursue
26:54
Speaker 4: it to this section, which is relating to you know,
26:57
Speaker 4: applications and Department of Commerce like that that is identified
27:03
Speaker 4: by the data center as confidential business information. So I
27:06
Speaker 4: will be exempt from the Freedom of Information Act. So
27:10
Speaker 4: that's uh, that's why the first color is frustrated, and
27:16
Speaker 4: that's probably why the County Commission cannot talk about certain
27:21
Speaker 4: aspects of a perspective data center, which it.
27:26
Speaker 3: Feels a little odd, right, I mean, I don't I
27:27
Speaker 3: don't really know. I don't have any experience like it.
27:29
Speaker 3: It feels odd.
27:30
Speaker 1: I don't like it.
27:30
Speaker 4: I mean, there's certainly that you know, you're talking about
27:36
Speaker 4: economic development, there are certain certain but that's something been
27:41
Speaker 4: on the books for year decades. You know, if there's
27:44
Speaker 4: if there's certain development uh negotiations or dealings, you know
27:50
Speaker 4: when they're almost conceptual, those are exempt from for you
27:54
Speaker 4: because there might still be negotiations going on about the
27:59
Speaker 4: purchase of private land, for example, and you know, maybe
28:02
Speaker 4: that there might be inside information disclosed and exploring that
28:09
Speaker 4: to government officials that shouldn't be disclosed to the public
28:12
Speaker 4: because there's still negotiations going on about purchasing and things
28:17
Speaker 4: like that.
28:17
Speaker 1: But I think that should be a limited exception, not
28:22
Speaker 1: the rule.
28:22
Speaker 4: But I mean, that's we've got the legislature we've got
28:26
Speaker 4: because that's who we've elected. And so if you want
28:28
Speaker 4: to change that, you got to go to the polls,
28:31
Speaker 4: which we all know from the flood of commercials this
28:34
Speaker 4: week and last week and the week before that, now
28:36
Speaker 4: is the time I think we're getting kind of low
28:39
Speaker 4: we're going to get low voter turn out on the primary.
28:41
Speaker 4: It's an off yr election. And but there's some important
28:45
Speaker 4: I mean, you got there's judicial race. Judicial races like
28:52
Speaker 4: Intermediate Quarter of Appeals, Supreme Quarter of Appeals of West Virginia.
28:56
Speaker 4: Those are non partis of now. So this is the election.
28:59
Speaker 4: So if you and that's really important, I mean, they
29:03
Speaker 4: they I've got two Supreme Court justice spots up for election.
29:09
Speaker 4: And you know, as I think most people know, once
29:11
Speaker 4: you get to the West Vinia Supreme Court, that's the
29:13
Speaker 4: end of the line. So whatever they however, the Supreme
29:17
Speaker 4: Court interprets the law and rules that's going to govern
29:20
Speaker 4: everybody in the state. So it's it's kind of out
29:23
Speaker 4: there because you know, probably I don't know, zero point
29:26
Speaker 4: one percent of the population will ever have a case
29:27
Speaker 4: actually go to the Western Supreme Court of Appeals. But
29:30
Speaker 4: it's a little more important than that because the way
29:32
Speaker 4: in which they rule in other cases, if you get
29:34
Speaker 4: in a situation where that law applies or set of
29:38
Speaker 4: facts are similar to a Supreme Court decision, that you're
29:41
Speaker 4: you're going to have to go by that decision, whether
29:44
Speaker 4: you like it or not.
29:46
Speaker 1: So pretty important because you've got local school boards.
29:49
Speaker 4: Are non Yeah, they're non partisan, so they're they're up
29:53
Speaker 4: for election as well, so it's still pretty important election.
29:58
Speaker 4: And then because I'm affiliated, so I'm in Putnam County,
30:01
Speaker 4: so I'll go and vote in the Democratic primary because
30:04
Speaker 4: they'll let me if you're I think this year might
30:09
Speaker 4: be the first year or maybe last year where I
30:11
Speaker 4: think you have to be registered Republican to vote.
30:13
Speaker 1: This is the first year in a Republican primary.
30:15
Speaker 4: And of course Putnam County is most of the hotly
30:20
Speaker 4: contested primary races for the legislature are on the Republican side,
30:26
Speaker 4: so I'll miss out on being able to vote h there,
30:30
Speaker 4: But get out and vote. It's you know, it's hard
30:32
Speaker 4: hard to complain if you don't get out and exercise
30:36
Speaker 4: you're right to vote. So and you got you know,
30:38
Speaker 4: early voting. I know in Putnam it used to be
30:40
Speaker 4: early voting was always at the courthouse, which it's convenient
30:43
Speaker 4: for me because I'm down there going to court. But
30:45
Speaker 4: now they have other at least one I know, Valley Park.
30:47
Speaker 4: You can go and vote early I believe as well,
30:50
Speaker 4: maybe through Saturday. So there's really no excuse not to
30:54
Speaker 4: vote when they have early voting as accessible as it is,
30:56
Speaker 4: and it just takes five minutes when you go in.
30:58
Speaker 3: I think Hopey had a commentary earlier the week, maybe
31:00
Speaker 3: on Monday, where he kind of crunched the numbers a
31:03
Speaker 3: little bit and it wasn't anything hard to get. He
31:06
Speaker 3: just basically took columns of numbers from voting numbers and
31:10
Speaker 3: population of the state, age, voting eligible, people that aren't registered,
31:16
Speaker 3: and so forth. And it's something really extremely small, less
31:20
Speaker 3: than twenty percent of the states, and that I think
31:23
Speaker 3: was less than that. It's a tiny percentage of the
31:25
Speaker 3: state's population voting population that actually decide the people that
31:30
Speaker 3: hold office. And it's really when you think about the
31:34
Speaker 3: amount of people that could vote, that are legally allowed
31:37
Speaker 3: to vote, the amount of people that actually do vote,
31:40
Speaker 3: it is a huge gap between those things, and so
31:42
Speaker 3: you really wonder what will of the people are actually
31:45
Speaker 3: being reflected. I mean, nothing you can do about it.
31:47
Speaker 3: Voting is the way that it works, man. You got
31:49
Speaker 3: to get out.
31:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right.
31:50
Speaker 4: And Chris, I try and back myself out of it
31:54
Speaker 4: because I'm practice law, and I read the Supreme Court
31:57
Speaker 4: decisions and their inimity Court of Appeals decisions, and you know,
32:00
Speaker 4: deal with circuit judges who are also elected, and well,
32:05
Speaker 4: if there's contested circuit judge positions, they're going to be
32:10
Speaker 4: elected as well next week. So but I think it's hard,
32:16
Speaker 4: you know, and I go into the about sometimes I
32:19
Speaker 4: don't know anything about a race. Sometimes I don't know
32:21
Speaker 4: anything about the candidates because I haven't researched that particular.
32:23
Speaker 4: When you talk about executive committees and things like that,
32:26
Speaker 4: you elect that, you know how that affects your everyday life.
32:31
Speaker 4: Most people maybe it doesn't. So but you just think
32:34
Speaker 4: about the everyday person who's not constantly hows a job
32:38
Speaker 4: that involves being in the mix and in the know
32:40
Speaker 4: and having to read the news and maybe working you know,
32:44
Speaker 4: four tens a week at a labor intensive job.
32:46
Speaker 3: You know, there.
32:48
Speaker 4: They are they going to spend the time to sit
32:50
Speaker 4: down and research the candidate, and it's just kind of hard. So,
32:53
Speaker 4: you know, I can see where folks, if you just
32:56
Speaker 4: aren't in the know, you'd be less inclined to go
33:00
Speaker 4: and exercise you're right to vote. But nowadays with computers, smartphones,
33:04
Speaker 4: social media, I mean, you could spend a half an
33:06
Speaker 4: hour and kind of read what the candidates are about
33:10
Speaker 4: I strongly suggest you don't rely on.
33:12
Speaker 1: These goofy.
33:14
Speaker 4: Inflammatory commercials largely funded by these out of states.
33:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's websites that go and do a great job
33:20
Speaker 3: at lining up candidate issues and their own words, so
33:23
Speaker 3: you don't have to do it like they'll they'll poll candidates,
33:24
Speaker 3: they'll put all the information out there. Vote smart. There's
33:26
Speaker 3: a tons of a ton of them out there where
33:28
Speaker 3: you can go and just get the information. You don't
33:29
Speaker 3: have to you don't have to listen to the commercials.
33:31
Speaker 1: That's right. So man, it's they're important.
33:34
Speaker 4: I mean, actually that kind of dovetails into We had
33:37
Speaker 4: a I was going to talk about last week, but
33:39
Speaker 4: we we had to really I'm not sure it's that
33:44
Speaker 4: significant for West Virginia, but the Voting Rights Act decided
33:51
Speaker 4: by the US Supreme Court last Wednesday, So it's it's
33:54
Speaker 4: kind of convoluted. And see if I can break it
33:56
Speaker 4: down in it so that the Voting Rights Act, I
33:59
Speaker 4: think was that you know and acted in nineteen sixty five.
34:03
Speaker 4: You know, back in the sixties and maybe into the seventies,
34:08
Speaker 4: there were actually like real roadblocks for minorities to vote.
34:13
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, express provisions that made it very
34:19
Speaker 1: difficult or impossible.
34:21
Speaker 4: Obviously, over the decades we've improved as a society significantly there.
34:26
Speaker 4: But the Voting Rights Act, before the decision last Wednesday, permitted,
34:34
Speaker 4: or maybe even directed that what we call gerrymandering or
34:40
Speaker 4: the deciding of voting districts. You know, some of them
34:43
Speaker 4: needed to be set in a way so that, for example,
34:46
Speaker 4: African Americans who had been disenfranchised in the past would
34:52
Speaker 4: have a voting block that would allow them to get
34:56
Speaker 4: representation in Congress, for example. And if there was an
35:04
Speaker 4: allegation that there had been jerry mandering conducted that was
35:11
Speaker 4: aimed to prevent that, or that was the effect of
35:16
Speaker 4: the redrawing of voting districts, then that could result in
35:21
Speaker 4: that redrawing of the district being deemed a violation of
35:26
Speaker 4: the Voting Rights Act. So Louisiana was in this case
35:30
Speaker 4: at the US Supreme Court and they had drawn two
35:34
Speaker 4: different districts that had majority minorities voters, and that was
35:44
Speaker 4: challenged in the US Supreme Court. I think Justice Alito
35:48
Speaker 4: drafted the opinion, said, well, it's we've just are in
35:51
Speaker 4: a different place now, and you know this this thing
35:56
Speaker 4: about the result or the effects of a redistrict is
36:00
Speaker 4: not the proper test. It's you have to prove specific
36:04
Speaker 4: intent to discriminate against let's say, African Americans in order
36:09
Speaker 4: to win the case, which is a but things like
36:14
Speaker 4: partisan jerrymandering is there's nothing wrong with that. So when
36:17
Speaker 4: you know intent is in, it's a mental state. So
36:22
Speaker 4: it make that standard that they've now mandated largely makes
36:28
Speaker 4: it impossible to challenge.
36:29
Speaker 1: And you think, no big deal. But now in the
36:33
Speaker 1: last week, you think, what did that Voting Rights Act?
36:36
Speaker 4: Well? Do well, maybe not much, But in the last
36:39
Speaker 4: week we're seeing multiple multiple multiple states now just jumping
36:44
Speaker 4: on the opportunity of redistrict.
36:45
Speaker 3: We're trying to recall Louise Annason governor.
36:47
Speaker 1: To jerry mander.
36:49
Speaker 4: So we're learning what that Voting Rights Act did help
36:53
Speaker 4: with because we're seeing, you know, once it was overturned
36:57
Speaker 4: in essence signific again jerrymandering too. Now that they don't
37:01
Speaker 4: have that limitation. So we'll we'll see how the fallout comes.
37:04
Speaker 4: I mean, Congress could correct that to a certain extent,
37:08
Speaker 4: but they probably won't. We'll just have to wait and see.
37:11
Speaker 3: Best The Peyton Lawfirm dot com that's Harvey or that's
37:13
Speaker 3: Tom Payton this morning. Seven five five fifty five fifty
37:15
Speaker 3: six seven five five fifty five fifty six Nitro West Virginia,
37:18
Speaker 3: Peyton Lawfirm dot com. Have a great day, everyone, one
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Speaker 5: We're proud to live here too,