Hello 👋
I am desperately seeking an ERISA attorney who specializes in fiduciary breaches of responsibility as it relates to retirement funds. I am trying to recoup lost earnings.
I’ve talked to several offices who either don’t specialize in this area of ERISA or only represent corporations.
Help me guys, Title: Florida tenant question: Person I rented from may be illegally subleasing the property. What rights do I actually have?
I’m in Florida and I’m trying to figure out what my actual legal rights are before I make a move that could screw me over.
I rented a room from someone who represented himself as basically my landlord. We signed a written lease, I paid rent, and I moved in believing he had the legal authority to rent the room to me.
I recently discovered that he is apparently only a tenant himself and may be subleasing the property without the actual property owner knowing or consenting. The actual owner apparently has no idea that I live here, and the person I rented from refuses to give me the owner’s contact information.
Since I confronted him about what I found, he has become extremely hostile and passive-aggressive toward me and has started trying to dictate various aspects of my life and living situation.
There’s another issue making this especially stressful: I was originally told I had to be completely out by August 31. My mother then paid him $850 after that arrangement was discussed. He subsequently changed the date and is now saying I have until September 4 instead.
I have documentation of the payments, our communications, and the written lease.
I’m trying to understand:
Does the fact that he may be an unauthorized sublessor affect the validity/enforceability of the lease I signed with him?
What rights do I have as a tenant/subtenant in Florida even though he isn’t the actual owner?
Can he simply tell me to leave whenever he wants, or does he have to follow Florida eviction/termination procedures?
Does accepting the $850 payment affect anything legally?
Can he change the move-out date after accepting the money?
What can he legally control regarding how I live in the room/property?
Can he lock me out, remove my belongings, shut off utilities, or otherwise force me out without going through the courts?
Is there a legitimate way for me to determine who actually owns the property and contact the owner?
Should I contact the actual owner directly and explain the situation?
Is there anything I should NOT do right now that could hurt my position?
What evidence should I preserve?
Would this be something Florida Legal Services, a local legal-aid organization, or an attorney could help with?
I’m not trying to retaliate against this person or start a war with him. I want to understand exactly where I stand legally and protect myself while I figure out where I’m going next.
If anyone here is familiar with Florida landlord/tenant law, especially unauthorized subleases/subtenants, I would really appreciate some guidance on what my rights and next steps are.
Location: Florida
I'm looking for some guidance on whether this situation potentially warrants speaking with a Florida attorney and, if so, what type of attorney I should be looking for.
My husband and I had our 2024 federal tax return professionally prepared by a paid tax preparer in Florida.
We have solar panels on our home, but they are leased. We do not own the solar system.
Our preparer claimed a $24,486 Residential Clean Energy Credit on our 2024 federal return for the solar system.
We relied on him as the professional preparing our taxes and did not realize that we were not eligible to claim the credit on a leased system.
Our return was subsequently reviewed by the IRS. We eventually hired a different CPA, who determined that the solar credit should never have been claimed because we don't own the system. Our new CPA amended the 2024 return and removed the credit.
The IRS has now adjusted our account, and we have a balance of approximately $26,000 including interest as a result of the credit being removed.
To be clear, this isn't a situation where we knowingly claimed something questionable and got caught. We provided our information to a paid tax professional, relied on him to prepare the return correctly, and had no idea the credit wasn't allowed until this became an IRS issue.
We're now dealing with the IRS, paying a new CPA to correct the prior return, potentially entering into an IRS payment arrangement, and dealing with interest associated with the adjustment.
My questions are:
I'm not looking to avoid paying taxes that we're legally responsible for. I'm trying to understand whether we have any recourse against the professional whose preparation of the return put us in this position in the first place.
EDIT/CLARIFICATION: I realize I explained the ~$26k balance poorly.
Before the solar credit, we were legitimately due approximately an $8,000 refund based on our withholding/payments. The preparer claimed an additional $24,486 Residential Clean Energy Credit, which increased our refund to approximately $32,000, and we received that money.
I understand that repaying the ~$24k principal essentially puts us back in the position we would have been in had the return been prepared correctly. I'm not asking whether we can make the preparer reimburse us for money we received from the IRS and weren't entitled to keep.
What I'm trying to determine is whether we may have recourse for the additional financial damages caused by the preparation error — approximately $2k+ in IRS interest, any penalties, the cost of hiring a new CPA to investigate and amend the returns, and potentially other directly related costs.
I also want to clarify something important about our communication with the original preparer.
We provided him with the solar documentation. I specifically questioned whether we were actually entitled to the solar credit given that the system was leased.
His response to me was: “It looks like you can't claim the credit unless you own the system. The company receives the credit and then passes on the savings to you.”
So this wasn't something we discovered years later without ever questioning him about eligibility. I specifically raised the issue with him after providing the documents, and he confirmed that we couldn't claim the credit unless we owned the system.
I also later specifically asked him: “Since this was a lease, should we be preparing to amend the return if needed? Also, do you recommend we wait for IRS to respond first or take action proactively?” His reply, "I'm not telling you NOT to amend the return."
There were also earlier conversations about the unusually large refund where he attributed it primarily to the solar credit and indicated that some of the solar credit would still be available the following year.
We ultimately hired a different CPA, who determined that the $24,486 credit was not allowable because the system was leased and amended the return to remove it.
I completely understand that we signed the return and are responsible to the IRS for its accuracy and for repaying the erroneous refund. I'm not disputing that.
My question is about the preparer's separate professional responsibility. Given that we provided the solar documents, questioned our eligibility, and were actually told by the preparer that leased solar did not qualify, does that change the analysis regarding negligence and responsibility for the interest, penalties, corrective CPA fees, etc. that resulted from the improperly prepared return?
EDIT/CLARIFICATION: I realize I explained the ~$26k balance poorly.
Before the solar credit, we were legitimately due approximately an $8,000 refund based on our withholding/payments. The preparer claimed an additional ~$24,000 solar credit, which increased our refund to approximately $32,000, and we received that money.
I understand that repaying the ~$24k principal essentially puts us back in the position we would have been in had the return been prepared correctly. I'm not asking whether we can make the preparer pay back money that we received from the IRS and weren't entitled to keep.
What I'm trying to determine is whether we may have recourse for the additional financial damages caused by the preparation error — approximately $2k+ in IRS interest, any penalties, the cost of hiring a new CPA to investigate and amend the returns, and potentially other directly related costs.
I'm also trying to determine whether the fact that this was a professionally prepared return changes anything regarding the preparer's responsibility, despite our responsibility to the IRS as the taxpayers who signed the return.
I’m looking for advice from anyone familiar with Florida/California interstate custody cases, UCCJEA, or domestic-violence custody cases.
My ex-husband and I previously lived in Florida with our two children. About 3 months ago, I left Florida with the children and came to California because of an ongoing history of domestic violence and safety concerns. The children have been with me in California since we arrived.
There is an active criminal domestic-violence case against my ex in California, and there is an active California Criminal Protective Order (CPO) issued against him. The criminal case is still pending.
Now my ex has filed for divorce and child custody in Florida. I have not yet received the Florida summons personally.
I am very worried and confused about what happens next.
My questions are:
Since the children lived in Florida before we came to California, does Florida automatically have UCCJEA/home-state jurisdiction?
Can California have temporary emergency jurisdiction because of the domestic violence and the fact that the children are currently here?
Does the existing California Criminal Protective Order affect the Florida custody case?
If Florida ultimately has jurisdiction, does that mean I have to move back to Florida, or could I remain in California with the children?
Can I request emergency custody in California even though my ex already filed the custody case in Florida?
What should I do about the Florida case if I haven't actually been served with the summons yet?
Should I have a Florida attorney, a California attorney, or both?
If anyone has been through a similar Florida/California situation involving domestic violence, what did you do?
I understand Reddit isn't a substitute for an attorney. I have a Legal Aid appointment coming up, but I would really appreciate hearing from anyone who has dealt with a similar interstate custody/UCCJEA situation.
Thank you.
I got a bad scratch on my fender on a white vehicle. Its a work vehicle so I decided to get it fixed to maintain a professional appearance. I paid out of pocket not through insurance. I went to a "mom and pop" type of shop. Made the mistake of paying cash. My fender is now more yellow than white and has probably decreased the value of my car more the original scratches did. I told the guy I wasn't happy, he gave me the run around and all kinds of reasons, and as a single woman I just paid him $850 cash and left. I'm really unhappy with the work. I took it to another auto body shop and they confirmed it was an awful job, not industry standard by any stretch, and quoted me $1250 to fix the original body shop's work. Im going to take this quote back to the original body shop and ask for my money back.
Does anyone have any ideas if id be successful in small claims court if he refuses?
Evidence/paper trail:
before and after photos
Initial quote from first body shop
Paid in full receipt
Quote from second body shop for what it will cost to fix
Im just trying to weigh my options and risk assess the additional cost of filing the claim