Latest / WCHS Network Podcasts / 07/23/2026 Ask the Lawyer with Harvey Peyton

Transcript

07/23/2026 Ask the Lawyer with Harvey Peyton · WCHS Network Podcasts

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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 whs
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Speaker 1: it's employees or WVRC media.
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Speaker 2: Our courts, oh created differ equal well match, Come here
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Speaker 2: and a kton I can rock up.
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Speaker 3: And good morning. It's a twenty two and five eighths
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Speaker 3: the Voice of Charleston. I'm Jeff Jenkins here with ask
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Speaker 3: the Expert, and here's Harvey Payton. Got the band back together?
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Speaker 2: Harvey, Well, we did it. It's a pleasure. And actually
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Speaker 2: it's only a two man band to do it today
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Speaker 2: instead of a trio. Tom and I have been here together,
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Speaker 2: I think three in the last maybe four weeks, and
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Speaker 2: there was a reason for that. Really, I don't like
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Speaker 2: to make a big deal out of it, but back
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Speaker 2: in the early June, I had a an award to
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Speaker 2: aneurism on the ascending side right near my heart that
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Speaker 2: had to be fixed. So I went up to Cleveland
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Speaker 2: clinic and it's an open procedure and you really can't
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Speaker 2: drive for a while after that. So Tom lives like
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Speaker 2: half a mile from my house. So the deal we
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Speaker 2: had was Tom and you know, I can't drive to
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Speaker 2: go to the office. Why don't you pick me up?
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Speaker 2: And I said, just let's just go to the radio together,
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Speaker 2: and we did and it worked out and then we
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Speaker 2: were Something came to mind. Monday, I had to go
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Speaker 2: back to Cleveland for a six week follow up. And
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Speaker 2: I'm doing really well. I've been back at the office work.
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Speaker 2: I mean, I was lucky for God took care of
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Speaker 2: me for this type of surgery. It was not a
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Speaker 2: lot of pain. I think I'm on I'm bouncing back
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Speaker 2: pretty nicedly. But so Monday evening, the appointments were Monday.
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Speaker 2: During the day, Jennifer and I just stayed over in Cleveland.
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Speaker 2: Monday evening went to Progressive Park to see the Guardians
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Speaker 2: formerly the Indians played in Minnesota Twins. Pretty big game.
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Speaker 2: Minnesota's I think Old Cleveland's like a game out of
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Speaker 2: the lead in the AFC Central and Minnesota's chasing them there,
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Speaker 2: so that's a big deal. Well, Country Roads has been
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Speaker 2: in the news lately. Yes, Well there's this kid, the
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Speaker 2: latter Yeah, from Hedgesville. Every time every time he comes
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Speaker 2: to bat, they played Country Roads and he came out.
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Speaker 2: He got four out of he was four for five, yeah,
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Speaker 2: with two doubles. I mean, he had a great night.
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Speaker 2: Of course there was there were a total to get
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Speaker 2: this nine home runs in the game. Wow, it's got Joe.
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Speaker 2: Ryan pitched for the Twins and he loved well. He
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Speaker 2: was good for six home runs in the sixth. They
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Speaker 2: had six home runs in the first four innings, which
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Speaker 2: is a record for the Guardians organization all time. And
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Speaker 2: they left him in man he gave up another homer
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Speaker 2: and like the sixth and that was it for him.
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Speaker 2: But it was it has a great game. Progressive Park
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Speaker 2: is a really good place to watch a ball game,
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Speaker 2: even the cheap seats. We set up in the fourth level,
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Speaker 2: but close to the right on the railing roway where
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Speaker 2: you're looking right down on uh, you know, just on
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Speaker 2: the third base side. It's really every time, and it's
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Speaker 2: just been a practice that I've adhered to because he
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Speaker 2: used to do a lot of travel with the practice,
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Speaker 2: and we'd go to the Midwest in Chicago, San Francisco,
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Speaker 2: New York, Philly. If I'm in a town where there's
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Speaker 2: a major league ballpark, the first thing I checked if
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Speaker 2: the season's on, is are they playing at home? Yeah?
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Speaker 2: You know, we were in San Francisco and Oakland this
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Speaker 2: is one of my big disappointments. Who's up in the
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Speaker 2: rotation to pitch at Oakland, Nolan Wright. It's his last year.
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Speaker 2: Well so all right, so we get the train and
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Speaker 2: go from San Francisco over the ballpark in Oakland, and
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Speaker 2: they pulled him, yeah, because he wanted to pitch him.
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Speaker 2: They were going home the next day, they were going
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Speaker 2: back to Texas, and so they just pulled him out
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Speaker 2: of the light of rotation, and so a big disappointment.
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Speaker 2: I thought it was. It was really unique. The laughter kid. Yeah,
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Speaker 2: we lost him somewody. He went to JMU, I think
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Speaker 2: he was, but from Hedgesville, hometown of Gee Cat little bit.
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Speaker 2: Incredible growth over there. I can remember when Hedgesville was
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Speaker 2: a gas station and no stoplights, right with a single
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Speaker 2: A school and now it's a big triple A high school.
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Speaker 2: The places growing in my leaps and bounds. They got
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Speaker 2: a new defense contractor this Helsing company and over there.
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Speaker 2: So bringing home to West Virginia makes me think about, well,
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Speaker 2: after the show today, I'm going to be running down
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Speaker 2: to South Charleston go buy the Teamster's Local one seventy
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Speaker 2: five to drop off a little something to support the
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Speaker 2: the beverage mark folks, who you know, it's what happens
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Speaker 2: when local ownership transfers. It just happens. And you've got
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Speaker 2: a company that was capital distributing that the Mazay family
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Speaker 2: and Aberzeno family owned for almost one hundred years, and
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Speaker 2: they're a union shop. Teamsters are the drivers and the
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Speaker 2: sales reps and the lumpers, and so they changed hands
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Speaker 2: last year, brought by an outfit from Hazzard, Kentucky. The
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Speaker 2: first thing you do, you make too much money? Drivers
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Speaker 2: make one hundred thousand, Well, yeah they do. You want
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Speaker 2: to go drive a beer truck around these little roads
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Speaker 2: in West Virginia and load and unload a truck and
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Speaker 2: do that every day for like twelve hours a day
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Speaker 2: summer and winter. Yeah, but you can certainly can hire
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Speaker 2: somebody to do it for a lot us, which is the
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Speaker 2: whole goal here. So bring me back to localizes, to Nitro.
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Speaker 2: You know, Nitro has been sort of an industrial town forever,
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Speaker 2: just like you're end of the Valley when the UMWA
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Speaker 2: was going strong and the teamsters had all the drivers
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Speaker 2: at bell lines up there. Catherine's Cafe, which has been
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Speaker 2: in business in one iteration or another for almost one
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Speaker 2: hundred years, no scab beer sprigs only, and they just
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Speaker 2: put out a side and they just remember and said, look,
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Speaker 2: we've made a living here. We've been open for all
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Speaker 2: this time because these men and women that worked at
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Speaker 2: the plants or the railroad or at these trucking companies
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Speaker 2: are the ones that support us and so right now
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Speaker 2: until this is over. And I admire them for that.
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Speaker 3: I mean, m I think a number of a number
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Speaker 3: of small places are doing smaller places or.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, you know Kroger's gets a bad rap and go Mart,
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Speaker 2: but you know they have dealings on a statewide basis.
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Speaker 2: This is a you know, beer distributing is local. I
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Speaker 2: mean it's up to the consumer. If you want to
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Speaker 2: go by Miller Lite and support somebody who's trying to
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Speaker 2: breast busty union and take good jobs away from people,
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Speaker 2: you can do that if you can live with it.
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Speaker 2: But I can't, and so we're gonna go help out.
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Speaker 2: Now that's one thing on a local basis. But you
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Speaker 2: can't help but be touched by this flooding that's happened.
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Speaker 2: I mean, I've been around the aftermath of some floods.
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Speaker 2: I have really wonderful lifelong friends who live in the
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Speaker 2: Moorfield area. And I don't know what happened in eighty five,
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Speaker 2: I think ninety eight. And I have my friend Bill Fisher.
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Speaker 2: I mean his house was flooded twice. He actually just
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Speaker 2: said my wife says he can't take it anymore, the
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Speaker 2: psychological effect. So sell a house in the river bottom
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Speaker 2: and move up on the hill and you know folks
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Speaker 2: over at the Greenboro. I was set to work at
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Speaker 2: the Greenberg golf tournament in twenty sixteen. I remember driving
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Speaker 2: around town looking at the parking area one week and
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Speaker 2: the next week it was gone. In nineteen seventy seven,
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Speaker 2: I had a case in Mingo County that took me
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Speaker 2: down to Williamson about a month after the think it
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Speaker 2: was April March or April flooding in Williamson. And I'll
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Speaker 2: never forget going in the courthouse on the first floor
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Speaker 2: where they keep the records, in the record room, looking
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Speaker 2: at the ceiling, and there were these blue and red
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Speaker 2: stains on the ceiling, and asked the clerk what is well,
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Speaker 2: it's the books in the property books, the record books
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Speaker 2: for generations. The water was so high, went clear to
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Speaker 2: the ceiling on the first floor of the courthouse just
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Speaker 2: floated the books up in the water, so they said.
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Speaker 2: And I remember walking down Main Street and they simply
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Speaker 2: had taken the storefronts out of every building and bulldozed
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Speaker 2: the entire contents out into the street for the National Guard.
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Speaker 2: Harley Mooney was running the show at the time. Very competent,
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Speaker 2: very accomplished, and the Guard they got back on their feet.
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Speaker 2: I never thought that would happen. It did, But it
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Speaker 2: has to effect. You know. You go look at the
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Speaker 2: eastern or the western end of green Beer account, you
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Speaker 2: know where the flooding has been so bad, and you
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Speaker 2: can tell a big difference. It just psychologically affects people.
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Speaker 2: So there's a move a foot you guys tomorrow, right
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Speaker 2: tomorrow here in the parking lot. If you cannot come
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Speaker 2: into the station, you can drive through the parking lot
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Speaker 2: this station, Western Radio Corporation statewide. You've got other affiliates
9:19
Speaker 2: other places or raising some money. Well, you're going to
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Speaker 2: bleach paper, towels, things of that nature. But the big
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Speaker 2: thing you can help with is a little bit of money.
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Speaker 2: And I was thinking about that on my heart this
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Speaker 2: morning on the way up here. I remember like two
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Speaker 2: months ago you had the snacks program for summer school children.
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Speaker 2: Then I saw Bobby Spry out in the parking lot.
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Speaker 2: I didn't have any money on me. I gave her
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Speaker 2: twenty bucks. All that helps. Well. I was driving down
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Speaker 2: the road in Tony Parrenzino. My dear friend, the purveyor
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Speaker 2: of the finest men's clothing in the region, called in
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Speaker 2: and said, I'll pledge five hundred dollars UH to this
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Speaker 2: effort for the children. And if I can get three
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Speaker 2: other people to pledge five hundred dollars apiece, get it
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Speaker 2: up to two grand I'll put up another five hundred. Well,
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Speaker 2: I pulled over, called in Bernie Lane and all you're
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Speaker 2: here in town? Called in and the other gentleman I
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Speaker 2: didn't recognize name, he's a friend of Toney, said this morning,
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Speaker 2: if you'll find out how to write the check? I
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Speaker 2: got it. I got it now, Okay, how should check read?
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Speaker 3: Checks should be written to the American Red Cross, American
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Speaker 3: read memo flood relief.
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Speaker 2: All right, there you go, And it's probably on your
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Speaker 2: taxes if you item I as a deduction sometimes. So
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Speaker 2: here's the deal. As soon as I get back to
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Speaker 2: the office, I know Melody Matthews. Our lady Friday, who
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Speaker 2: has been there with us thirty five years and pretty
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Speaker 2: much runs the show. She's going to write a check
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Speaker 2: for five hundred dollars to the American Red Cross. We'll
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Speaker 2: get it up here by tomorrow. And if we can
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Speaker 2: get you don't have to call in on this show.
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Speaker 2: It can be I guess well, Dave Allen can control
10:58
Speaker 2: whatever he wants to draw show. We just call three four, five,
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Speaker 2: fifty eight fifty eight. There are lawyers out there that
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Speaker 2: got plenty of money. We can get three more people
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Speaker 2: to put up five hundred bucks to the American Red
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Speaker 2: Cross to health these folks in Weston and Clarksburg and
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Speaker 2: buck Annon and all the areas in Randolph County that
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Speaker 2: we don't know about yet, and up in the upper
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Speaker 2: end of Upshur County that we don't know about yet
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Speaker 2: because they can't get to them, and upstone Hole Creek
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Speaker 2: there and the West Fork above Weston that we can't
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Speaker 2: get to yet. They're going to need all this help.
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Speaker 2: Then I are at the Peyton Law Farm will put
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Speaker 2: up another five hundred so we can get it up
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Speaker 2: to twenty five hundred dollars and get the checks up here.
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Speaker 2: By tomorrow. So the lines are open now, you lawyers
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Speaker 2: out there, like we're in the Slango studio over there. Ben,
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Speaker 2: he's got plenty of cash laying around. And the JV,
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Speaker 2: how about JB. I mean, he's running high on the
11:51
Speaker 2: hog is and he's run for governor or senat or
11:54
Speaker 2: whatever it is he's pursuing somehow call in here or
12:01
Speaker 2: just you don't need to say anything on the air
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Speaker 2: if you don't take any credit for it. But I'd
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Speaker 2: like to write two checks and all we need is
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Speaker 2: little help from three other people to get us up
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Speaker 2: to two thousand dollars. And we'll put up another five
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Speaker 2: hunder because that's what you need. I mean, cash is king,
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Speaker 2: and you don't know what people need. It's like scholarships, right.
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Speaker 2: I was lucky enough when things were good to fund
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Speaker 2: a couple of scholarships at WVU. One of them is
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Speaker 2: at the law school. One of them is an athletic scholarship,
12:32
Speaker 2: and after that to give some money. And they said, well,
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Speaker 2: what what's the best thing to do it? So we'll
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Speaker 2: unrestrict it. It's the best thing to do. And if
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Speaker 2: it's like to the law school, leave it to the
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Speaker 2: Dean's discretion because you never know where the money is
12:49
Speaker 2: going to be needed. And if you write the check
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Speaker 2: to the Red Cross, you can be resc you can
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Speaker 2: rest assured there's not going to be allowed of administrative
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Speaker 2: charges on that money. It's going to go straight from
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Speaker 2: here to an account and the Upshur and Randolph and
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Speaker 2: Lewis Counties and wherever else that need is great. Well,
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Speaker 2: I guess up in the Pleasants County and St. Mary's
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Speaker 2: got a got rocked.
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Speaker 3: Donna Bowley? Did you see there her the photo of
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Speaker 3: her house, Donna Bowley former?
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Speaker 2: Was that her house?
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Speaker 4: Yeah?
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Speaker 3: That was her house?
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Speaker 2: Oh my gracious yeah.
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Speaker 3: And she was there, She was there and she survived it.
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Speaker 3: That's I'm talking about the longtime former State center and
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Speaker 3: now retired. But yeah, she heard her house hit got
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Speaker 3: hit by the tornado.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. Have you seen the movie, not the movie Twister,
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Speaker 2: but the Doctor, the recent documentary about the tornado and
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Speaker 2: jop On, Missouri. Terrifying? Yeah, literally terrifying. We're so lucky
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Speaker 2: here that geographically we're not prone to that sort of thing.
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Speaker 2: And you wonder what happens. Nobody knows, you know, it
13:53
Speaker 2: just happens anyway. And I hope you know, they have
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Speaker 2: a beautiful new courthouse annex in Lewis County. It's not
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Speaker 2: knew new anymore. It's probably ten years old. The Lewis
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Speaker 2: County governing body made wise use when they had the
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Speaker 2: boom with the oil and gas exploration there when the
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Speaker 2: Marcellus was being developed at an old courthouse pre Civil
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Speaker 2: War or contemporary with the Civil War, and it was
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Speaker 2: really in bad shape because you only do so much
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Speaker 2: with an old building. The right behind it, on the
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Speaker 2: next street over, they have built the most incredible judicial annex.
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Speaker 2: It has as much technical it as show Bob Goodwin's
14:39
Speaker 2: courtroom at the Federal Building. He was the first to
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Speaker 2: put in a really high technology courtroom. And they have
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Speaker 2: those the Prosecutor's office, the Clerk's office there in in
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Speaker 2: Raleigh County, two places that have wisely invested in Well,
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Speaker 2: we are too here in Kanawka, I mean the County
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Speaker 2: Commission has They took the bit in their t and
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Speaker 2: got prices right to do remodeling to the judicial annext.
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Speaker 2: But you know, the judges in Kannall County had to
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Speaker 2: sue the kanaw County Commission in the late seventies early
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Speaker 2: eighties to get that annex built. I mean there were people.
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Speaker 2: They had five six, six courtrooms in the Olkanhaw County Courthouse,
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Speaker 2: just a little divvied up spaces. Two of them were
15:24
Speaker 2: big court rooms and the others were just little Well,
15:27
Speaker 2: there was where the voters registration office used to be
15:31
Speaker 2: in one of the primey buildings next to the court
15:35
Speaker 2: has been demolished. It's a parking lot. Now you had
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Speaker 2: the public or the Juvenile court and the Domestic Relations
15:42
Speaker 2: Court Judge Smith and what was Knowle's last name, That Richardson,
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Speaker 2: Herb Richardson, His dad was the juvenile court judge. So
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Speaker 2: that's all changed there to be admired for that. So
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Speaker 2: that's pretty much my riff on fundraising and what it's
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Speaker 2: under the court. I certainly hope now that God's most
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Speaker 2: precious gift is life. I mean, nothing can make up
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Speaker 2: for a loss of life, and unfortunately, I'm sure there's
16:09
Speaker 2: going to be some, but you would hope also that
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Speaker 2: things like the fruits of the wealth of those counties
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Speaker 2: that's tied up in courthouse improvements, schools, public utilities and
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Speaker 2: things of that nature, they're going to take a real setback.
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Speaker 2: And I just hope that we can. The legislature is
16:28
Speaker 2: going to have to the Governor's going to have to
16:30
Speaker 2: get in line our congressional delegation. You know, we haven't
16:35
Speaker 2: been real prompt on this Logan Boone County thing. I
16:38
Speaker 2: think we have lagged behind. The Governor just asked for
16:41
Speaker 2: some federal funding yesterday. But we've got to get this fixed.
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Speaker 2: Or you think the population loss is bad now, one
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Speaker 2: of the reasons we've had population loss is people won't
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Speaker 2: move back. If you look at mcdale County and Wyoming
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Speaker 2: County and Oceania and in that area, it because folks
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Speaker 2: have been flooded and it's just like you know, Mullins
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Speaker 2: and Welch. It's just hard for somebody to say, well,
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Speaker 2: I'm going to go back, unless unless you're my age,
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Speaker 2: a boomer and you've got a house and you really
17:13
Speaker 2: don't want to leave. You've been there all your life.
17:15
Speaker 2: You're staying with those who can are going to and
17:18
Speaker 2: unless we get serious about this flood rehabilitation and prevention.
17:23
Speaker 2: You know, you take Buckchannon and Weston Buck Cannan's a
17:26
Speaker 2: beautiful town, beautiful college campus there, great nursing program. You guys.
17:32
Speaker 2: The Western Radio Corporation funds of scholarship for outstanding high
17:36
Speaker 2: school students. And there you know you've took these pictures
17:39
Speaker 2: online of the Walmart. It's just heartbreaking to see. And
17:44
Speaker 2: that's if it's the Walmart, it's downtown as well, because
17:47
Speaker 2: you turn you just go right through the main stop
17:49
Speaker 2: light there in Buckhannan and going out to we'll see,
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Speaker 2: we'll see. So we well take a little breakfast, come
17:59
Speaker 2: back on. We'll talk a bit about some things about
18:02
Speaker 2: a state lot of state planning, but a state management
18:06
Speaker 2: and things that some people should be aware of.
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Speaker 3: Okay, all right, that's a good point. Harvey Payton Payton
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Speaker 3: Law Firm in Nitro is with us our number three
18:14
Speaker 3: oh four three four five fifty eight fifty eight. Three
18:16
Speaker 3: oh four three four five fifty eight fifty eight. It's
18:19
Speaker 3: a forty. This is five eighty whf.
18:21
Speaker 4: Your Putnam County Assessor's Office is mandated to ensure your
18:24
Speaker 4: real estate is evaluated properly and fairly. This year, their
18:29
Speaker 4: field personnel will be in the Winfield town first and
18:32
Speaker 4: then move to Scott District to revisit homeowners. Plus, new
18:36
Speaker 4: construction in the county will be assessed. They will be
18:39
Speaker 4: in marked vehicles and will have photo ID and business cards.
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Speaker 4: If you have any questions about this process, visit their
18:46
Speaker 4: website at putnamco Assessor dot com. That's Putnam cooassessor dot com.
18:51
Speaker 1: Do you want to see your doctor when you make
18:53
Speaker 1: an appointment, then you should see doctor William Harris, an
18:57
Speaker 1: old fashioned doctor who has the latest medical knowledge and
19:00
Speaker 1: expertise in diagnosis and treatment. Doctor Harris is borned in
19:04
Speaker 1: family medicine and has added certification in geriatrics, a rarity
19:08
Speaker 1: these days. Doctor Harris is located at the CAMC Medical
19:11
Speaker 1: Building at thirty one hundred mccorkyl Avenue, Southeast, Sweet three
19:15
Speaker 1: oh seven. Call three zero four three four four twenty
19:18
Speaker 1: four fifty one to schedule an appointment to see your
19:21
Speaker 1: doctor every time you visit.
19:33
Speaker 3: All right, we're back going five eighty uhs. The voice
19:36
Speaker 3: of Charleston's a forty two. I'm Jeff Jenkins. Harvey Payton's
19:39
Speaker 3: here at the Peyton Law Firm in Nitro, and Harvey's
19:44
Speaker 3: got once to talk about and I think we were
19:46
Speaker 3: talking about this before the show started, and it's it's
19:49
Speaker 3: it's really sounds like a key some things when it
19:53
Speaker 3: comes to states and property in different counties, right.
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Speaker 2: Right, Well, you know, uh, I mean I've been practicing
20:00
Speaker 2: law now fifty two years. And while we are primarily
20:07
Speaker 2: a litigation firm involved in accident injury matters at the
20:10
Speaker 2: Peyton Law Firm, I graduated from law school when they
20:13
Speaker 2: taught you to be completely well routed. So I've always
20:17
Speaker 2: had a little bit of a transactional practice, done some
20:19
Speaker 2: the state work. And now yeah, i actually serve as
20:25
Speaker 2: a producery commission in Putnam County, so if there's some disputes,
20:29
Speaker 2: I try and hear and help the county commission decide those.
20:33
Speaker 2: But you see so many small mistakes that people make
20:37
Speaker 2: that become quite costly, way more costly than writing a
20:42
Speaker 2: will or calling a lawyer or going to a lawyer's
20:45
Speaker 2: office and asking for advice. And a primary example is
20:49
Speaker 2: in West Virginia. You know, we have one of the
20:51
Speaker 2: high we just see the New York Times article this week.
20:54
Speaker 2: We have the highest home ownership percentage in the United States.
20:59
Speaker 2: We have an old population. How many folks do you
21:03
Speaker 2: know that they own a home maybe an acre, maybe
21:07
Speaker 2: half an acre, and on their you know, their children
21:10
Speaker 2: may put a double wide, so they own a home.
21:14
Speaker 2: But you have a camp in Pocahontas County or a
21:16
Speaker 2: farm in Jackson County, ore own some mineral interests in
21:20
Speaker 2: you know, Rhone County or Lewis County. Well, that that
21:26
Speaker 2: person passes away, the estate's probated. It's not up to
21:32
Speaker 2: the clerk to ask a lot of questions. And you know,
21:34
Speaker 2: it's the responsibility of the personal representative, the executor or
21:39
Speaker 2: administrator to file an appraisement, which doesn't have to be
21:43
Speaker 2: a formal appraisal of the real estate done by a
21:47
Speaker 2: certified appraiser. It can be a good faith estimate of
21:50
Speaker 2: the value of the property. You can generally now use
21:53
Speaker 2: the you know, the valuation placed on it by the
21:57
Speaker 2: assessors because its pretty close. Well, let's take an example
22:03
Speaker 2: of a person who lives in Kanawa County, lived a
22:06
Speaker 2: good life. They got a cabin up in Greenbrier County.
22:12
Speaker 2: They inherited from their grandparents who moved this area to
22:15
Speaker 2: work for DuPont or car By. They inherited some mineral
22:18
Speaker 2: interests in Rone County, in the Gilmer County, and then
22:24
Speaker 2: they bought a little lot in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
22:28
Speaker 2: and put a mobile home on. Have some place to go,
22:30
Speaker 2: and they have their home place here in Kanawha County.
22:33
Speaker 2: So a person writes a will and says, you know,
22:37
Speaker 2: I leave everything to my wife if she survives me.
22:40
Speaker 2: If my wife doesn't survive me or my spouse, we'll
22:43
Speaker 2: keep it sis gendered. I guess then to my children
22:47
Speaker 2: equally share and share a light, or to the survivor,
22:51
Speaker 2: and if one dies, the survivors get it. Okay. A
22:54
Speaker 2: person passes away, one of the siblings takes the role
22:57
Speaker 2: of personal representative. They followed raisement for their dad. They
23:01
Speaker 2: list the home place in Kanaha County on the appraisement
23:06
Speaker 2: because it's Kanaha County. The estate's closed out. Well, then
23:13
Speaker 2: they try to change the paid designation for the mineral
23:17
Speaker 2: interests that are paying a little royalty in running Gilmer
23:21
Speaker 2: County and the development company down in Texas as well,
23:26
Speaker 2: where's your proof of ownership? I mean we got to
23:30
Speaker 2: we looked online in Gilmer County. There's nothing in your
23:33
Speaker 2: name on the tax book. Well, they decide they don't
23:37
Speaker 2: need the camp in Pocahontas County, so list it sold.
23:43
Speaker 2: The lawyer calls them from Marlinton and said, well, how'd
23:46
Speaker 2: you get this property. I mean it's in so and
23:49
Speaker 2: so's name. Well that's dad. Well you know you get
23:53
Speaker 2: same thing in South Carolina. Well there's nothing on record
23:56
Speaker 2: down here. So the important thing is I mean, I
24:02
Speaker 2: think if if it's an estate of any substance, particularly
24:06
Speaker 2: real estate, if it's publicly created stocks, you're probably going
24:11
Speaker 2: to need a lawyer or financial professional to get those transferred.
24:15
Speaker 2: It's quite technical and complex because here's what you have
24:18
Speaker 2: to do all of that property. Because the estate is here,
24:24
Speaker 2: it's the estate becomes a person, it's an entity, it's
24:31
Speaker 2: nexus or its location is Kanawha County. But as a
24:35
Speaker 2: part of that estate is everything. So on the appraisement
24:38
Speaker 2: you need to list specifically the mineral interests in Ronan
24:45
Speaker 2: Gilmer County, the camp in Pocahontas County, the lot and
24:53
Speaker 2: move a home in Myrtle Beach, even though won't wait
24:54
Speaker 2: a minute, what's that have to do with South Carolina?
24:56
Speaker 2: But because what you have once the estate closes here,
25:01
Speaker 2: the file the appraisement, and then the Produciary Office runs
25:06
Speaker 2: an ad in the paper giving any person that may
25:10
Speaker 2: have a claim against the estate sixty days to file
25:12
Speaker 2: a claim. There aren't very many claims filed. Generally, if
25:16
Speaker 2: it's a credit card, there are credit card companies who
25:19
Speaker 2: monitor pretty closely. Credit bureaus all cover what the state's
25:23
Speaker 2: are approbated, and so you may get a claim for
25:26
Speaker 2: a credit card, usually a hospital bill, perhaps doctor's office
25:31
Speaker 2: things that they're owed. So if the money is there,
25:34
Speaker 2: you pay them that sixty days expires, and then there's
25:41
Speaker 2: a procedure where the personal representative has to file some
25:47
Speaker 2: documents with the fiduciaria to close out the estate, to
25:50
Speaker 2: tell the world this is over, there are no claims.
25:54
Speaker 2: The title of this real estate is good against any claimants.
25:58
Speaker 2: And here's an order from the county Commission that says
26:00
Speaker 2: it's put on record so that somebody who's looking at
26:03
Speaker 2: the title of real estate can see it. Well, that's
26:08
Speaker 2: why you really need to be careful about listing these
26:13
Speaker 2: property interests or real property here, because once that final
26:19
Speaker 2: order is entered, it's the duty of the fiduciary to
26:24
Speaker 2: go to Kanaw County and if there's a will involved,
26:27
Speaker 2: get a certified copy of the will, get a certified
26:31
Speaker 2: copy of the fiduciary order appointing the personal representative, get
26:36
Speaker 2: a certified copy of the appraisement which lists all this property,
26:41
Speaker 2: and a certified copy of the order closing the estate,
26:48
Speaker 2: and those documents need to be recorded in every county
26:53
Speaker 2: where the real estate is located. Most counties, the assessor
26:57
Speaker 2: will not transfer the property on the tax book until
27:00
Speaker 2: that's done. And for the South Carolina property, and I've
27:04
Speaker 2: had to do this. I had a really dear friend
27:07
Speaker 2: and longtime client. He liked to go fishing, so say
27:11
Speaker 2: some utility lake down in South Carolina, and he bought that.
27:15
Speaker 2: He bought a donut shopping, So you know, I've had
27:18
Speaker 2: a lawyer down there. And it's called ancillary administration. It's
27:21
Speaker 2: pretty simple, it's not really expensive. It's done with Affi David.
27:24
Speaker 2: But you have to have the documents here which show
27:28
Speaker 2: ownership in that person, and that ownership has passed to
27:34
Speaker 2: the heirs officially by virtue of the documents here. Those
27:38
Speaker 2: need to be recorded. And if you don't, what happens
27:41
Speaker 2: fifteen years later? You pass and now your kids now
27:46
Speaker 2: you really want to sell the camp in Pocahonas County
27:50
Speaker 2: because you know they didn't want to go there anyway,
27:52
Speaker 2: that's where you're took them. They made you cut the
27:54
Speaker 2: grass and hoe the garden. When he went out there, writer,
27:56
Speaker 2: I don't want to go there. Well, now fifteen years
27:59
Speaker 2: has passed, we want to go to sell it. Lawyer
28:03
Speaker 2: in Pokemonust and he says, well, wait a minute. You
28:05
Speaker 2: know this is not taxing your dad's name. It's still
28:08
Speaker 2: taxing your grandpa's name. And what's going on here? Who
28:13
Speaker 2: owns this? Well, then you've got to go back and
28:16
Speaker 2: reconstruct an estate that was closed fifteen years ago, twenty
28:23
Speaker 2: years ago. Mile what's called an amended appraisement costs you
28:26
Speaker 2: like twenty five dollars to file it and doesn't change
28:31
Speaker 2: to and then get an amended order closing the estate
28:36
Speaker 2: was never really cooperative in almost in every photuse your
28:39
Speaker 2: office I deal with. But then you're paying a lawyer
28:44
Speaker 2: one thousand dollars fifteen hundred dollars, two thousand dollars. I
28:48
Speaker 2: mean that's a fairly conservative estimate to go back and
28:51
Speaker 2: reconstruct this and to straighten And at that point, well,
28:54
Speaker 2: while we're straightening this out, why don't we straighten out
28:57
Speaker 2: the mobile home and the lot and say North Carolina
29:00
Speaker 2: that you guys still want to use and your mineral
29:03
Speaker 2: interests have been coming in by checks payable to your
29:05
Speaker 2: paup all this time, and you've been putting them in
29:07
Speaker 2: the bank. We need to get this straight down, and
29:10
Speaker 2: it's just an expensive proposition. So it just something for
29:13
Speaker 2: the public to be thinking about. The guy to run
29:16
Speaker 2: into that. Actually this this week, really nice people who
29:22
Speaker 2: just said, well we did. Why it's not in Kanawha County.
29:26
Speaker 2: Why do we have to listen? And I said, it's
29:28
Speaker 2: not going to be any real delay for them, but
29:32
Speaker 2: they don't deserve a hassle. The gentleman followed the appraise
29:36
Speaker 2: to himself, and you can't fault anyone for that. Just
29:39
Speaker 2: didn't quite know. So if you have a question, particularly
29:41
Speaker 2: if there's real estate involved in a state administration, we
29:46
Speaker 2: get questions all the time, you know, I have consultations
29:49
Speaker 2: with people. Maybe they just need to come in for
29:53
Speaker 2: an hour's time to be told what to do or
29:56
Speaker 2: what not to do. Now, if someone comes to us
29:59
Speaker 2: and says, I can't deal with this, someone's died, it
30:03
Speaker 2: was special, I'm not going to pay perwork. Or if
30:07
Speaker 2: they say, look, i've got these stocks traded on an
30:09
Speaker 2: exchange and they're sending me these papers, then it's going
30:14
Speaker 2: to cost you about two thousand dollars for our office
30:16
Speaker 2: to handle from beginning to end. But it'll be done
30:18
Speaker 2: right and it won't come back to haunt you in
30:21
Speaker 2: the future. And he'll, I think you'll find out if
30:23
Speaker 2: you're ever confronted with this situation and with an old
30:26
Speaker 2: estate and title of real estate, you'll find out it's
30:28
Speaker 2: well worth paying a lawyer now and trying to reconstruct
30:33
Speaker 2: it in the future. You know, when I was in
30:35
Speaker 2: law school, we had a professor named Henry Collins. He
30:39
Speaker 2: was counsel of the President of the Universe. Henry was
30:41
Speaker 2: a very smart man. He had the highest legal degree
30:44
Speaker 2: you can get, a ljd. From New York University in
30:48
Speaker 2: tax and he thought trusts in the States and income tax,
30:53
Speaker 2: which you know they had the Internal Revenue Code which
30:55
Speaker 2: is about six inches think. He said, you know what
30:57
Speaker 2: this is good for that it's a great coaster, said
31:01
Speaker 2: you put a drink on there. He said, I have
31:03
Speaker 2: a drink every evening, he said, and said, then't you
31:07
Speaker 2: just when you take that drink, I mean, just tear
31:09
Speaker 2: a page off and throw it away, because that it's
31:11
Speaker 2: not good for anything anyway. But that's when the first
31:15
Speaker 2: mail order Wills came out. Of course, they were advertising
31:18
Speaker 2: magazines and newspapers that I'm no Internet, and he said,
31:22
Speaker 2: you ought to encourage people to do that. Well, what
31:24
Speaker 2: are you talking about, mister Collin, I encourage him to
31:26
Speaker 2: do that, said they'll they'll pay fifty dollars to do that,
31:30
Speaker 2: so they'll have to pay you five hundred dollars ten
31:32
Speaker 2: years about to straighten that out. I said, that's that's
31:35
Speaker 2: good for lawyers. And you know, to a degree, he's
31:38
Speaker 2: very He's right. I mean people, I mean one of
31:46
Speaker 2: the reasons that we started doing this show said try
31:49
Speaker 2: to convince the public. Don't be afraid of lawyers. I
31:52
Speaker 2: mean you you can find out what a service is
31:54
Speaker 2: going to cost, and if you want to make a
31:56
Speaker 2: consumer decision that well, I don't want to do that.
31:59
Speaker 2: But just on the unfounded fear or suspicion, I can
32:04
Speaker 2: tell you I have seen more of these downloaded AI
32:07
Speaker 2: generated wills. They're supposedly universal every state, and they're just
32:12
Speaker 2: fraught with the potential for airs. Now that's not to
32:16
Speaker 2: say that if you knew exactly how to fill these
32:20
Speaker 2: forms out, if you had some legal training and you
32:25
Speaker 2: knew what these words meant, you could do it. But
32:28
Speaker 2: that's not who these are marketed to. You see, I
32:31
Speaker 2: see these where there are improper designations of airs. There
32:36
Speaker 2: are phrases used that in the common parliaance have one meeting,
32:42
Speaker 2: but in the legality of a written will have another,
32:46
Speaker 2: as far as an expression of intent where there's imprecision
32:52
Speaker 2: in this is an example of a will that says,
32:58
Speaker 2: I give my I want my estate liquid or distributed
33:03
Speaker 2: in kind and ex percent to the children and ex
33:10
Speaker 2: percent to charity. All right, Well, part of the estate's
33:15
Speaker 2: real estate. So the way that's written, perfectly altable subject
33:25
Speaker 2: but not differentiating the real estate from the rest of
33:28
Speaker 2: the estate, means that ten percent of the title of
33:31
Speaker 2: that property is held by quote charities. Now the solution
33:37
Speaker 2: to that is go file an action for declaratory judgment
33:41
Speaker 2: in the circuit court of whatever county the real estates in,
33:44
Speaker 2: and ask a judge to declare just what that means
33:47
Speaker 2: or what the legal effect is. If you already distributed
33:51
Speaker 2: the money and gave a percentage of that to the
33:54
Speaker 2: charities without thinking to acquire any written documentation or a
33:59
Speaker 2: quick then you've just got to satisfy the court that
34:03
Speaker 2: that was done. Get an order and record it, which
34:04
Speaker 2: is going to take you about a year, and you
34:07
Speaker 2: can't move courts any faster than you're not the only
34:09
Speaker 2: case pending. People don't understand that sometimes it's going to
34:12
Speaker 2: foul loss. It will take you a year because you
34:15
Speaker 2: have to file it, you have to serve it. Everybody
34:18
Speaker 2: has a period of foul response. You have to get
34:22
Speaker 2: on the court stocket, which is dealing with every case
34:26
Speaker 2: was filed before yours. Then you have to get paperwork
34:30
Speaker 2: and serve people have to prove the service. You've got
34:34
Speaker 2: to get a hearing set, you've got to file a brief,
34:37
Speaker 2: you've got to write an order. Now that's just not
34:39
Speaker 2: going to get done realistically. You've covered courts as a
34:42
Speaker 2: news director for a long time and expeditiously. A criminal case,
34:48
Speaker 2: if it's resolved within eighteen months, that's really expeditious. Hand Now,
34:53
Speaker 2: in the simplest case, you know, someone's arrested on a
34:57
Speaker 2: charge at sam Bassima, they just caught them red handed,
35:01
Speaker 2: the person con fast. It's a matter of filing an information,
35:04
Speaker 2: taking a plea. Even that takes six months or more
35:07
Speaker 2: because the courts are just busy. We probably have enough
35:11
Speaker 2: judges here. I think we do. But they're busy. That's
35:15
Speaker 2: will they should be. They're getting paid pretty good money. Now.
35:17
Speaker 2: The Supreme Court honestly doesn't have much to do now
35:20
Speaker 2: with the Intermediate Appellate Court, they do write some opinions.
35:23
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm not begrudging of the fact we have
35:26
Speaker 2: excellent Supreme Court judges. I mean since I started practicing
35:30
Speaker 2: law fifty two years ago, there's been a little bit
35:33
Speaker 2: of a shift. First of all, it would have been
35:35
Speaker 2: unheard of in nineteen seventy four for a woman to
35:39
Speaker 2: be sitting on the highest court. And then Margaret Workman
35:42
Speaker 2: was elected statewide to a Supreme Court seat, and boom,
35:46
Speaker 2: we've had more women on the court than men on
35:49
Speaker 2: at least two occasions, recently three out of five.
35:52
Speaker 3: So Peyton Law Firm, Yeah, we're almost there. Peyton Law Firm.
35:56
Speaker 2: Well, the Peyton Law Firm is in Nightru. We've been there,
35:58
Speaker 2: as I say, years for me, well, I si this
36:02
Speaker 2: coming May twenty twenty seven will be my fiftieth year
36:06
Speaker 2: in Nitro. Before that I worked for the District Court
36:10
Speaker 2: in Elkins and here in Charleston to a little practice
36:14
Speaker 2: for a year or so. My son Tom, who's since
36:19
Speaker 2: he's not fifty yet and won't be fifty until September.
36:21
Speaker 2: I can still tell you he's the best injury disability
36:25
Speaker 2: lawyer practice in this region under the age of fifty.
36:28
Speaker 2: If you have suffered a loss, call Tom Paton and
36:33
Speaker 2: if you want to talk to somebody for some advice,
36:37
Speaker 2: call me. We're at you off three or four, seven, five, five,
36:39
Speaker 2: fifty five fifty six or Peyton Lawfirm dot com and
36:43
Speaker 2: call in and let's get some money raised for these
36:47
Speaker 2: people who are suffering unmercifully to the north, our navors,
36:52
Speaker 2: our brothers and sisters here in Western day. Yep.
36:55
Speaker 3: Right, you can drop off tomorrow. You can drop off
36:57
Speaker 3: of check and that'll be made to the American Red Cross,
37:00
Speaker 3: American Red Cross and in the memo line just put
37:03
Speaker 3: flood relief. So Harvey has pledged five hundred dollars and
37:08
Speaker 3: once a couple of other five hundred dollars to come
37:10
Speaker 3: in and he'll write another five hundred dollars check.
37:12
Speaker 2: Right, that's correct, Hey, three more to get it up
37:14
Speaker 2: to two thousand. I'll write another check to top it off.
37:17
Speaker 2: At twenty five minutes.
37:18
Speaker 3: All right, there we go. This is five eighty WCCHS.
37:21
Speaker 3: The voice of Charles.
37:22
Speaker 1: Stick five eighty Whsam eighty six point five.
37:26
Speaker 2: That's in Charles Stick.
37:26
Speaker 3: One oh four point five Cross Lane on WVRC Media Station.
37:32
Speaker 2: We're proud to live here too,