Your Legal Questions: November 10, 2026

I saw a lot of water on the highways this morning. It was a mess out there. All right, let's get to your legal questions. Look who's here, our Fox 26 senior legal analyst, Chris Tritico, ready to help us out. I am. Okay, interesting questions today, so let's get going. The first viewer question is... I purchased a vehicle with an individual. It turns out that he is not the owner. He has not transferred the title from the previous owner to him yet. And therefore, to me, I don't have license plates, just temporary ones. And the tag on them is expired. What do I do now to get him to help? All right. So because you have temporary plates, it indicates to me that you bought this from a used car dealer. I mean, that's why that's how you got a temporary plate. Texas law does not require the seller of a used car to actually transfer the title into that seller's name before they sell the car. But it does require them to file the paperwork to transfer it into your name within 30 days of the sale of that vehicle. Because he hasn't done that, you can take action. You can file a complaint with the Department of Motor Vehicles, and they will do something, and they might even help you get that done. You can also hire the lawyer of your choice to sue this person for deceptive trade practices. The most important thing for you to do, though, is file that complaint immediately. The last thing you can do is get what's called a bonded title. If you can't get anything done, a bonded title. That's not the best title to get, so do these other things first. Good luck. So just start maybe on the DMV's website, figure out who to contact. Yeah, there'll be a complaint form on there. All right, good to know. I'd like to know who our next viewer says or where can we go to get help for an elderly friend? He is a 92-year-old man whose stepdaughter is treating him like he is an intruder in his own house, the house he owns. The stepdaughter went and did who knows what and had in his paid-for house demolished and new one built. He is limited to his bedroom that a fridge with just a ref refrigerator in it. He's not allowed to go into the kitchen or anywhere else in his own house he has to buy whatever he eats and keep it in his room. She took his bank card and she spent all his money. This is elderly abuse. He has a friend also that she made him give her power of attorney to be able to tak e care of his money but he never has money. It seems that she is also taking his money. I don't like that they're abusing him in that way. Please let me know what we can do All right. The first thing I want you to do is call Adult Protective Services. You can make a complaint online, you can call the 800 number. Excuse me, call the 800 number and file and make the complaint in person. Every person who knows of abuse has a duty to make these complaints. Make this complaint immediately and they will investigate what is happening as a crime. The next thing you can do is contact the lawyer of your choice to assist in this situation and you can file for a guardianship over him if he needs it. Or someone can come in and file suit against these people, get them removed, get them kicked out, and even have charges filed. But Adult Protective Services investigates these types of things all the time. Get on the website of the Department of Family Protective Services, and you'll find Adult Protective Services right there. Good luck. Well, thank goodness he has somebody looking out for him. Yeah, and that's terrible. It happens all the time. All right, a similar question, but then a little more extreme here. If a person is the victim of elderly financial abuse fraud and has died, can the person who stole from her still be prosecuted for the crime, even though the person is dead? The police investigator told me a person has to be alive for a case to move forward. That's a lazy investigator, all right, because they don't have to be alive. A theft's a theft. And the executor of the estate can now be the complaining witness in the theft case. And so, no, that person just didn't want to do their job. Have the executor file the complaint with the police authorities, the proper police authorities, whether it's in the county or the city. And that case can move forward, and it should. If someone stole from someone like that, they need to be prosecuted. Good luck. That's right. Take care of business Chris. All right. Thanks for all your help. If you want to send us your legal questions, the easiest way to start is go into our website, which is fox26houston.com. Once you're there, you can look for Chris's segments under the morning news tab. If you need specific info, always a good idea to find a lawyer of your choice.