Helping Expats When Dealing With The Fiscalia

[william webster]

Windy
many years of interaction...nothing big... but interfaces

Unless you try - you're shooting in the dark

Like any relationship... trial and error... trial comes first

 

[windeguy]

Easier said than done...well known attorney in the country told me that if you don't have a good attorney in your family to help you, then more than likely you won't find an attorney.

Even THAT did not work. That family connection was really bad.

 

[windeguy]

Windy
many years of interaction...nothing big... but interfaces

Unless you try - you're shooting in the dark

Like any relationship... trial and error... trial comes first

All excellent reasons for my avoidance of all lawyers unless there is absolutely something required by law they must do or something simple that they can do that I cannot do easily enough. The trials have always resulted in errors...

 

[cobraboy]

All excellent reasons for my avoidance of all lawyers unless there is absolutely something required by law they must do or something simple that they can do that I cannot do easily enough. The trials have always resulted in errors...

Windy, there is a difference between avoiding lawyers when possible, and having one in queue when you positively, absolutely need one.

It's no different than insurance.

Retainers on a couple of good lawyers is a sound long-term investment.

You are a highly rational man. The real danger is finding a good lawyer when you desperately need one. That's when you can be bled dry.

 

[william webster]

worst time to look is when you need one....

 

[Derfish]

worst time to look is when you need one....

Basically lawyers are as useless as preachers.
Derfish

 

[cobraboy]

Basically lawyers are as useless as preachers.
Derfish

I could not disagree more.

Lawyers serve a purpose in a civil society ruled by law.

 

[william webster]

I suppose it's like a doctor

wait until you're smashed up and hope the right medic is on duty at that hour...
when they drag you in

Good strategy !!

 

[windeguy]

worst time to look is when you need one....

But if I never use one, I will have no idea if the one I choose to put "on retainer" is any good. So far, any that I have used have been disappointments to say the least.

At this point, I am going to take my chances, the risks will be what they are, and I don't have a logical way to mitigate that risk that I can see.

My and my family's experience with doctors has been much better in general than my experience with lawyers. I don't see a parallel in that comparison. Picking a lawyer is like dipping your hand into a barrel full of rats and selecting the one that bites the least.

 

[windeguy]

I could not disagree more.

Lawyers serve a purpose in a civil society ruled by law.

True, but we are in the DR. So things are different than in the US. Thankfully I only needed lawyers twice in the US for a minor situations.

 

[william webster]

hahaha Windy... incorrigible....

Just give me a holler when you need something.....

My bite is soft enough !!!

 

[windeguy]

Windy, there is a difference between avoiding lawyers when possible, and having one in queue when you positively, absolutely need one.

It's no different than insurance.

Retainers on a couple of good lawyers is a sound long-term investment.

You are a highly rational man. The real danger is finding a good lawyer when you desperately need one. That's when you can be bled dry.

Interesting comparison. I also hate insurance. I get the insurance I need when it comes to medical and motor vehicles, but avoid all other types, especially life insurance. I am self insured for most things outside of medical and motor vehicle. That approach has served me well. So write me up for being under-insured and under-lawyered so far in my life. Choosing a lawyer without actually needing one is something I cannot see happening.

 

[cobraboy]

True, but we are in the DR. So things are different than in the US. Thankfully I only needed lawyers twice in the US for a minor situations.

You are lucky.

Most self-employed and smaller businesses in the US need lawyers because it is such a get-rich-quick litigious society. Workers comp, slip-and-fall fraudsters, fake "human rights" outrage and accusations, you name it. Add all manner of business regulations and zoning issues.

You cannot defend yourself alone, and trying to weave through bureaucracies manned by angry, jealous bureaucrats in clothes that can't be worn near open flame requires help.

 

[william webster]

I was VERY anti insurance.

One day my friend - an agent - had a suggestion.
A new policy -
Pay once and NEVER AGAIN !!

I was curious.... listened and bought...
For math purposes... the policy delivered 50x the one time payment on death

I jumped on it.

He took me out to lunch over a year later.... as a Thank You

He said-
You resisted me for years and then bit like a shark
I thought there must be something to this new policy

I was just given the Top Salesman in Canada Award thanks to you.... lets' eat

It was called The Architect Policy - Manulife

 

[windeguy]

You are lucky.

Most self-employed and smaller businesses in the US need lawyers because it is such a get-rich-quick litigious society. Workers comp, slip-and-fall fraudsters, fake "human rights" outrage and accusations, you name it. Add all manner of business regulations and zoning issues.

You cannot defend yourself alone, and trying to weave through bureaucracies manned by angry, jealous bureaucrats in clothes that can't be worn near open flame requires help.

I don't think luck is involved with my almost entirely avoiding lawyers, but maybe. It was more by choice that I avoided lawyers. I almost always worked for small businesses of 10 to 50 people, and I saw the toll it takes on the owners. I never wanted to have my own business as my source of income at any time in my life. I switched jobs frequently for increasing better paying jobs until that was no longer was possible. I saved my money along the way and retired when the up the ladder job train ended and I cashed out of a house that almost doubled in price. I even did my own divorce along the way and saved the cost of a lawyer on that as well. I not only avoided the flame, I never even saw the fire.

I came here to retire, not to work. That allowed me to avoid what you faced back in the US and also here almost entirely. Not luck, but rather a part of the plan from the start to the end of my far shorter than normal time working. My friends are still not retired while I will have been for 17 years. My divorced wife did finally retire recently, but she worked for the government.

 

[windeguy]

I was VERY anti insurance.

One day my friend - an agent - had a suggestion.
A new policy -
Pay once and NEVER AGAIN !!

I was curious.... listened and bought...
For math purposes... the policy delivered 50x the one time payment on death

I jumped on it.

He took me out to lunch over a year later.... as a Thank You

He said-
You resisted me for years and then bit like a shark
I thought there must be something to this new policy

I was just given the Top Salesman in Canada Award thanks to you.... lets' eat

It was called The Architect Policy - Manulife

I cannot imagine doing such a thing for any type of life insurance.

 

[william webster]

When did you last 50x an investment Windy....

That's a number.... $50,000 becomes $2,500,000

 

[windeguy]

When did you last 50x an investment Windy....

That's a number.... $50,000 becomes $2,500,000

It's not the X factor for me because I would never spend even $1 to get $50, $2 to get $100, etc, etc, etc after I am dead.
I arranged things differently and in a way that works for me and my family.

 

[william webster]

For me... it wasn't wealth creation but an easy way to invest... of sorts

Gives me a clean conscience if I blow everything !!
haha

Most people buy insurance to create an estate....that and their house

I do consider life after death - for those in my family.
And (as Emeril would say).. we can crank it up a notch.... why not !!?

 

[Onions/Carrots]

Sorry, Napoleonic Code is not used any more despite people thinking it still exists ( I had a typo above with the word "card" by mistake).

It's not a typo.

You can play the Napoleonic Card to your advantage against those that do not know.

Call a bluff.