Covington Legal Issues Blog

Situations change. People grow. New opportunities arise. You should know a divorce from your past does not have hold you back from making the most of your future life.

Kentucky statute allows modification of several terms of your divorce agreement under certain conditions. Some of the more common changes have to do with child custody, child support and spousal support agreements. 

Whether one is involved in a high-speed collision or a simple fender-bender in Covington, the expenses that can result from a car accident can quickly become enormous. In some cases, one's financial liabilities arising from an accident may exceed insurance coverage limits. In such a case, those facing such expenses may be left with little choice but to take legal action against those that caused their accidents. Yet what if the responsible party was a teen driver? 

Recovering compensation from a teen might be next to impossible given the likelihood that such a party has limited financial resources. However, one might be able to hold whoever allowed a teen to drive their vehicle liable through the legal principle of negligent entrustment. Section 186.590(3) of Kentucky's Revised Statutes says that any vehicle owner who entrusts their vehicle to a driver under the age of 18 can be held liable for any damages the teen driver's negligent actions may cause. The reason for this law is the assumption that vehicle owners should know that teen drivers are more likely to drive recklessly.

Most of those who come to see us here at The Berger Firm after having been charged with driving under the influence in Covington typically state that they would never even previously thought of getting behind the wheel after drinking. You likely share the same assumption. The trouble is that one of the methods in which alcohol effects the body is to the depress the function of the frontal cortex of your brain, which regulates judgment. Thus, when intoxicated, your inhibitions often loosen, which lay lead to you making unwise decisions. The hope is that whomever is witnessing this knows when to cut you off. 

Yet what if they do not? You may have previously heard of dram shop liability. This allows vicarious liability to be assigned to establishments for the actions of patrons to whom they served alcoholic beverages. This law may seem to be limited to those who you might have injured if your alleged drunk driving resulted in a crash, yet in actuality, you may be covered by it as well. Section 413.241 of Kentucky's Revised Statutes specifically says (in referencing an establishment serving alcohol to you) "shall be liable to that person or to any other person." This opens up the door for you to potentially pursue if you believe an establishment was negligent in serving you. 

The most common question asked by those contemplating filing for personal bankruptcy in Covington is whether or not they will be able to keep their homes. People need personal assets when attempting to rebuild their financial lives following bankruptcy, and a home is typically one's most valued asset. Thus, the fear of losing it may keep many for whom bankruptcy might be a valid option from investigating it until it is too late to enjoy the protections it affords. For this reason, both the federal and individual state governments have created homestead exemptions. 

A bankruptcy homestead exemption allows one to exempt their interest in a property or asset in order to avoid said asset from being liquidated as part of a bankruptcy case. It works as follows: if one has $25,000 in equity in their home, and their state's homestead exemption is above that amount, then the home cannot be sold by a bankruptcy trustee to help pay their debts. However, if the state's exemption amount is less than $25,000, then the trustee would sell the house, pay off the mortgage, and then give the debtor an amount equal to that of the state's homestead exemption. Any remaining balance from the sale would be used to pay back creditors.