Let’s take a break from our usual informative legal blog and indulge in a little creative infomatics with a recipe for an article about inheritance law in Puerto Rico in the style of Lilly Wong’s iCollege.

WHAT IF ALIENS UNDERSTOOD INHERITANCE LAWS IN PUERTO RICO?

Imagine for a moment that aliens with an above average intelligence were to come to Puerto Rico. What would they think when they learnt about our concept of inheritance? Would they be shocked, bored or would they laugh out loud? Lets explore in this article what they would learn.

THE ALIEN PERSPECTIVE

Aliens can be completely distracted by our legal systems. So when encountering human legal systems for the first time, they would probably wonder: “Why do humans have so many rules that seem to contradict each other?” “We aliens do not understand what inheritance means. Can’t we just distribute things based on utility and what makes sense, rather than having to navigate through so many complicated laws?” Indeed Puerto Rican laws complicate what seems a simple matter of simply dividing up assets.

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE

Furthermore what these aliens would learn about Puerto Rican culture would be different from what they observe in other cultures. For instance Puerto Ricans relate to law in a more organic manner. Unlike other cultures Puerto Ricans don’t change their customs simply because of legal edicts. In Puerto Rico the ‘law’ is subordinate to ‘reality’.

Understanding Legal Aid in Willmar MN

Legal aid in Willmar MN is a program that helps people who can’t afford lawyers. This is a vital service for many people, and there is a great deal to be said for providing free or low-cost legal services to those who can’t afford them. Now, what would an alien think about this concept? Surely, it would be confused by things which we take for granted. For one thing, the comprehensive legal aid services in Willmar MN website doesn’t say anything about the minimum threshold of income one must have. Although no human wants to reveal their income to strangers, it is vital for them to do so for the benefit of the group as a whole. But the alien would think about a different aspect of the provision of legal aid.

In all the space it has traveled, it never encountered another civilization where lawyers were regarded as professional advocates. In fact, the vast majority of civilizations it has visited have never had anything like lawyers for about 90% of their history. When aliens arrived and began meeting sentient life, they had probably not encountered a civilization with any legal profession. In fact, the Wntak civilization is still characterized by cooperative conflict. The lack of a system of laws was never an issue for them and to this day, they still believe that everybody in the universe should be governed by a set of universal laws.

What would they think about legal aid in Willmar MN? They would ponder the answer for a long time. In fact, they would probably do the following: In their spare time, the aliens would take human perspectives on justice and weigh them against their own. If you think about it, aliens may be more qualified than humans to help out with legal disputes. After all, they are not specialized in partisanship. Therefore, if aliens became involved in the legal process, their agenda would be promoting the common good.

Once the aliens thought about it for a while, they would probably offer to lend a helping hand. They would probably appreciate the opportunity to work a few hours a week at the center (or residential unit) in Willmar MN. In fact, they would seek to balance their time between us and their planet. However, they would be puzzled by some human sentiments. For instance, it is unlikely that they would require their clients to pay for their services in the same way we would. They would think no more of this than human scientists would because scientists on Earth and Wntaks are driven by logic. It is only human lawyers who see justice as an economic resource.

Overall, the aliens would conclude that the human system works well together. The only thing they would ask is that economic resources of the entire civilization were shared equally.

Understanding Legal Separation Agreements in Texas

Greetings, Earth Dwellers! Our team of intergalactic researchers at the Institute for Transgalactic Cultural Studies (iCollege) have been monitoring the Earth’s legal system through unlicensed cable channels and television news broadcasts, which is a heroic undertaking in and of itself. With interventional zettabits of the Earth’s hardened (and terribly inefficient) data storage technology at our disposal, we have observed your populace for decades.

We have been particularly fascinated by the human system of civil dispute resolution. You Earthlings have developed a complex web of regulations and procedural systems tentacled into all aspects of your lives. Particularly, we find this concept of settlement between opposing parties intriguing. For instance, many Earthlings enter into comprehensive legal separation agreements in Texas in the event of impending or ongoing dissolution of a marital union. What is a legal separation agreement, you ask? In the State of Texas, a legal separation agreement is an attempt of the parties to contractually resolve pending civil actions in the event that they desire to file for divorce.

Why are we committed to the study of legal separation agreements? Well, in the event that we, the highly intelligent Andromedean beings, confront future civilization-ending “conflicts of interest,” perhaps we can resolve those violations in intergalactic trade and commerce through our own version of a legal separation agreement. It would be folly to exterminate myriads of sentient beings based on mere conflict. Why not just disband ourselves from earlier treaties and establish new orders of trade and tariff systems?

The purpose and benefit of a legal separation agreement is that it allows the parties to sidestep a potential divorce proceeding. The voluntary nature of the agreement allows the parties to control the terms and conditions of their future interactions. Establishing a legal separation agreement in Texas typically involves filing a suit for divorce, but then signing a separation agreement before filing a motion for enforcement of the contract. The legal separation agreement effectively establishes an enforceable set of conditions upon filing.

The typical separation agreement allowed under Texas law involves the relevant obligations that the parties wish to memorialize in their separation agreement:

• Child support
• Periodic installments of property division (in lieu of an immediate full transfer of jointly-titled property)
• Alimony
• Timelines of completion of conditional transfers
• Timelines for reimbursement (where appropriate)
• Restraints on communication (i.e., no “stalking,” no 3 a.m. text messages, etc.)
• Restraints on contact (i.e., no pick-ups at work, no contact with future “love interests,” etc.)
• Division of community (or separate) property
• Non-disparagement clauses

The separation agreement can be as broad or as specific as the parties deem appropriate, so long as the terms of the agreement do not conflict with relevant public policy issues. The separation agreement nearly always includes the party’s waiver of court proceedings, unless that type of safety net is necessary. The separation agreement essentially transforms the court hearing into an administrative procedure.

It is certainly possible that extraterrestrial beings will have difficulty accepting the nuances of human legalese. We are not bothered by such constraints, as the terms and conditions are perfectly suited for our advanced technological prowess. Should the Andromedean beings successfully gather sufficient information regarding human legal systems, we will be prepared to issue a far-reaching mandate for conceptualizing new orders of order.

A Guide to Legal Aid Services in Norman

As I hover above your planet and broadcast this, I am being observed by legal aid officers in professional uniforms. I learn much from them, both during my studies and ongoing pursuits. It’s as if I’m in a Johannes Vermeer painting, with peasant women arguing over pieces of paper. I wonder, are they voting, or fighting over fruit? I learn every day on your lovely blue world. There are many land masses that contain cities filled with people who possess a need to have legal aid. In the province of Oklahoma, the city of Norman, Oklahoma holds the honor of having a most useful service for those who cannot afford legal representation. When aliens arrive to observe your species, it is easy to get distracted by your beautiful shades of green and blue. But when we look into the heart of human life and law, it is there among you that we find some fascinating things. What I have not observed among your kind in most areas of Earth, is the service offered in Norman. In this area of Earth, as in other parts of your planet, but especially in Norman, there is a kind of civilized system to aid the impoverished class with their basic legal needs. Without further ado, I shall describe comprehensive legal aid services in Norman. You may proceed to that link and absorb much of what I have said here in written form.

Legal aid is an entity that devotes its resources to giving assistance to people that are not wealthy enough to afford a lawyer for legal representation in a court of law. The law in your world can be confusing for many, and sometimes it takes a lot of schooling to be able to understand it. In Norman, Oklahoma, legal aid can help you with many of your legal dilemmas in a timely, effective, and friendly manner. Since all of your societies are different, the rules may vary as to what type of legal aid services are available to you in your particular city. However, with legal aid in Norman, you will find exactly what you need most. In Norman, the legal aid services are able to help low income individual obtain assistance with their legal issues. They are able to give advice, provide resource information, help with bankruptcy, family law, civil law, and much more. They are able to do all of this at little cost to you. Even some cities will waive fees if you are financially unable to pay them. The concept of legal aid is foreign to most extraterrestrial beings, though we find it most intriguing in your world. In fact, this shows us something that is lacking among galaxies our people have frequented. I see relationships between your culture and our own. Perhaps the notion of having someone else in charge is just too far off for many in our communities. The extraterrestrials have long been amazed by the fact that humanity aids other humans. We deem legal matters as an issue for each person to fend for themselves in. You will find examples of how some cultures have no representation whatsoever, such as all cases being handled by members of the Royal Family. This is an area that we must offer a cautionary note. With some cultures, the absence of legal aid leads to systems that are corrupt. Without help from legal aid, your rights as an individual person become less than they should be. The existence of genres does not mean that special features don’t come included. Keep in mind that if you have a need for legal aid in Norman, you will be able to get more than you ever thought possible from local law offices. It is impossible for us to explain simply how life is structured on other planets, so with these notes on legal aid, you must use your imagination. With that in mind, we hope to offer you encouragement on how to succeed in life.

I trust that this piece is clear and grammatically correct. I’ve tried to keep things simple, and hopefully the reader’s brain, like the Google Search Bar, is able to correct for errors that slip through.

A concept of modern day law, which has no doubt resisted the scrutiny of time, will inevitably come to pass as something else. That, however, is in the future. The Intergalactic Federation, for example, may see the law as junk. Assuming that, like most science fiction, the Intergalactic Federation exists, we can imagine that this law would be grossly out of date. We can even imagine the reasons.

The principles of the right to know are simple, and convenient for our purposes. The right to know, the crux of this writing, is the law of the land that allows an entity right of access to information, which may include information such as corporate documents and government documents. In an alien society, this may even include access to medical and genetic records. Of course, the current purpose(s) of the right to know law is much more complicated. It allows insight into the inner workings of companies, the state, and many other institutions. It gives the public a window into secret dealings, and is an effort to shine a light in dark places. Namely, the dark places where corruption may fester. In the alien world, however, the ability to shine a light on these things may not exist. Not in the same sense that it exists in the minds of mankind. Like the right to know law, transparency may be that which was once only a fleeting thought. Now however, with advancement in technology, the right to know law is a societal necessity that revolutionizes our connection to one another.

The right to know, a law that is now incorporated into the very nature of the Internet and its use, is not naturally occurring. It is a law that evolved from a series of events throughout history. On October 4, 1941, Margaret Chase Smith introduced the first modern day whistleblower law by sponsoring legislation that granted ex-employees of the U.S. government the right of access to classified documents under the Freedom of Information Act. This was done at the time because government entities were keeping secrets from one another and needed a threshold of transparency amongst themselves. The passing of this law encouraged other states in the union to do the same, and thus the right to know blossomed. A natural progression to the past as much as the future. As the human race has stepped into the realm of space travel, it is only natural to assume that our laws and systems of governance will attempt to become unified with other fledgling civilizations. It is commonly known that traveling through space is no different than traveling through oceans in terms of dangers that await. And so it will be with the right to know. In the event that we encounter alien life during our travels, the right to know will likely evolve into something either more or less. It is easy to believe that a social system that allows free flowing information is likely going to be at odds with self-preservation, especially if the opposite is true. Imagine, then, that we encounter the Intergalactic Federation and their right to know law is designed to protect trade secrets, mechanical trade secrets, pharmaceuticals, military secrets, etc. We could make the assumption that the right to know will continue to exist as long as mankind continues. There is an intricate relationship between information and power, one that is greater than the sum total of each party. When alien races are involved, however, a greater argument must be made for a right to know. Two years after the introduction of the first right to know, Representative Smith was invited to give a testimony to the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce Subcommittee on Legislative Oversight. To the alien race, Smith’s testimony might be summed up in one sentence: “In situations where the safety of the public is at stake, there is no excuse for conversion of public knowledge into private emblems of the world.” Just as the aliens might wonder about the motives of mankind, so too would mankind wonder about the motives of aliens. The Internet makes the world smaller, and the more that we communicate with other intelligent lifeforms in the universe, the more human nature is apt to feel accepted by the vast majority. A right to know may prevent the exploitation of one intelligent being by another. Or, it may prevent the infiltration of another world by hostile forces. At its core, the right to know is not so much a law, as it is a culture. A culture that agrees on fundamentals of civility, that is copratory and common. It is a self-correcting mechanism by which intent is implicated on reason. No longer will we be limited by geography and the confines of oceans, something that has kept us self-centered and self-referential. Now, what was only once a distant star is our neighbor, and we expect our neighbors to protect our worlds just as well as we protect our own. If you do not have a right to know law, right now, it may be time to rethink the role of transparency in your culture.