Midwest Gregg

I began this yesterday but now have real numbers to work with. In late 2014, a woman passed away. Six months later, her kids (5 of them) sold her house. The house's fair market value was $111,000 and it sold for $143,000. Obviously there was a $32,000 profit. But the profits were split 5 ways. In trying to complete the tax form properly it asks for the basis ($111k) and the amount it sold for (143k) but it then appears the one person I am helping with their taxes made a $32k profit, when he actually only profited by $6k, as did the other 4 siblings. How do I make it so it appears he made only the $6k profit and not the entire $32k?

I am helping a friend with his taxes but this is one question that I cannot get a straight answer on. His mother died and the house was left to him and his 4 siblings. The house was then sold and all 5 of them got an equal share of the proceeds from the sale. He, and the 4 others, each got $28,600 and he received a 1099-S. All it has on it is the date of closing and gross proceeds.

A call to the IRS produced no help. First I was told they don't provide telephone help on the subject and next I was told they didn't know what a 1099-S was. I also heard that since the proceeds are under $250,000 it isn't reported. Help?!?

My friend's vindictive ex-boyfriend had access to her home computer. He put passwords on the 2 user account on the computer. This is preventing her from installing any new programs because it pops up asking for the user account password. Since she doesn't know what it is, and he won't tell her, is there any way to delete the account and/or password?

I am looking for real opinions here :) I'm 48 and the father of 2 kids. I met a woman (45) who has a daughter in college. She found me on Match. I think we both felt there was something there from the moment we met, which was 3 months ago. She has said we were perfect together, she loved my sense of humor, we had a great sex life and I did everything I thought a gentleman should do. We would text daily and because of our schedules we would see each other about 3 times a week. I was not prepared for yesterday.

Thursday was a normal day for me to go over to her house once she was done taking her night classes. But instead of telling me what time she wanted me to come over, she began saying she was having mixed feelings about us. She felt that I had been keeping her from getting her usual amount of sleep when I was over, preventing her from her normal exercise routine and didn't respect her eating habits. In other words, I would cook or bring food over and se would eat it but it wasn't exactly "diet" food.

Now, even I know some of the reasons sounded like excuses. Her not exercising was not my fault. When I was over at her place we would watch TV together and I always offered to turn it off if I thought she needed sleep. I do know she is under a lot of stress. She does not feel attractive (I'd compliment her all of the time) and I wasn't holding her back from exercising. The funny thing was, she wasn't exercising because she said she enjoyed being with me. She has been studying German and has finals this upcoming week so I know she is focused on that. Her daughter recently got into some very minor trouble at college and she is concerned her daughter will screw up again and lose her scholarship.

She is not a cheater. She is not seeing someone else so let's take that off the table. I took offense that she did all of the "needing time and space" thing via text and then a long email. So I got her to the phone last night. First, I explained that I could be more aware of the foods I made. Second, she knew I would exercise with her (just bought jogging shoes) and third, I don't recall time I ever used guilt on her over the 3 days a week we saw each other. In fact, I thought everything was perfect. She was planning on coming to my family's for Thanksgiving and my 2 kids love her.

So my questions is this. I asked her last night if she fell out of love with me and she said no. I asked if we were broken up and she said no. But she wants me to leave her alone while she processes everything. Did I lose her? Can 2 people who do love each other take a break and still be together? I always felt that when someone says they need time and space it was pretty much over. Just tonight she did change her Facebook picture from one of us to just one of her but has left our relationship status in place. Am I reading too much into that?

This seems silly. I'm 48 and should know the answers to these questions but I would like to hear from others.

I'm going to go to bat for my cousin on this one because something just sounds wrong here. My cousin, now in his mid 40's, got into trouble with the law over 20 years ago. He made a mistake, was convicted of a white collar felony, and paid his debt to society. That was then. Now, he is dating a woman. That woman's ex-husband works at a state district attorney's office and he apparently ran a criminal background check on my cousin so he could see if he could find some "ammo" to throw into her face. So my question is this.

Are there any laws, of code of ethics, that would prevent an assistant US state attorney from running a background check on someone for personal reasons? Someone NOT under any kind of investigation?

We have a restaurant here in Kansas City that sells great chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy and green beans. I was thinking about going there one day when they open, use my kitchen gadget to vacuum seal the bags and then send it overnight delivery. However, I obviously have concerns about food safety. Can someone offer some suggestion on how I could get it there without any spoilage or food poisoning occurring? Again...sending it over night delivery.

I am 48 and recently moved to a job where I get very little exercise from. My "normal" weight would be about 165 but hit as high as 178. I asked a friend for some dieting advice and in a week am down to 172. My eating has always been unusual. I never eat breakfast or lunch but from dinner until midnight I could eat more than most people do in a day. I am breaking that up. For example, I did just have lunch because I understand it is best to eat several small meals. I am suffering from a little anxiety because when I am hungry I would just go grab something but now I am backing it down.

I am unsure of certain foods since there is contradictory info on the web. For example, I know fish is a big part of dieting but I am not a fish eater. I can eat tuna with mayo. Is that ok? What about the fish filets that are breaded and frozen? Eggs? With or without the yokes?

I've been eating a lot of salad and went from ranch to oil and vinegar. No breads at all? No potatoes? I cannot starve myself so I am looking for filling foods. And I have been drinking a ton of water.

I'm trying to provide some sound advice to a friend of mine. She has been divorced for 4 years and has primary custody of her 2 kids. The father lives out of state now and sees them once every few months. At the time, and obviously a mistake, she wanted an amicable divorce, but things have changed. For example, he pays child support but now that the kids are in high school there are extra curricular activities that the mom is having to pay. The dad is saying that should be covered in the child support and offers no additional support. Also, his income has skyrocketed but he still pays the same amount as court ordered while her living expenses to raise the 2 kids have increased. Lastly, the original court order was to have him take the kids every weekend. Since he no longer lives in the state that does not happen. The mom has figured she has had the kids about 4 months more over the past 4 years than she should have since he was to have them on the weekends but has stopped. By her having them that much more, that's additional money she has spent when he should have.

So to cut to the chase. The father should be paying more but he doesn't. Would you recommend a letter first threatening legal action to see if he will settle without going to court?

I have my 1098 for the mortgage interest but my real estate taxes are paid out of my escrow. Do I get to deduct it from the amount my local tax authority listed on a tax bill that the mortgage company then paid? I assume yes because it was my money going into the escrow and therefore my money that paid the real estate taxes.

I am helping a friend with her taxes but am confused in this one area. She sends monthly checks to a company that maintains an oil refinery. They sent her an account statement saying it is to be used in lieu of form 1099. Ok...the GROSS VALUE is $7217.85. TAXES/DEDUCTIONS are $323.76 so the NET VALUE IS $6894.09.

Do I enter the GROSS VALUE on 1099 is RENTS or ROYALTIES or is this OTHER INCOME and the taxes go in box 4 for FEDERAL INCOME TAX?

Lastly, where would I enter the $432.27 she sent to the company to maintain the refinery?

I suffered a 3rd degree burn to my ankle 3 weeks ago today. Every since then the hospital has had me apply a layer of silver sulfadiazine cream on it, cover it with a sterile bandage and then wrap it. I change it twice a day. When I remove the bandage the cream has turned brown. I know this is not puss since there is no infection. I am just curious what is coming up from the burn that causes the white cream to turn brown. Is it moisture from the burned skin? Dead skin cells?

Exactly 3 months and 6 days ago, my ex-girlfriend was asked to move out of my house. Instead of going quietly, she filed a domestic violence charge against me, claiming I caused a scratch on her cheek. This was to have gone to trial (I would NOT accept diversion over something I didn't do) last month but the DA then began to hear evidence that not put the focus on her. Today, at 10 AM, would have been my trial-by-judge appearance but yesterday the DA called my attorney and said the charges were being dropped and the case was being dismissed. One of the reasons was this. My ex called the DA and left a message sating she was too ill to appear today and needed another 30 days. The judge had already told us last month there would not be anymore continuances. Both my attorney and the DA knew she was trying to get out of appearing. The witnesses we were bringing in would show she has a 20 year history of screwing guys over like she did to me. The DA also told my attorney they no longer believed her.

Well, for someone too ill to appear in court today she had no problem going out last night and rent movies and go to the liquor store. Once these charges are officially dropped, can I go to the DA and try to get them to file a false police report against her? Their one and only witness (her) lied to them to get out of coming to court and their case just went down the toilet because of her. Do I not get any justice of my own?

A friend and I have a disagreement. He was terminated from his job on December 28, 2011 but was given 1 month's severance pay through January of 2012. In his opinion he believes he was technically employed by the company since they were paying him through January and my position is he was terminated in December so therefore he was technically unemployed on 12/28/11. His counter was that his employer made deposits into his account on January 15th & 30th so therefore he was still entitled to say he was employed until January 30th.

So my questions is this. Was he an employee after he was terminated on December 28, 2011?

Here is the long story short. My girlfriend brought too much drama into my house (she was living with me for 16 months) and I eventually asked her to move. She did but the day before she moved out she filed a domestic violence charge against me. Though I had never laid a hand on her, the police did exactly what they were required to do...arrest me. She did this for one reason and one reason only...have me removed from my own house so she could take what she wanted and that is also exactly what happened.

I was appointed an attorney who return 1 of my 3 calls to him a few days after the arrest. He said he was going to be out of town and if I had not heard from him by May 31st to give him a call. I have now called him twice with no response. The arrest was over 2 weeks ago and my 1st court appearance is in 19 days. I both want and need him to show interest in my case because I know I am 100% innocent. In fact, I discovered proof my gf had done this before to someone else. She really is not a well person.

Anyway, if I don't hear from him soon is there a way for me to request a new attorney?

My ex girlfriend stole my computer :) I have a new one but all of my contacts and schedules are in my IPhone, which synced Outlook 2010 to it. Now I want to do a reverse sync where my IPhone puts the info back into a new Outlook file, which is obviously empty since I am having to start over. Can I do this did of reverse sync?

Long story short. My ex girlfriend moved out this past week, at my request, but did so when I was not around. When I got home today I found my computer was gone. Everything I had was on it. My backup drives were also taken. I was told I could not file a police report since she was living here and they cannot determine whose property was whose. Her logic is she bought it but an attorney friend of mine said no. Once she gifted it to me (and I registered it under my name with HP) the computer became mine.

It looks like I have to file in small claims court. I can only put the value of the computer down but there is no way to put a value on the data itself. I am hoping that her being served by a sheriff with scare her into returning it. Your thoughts?

I'm still trying to help this friend out. His ex girlfriend falsely accused him of domestic violence for the sole purpose of having him arrested. While arrested she cleaned his house out. That is why she did it.

Everyone expects the dv charges to be dismissed so after that happens, can he sue he for the legal expenses? I am not saying the court is going to dismiss the charges because they know they are false. We suspect they will be dismissed due to lack of supportive evidence. So if he is cleared he owes for the attorney, money he spent to stay at a hotel (he was not allowed to go to his own house for a week until she moved out) and she prevented him from getting his personal effects so he had to buy clothes, food, etc.

Can he sue her for all of this? He is already dealing with the stuff she took from the house separately.