Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Idaho

Seek help from the Courts

You can contact the district attorney or the police chief about the failure of the police to investigate.

You can also contact the state attorney general. You may be able to initiate a criminal complaint at the

local court or file a small claims action. For these last two you can talk to the clerk of the local court.

Alan Pransky

Law Office of Alan J. Pransky

20 Eastbrook Road

Re: How do I get my children's money back?

Wow. I disagree with the police; I think they can

arrest him and then get his fingerprints, or get a

warrant for the fingerprints before they arrest him

if they feel more comfortable.

Believe it or not, you can apply to a judge yourself

for such a warrant. (You'd then use a sheriff or

constable to get them, with or without his cooperation.)

You could even bring the criminal charges against him

yourself, even if the police didn't feel that they

could, though I don't recommend it. However, it's good

for bluff value. If you go to the court for the warrant,

and they try to defend, keep in mind that the father may

not speak for the child -- only lawyers may do that, and

you object if he tries. (You'll lose that objection, but

you could appeal it.) He's supposed to hire an attorney

which would cost them more than $300 (but they'd win that

particular proceeding because attorneys beat lay people

usually). I'm not sure the child (or father) has a right

even to be there, though, as warrants are generally obtained

"ex parte."

But I've digressed. There are probably less legal and more

practical ways to solve it. Send pops a note telling him what

a rain of legal greif you will shower down upon them if you don't

get $$ back, and then offer to keep the payment private, if he

makes it, so that it won't be an admission of guilt. It all depends

on what you really want ... the $300 or a convinction.

You can probably get the court to order the police to execute the

warrant for you, by the way, and save a few steps. My guess is that

Dad wants to keep his son from looking like the crook that he is while

he straightens the kid out, preserving his reputation and keeping his

record clean. But juvenile justice laws have their own way of doing

that within the legal system, so I say, fire away!

By the way, this is not my area of law, I've never done these things,

and ... well, you shouldn't rely upon any of my

statements in this matter. I do better with other

areas!

Stuart Williams

Law Offices of Stuart J. Williams

21 Walter St.