What happens to your online accounts when you die?

Most people may not have considered what I’m going to cover in this blog entry.  They should.

We take these accounts for granted, but when the account holder is no longer alive many Terms of Service (TOS) agreements state only the account holder may legally access the account.  What then?

Grieving members will want to access the account, financial matters may need to be settled, and there are other reasons for access.

The Uniform Law Commission members, appointed by state governments to help standardize state laws have endorsed a plan that would give loved ones account access.  Control of the account is not part of the plan, but access to the digital account unless specified in a will.

For this to become law in a state, the Legislature would have to adopt it.  This would cause a person’s online life to become part of estate planning.

“Our email accounts are our filing cabinets these days,” Suzanne Brown Walsh, of Cummings & Lockwood, who chaired the drafting committee on the proposed legislation.  Without this type of legislation a state will not give you access.

It is probably presumed that is you have the password, you’re free and clear. Nope.  Anti-hacking laws and most TOS prohibit anyone from accessing an account that isn’t theirs.

Where do you go from here?

1. Contact an attorney to create a trust or living will. In it specify what is to happen with your digital accounts and each username / password.
2. Keep a spreadsheet of all your accounts and how to access them.
3. Eat your vegetables to help you live longer.

Tom Hosty has over 23 years experience defending Oklahomans and protecting their rights.

Once you have been arrested, time is critical.

Call today and schedule your FREE office visit with Tom so you can start the process to protect your freedom.

The Hosty Law Office are experts in defending people arrested for drunk driving, DWI APC, drug charges, felonies and misdemeanors.  Call us so we can help; it’s what we do.

405-235-4040 (click to dial office)
405-210-3462 (click to dial Tom’s cell phone)

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Oklahoma’s “Women In Recovery” Program

Senator Kim David, R-Wagoner, author of Senate Bill 1278 is working to create a way to lower Oklahoma’s female incarceration rate for nonviolent offenders.  “Oklahoma has the highest female incarceration rate in the country for several years now.  Oklahoma’s history of imprisoning nonviolent women, rather than treating them, is expensive, ineffective and damaging to families.”

The bill (SB 1278) was created to support Tulsa’s existing Women In Recovery program through the George Kaiser Family Foundation.  The WIR program combines strict supervision within a comprehensive day treatment format for women with substance abuse problems, along with many other program services.  Only non-profit organizations with over two million on capital are eligible to participate.

The State of Oklahoma will pay the non-profit organization providing recovery services on a patient basis.  Payment is only until made when one of the women going through the program has met specific outcomes and while receiving services financial savings goals were met.  Unless the guidelines are met, the state does not pay anything.

Tom Hosty has over 22 years experience defending Oklahomans and protecting their rights. 

Once you have been arrested, time is critical.

Call today and schedule your FREE office visit with Tom so you can start the process to protect your freedom.

The Hosty Law Office are experts in defending people arrested for drunk driving, DWI APC, drug charges, felonies and misdemeanors.  Call us so we can help; it’s what we do.

405-235-4040 (click to dial office)
405-210-3462 (click to dial Tom’s cell phone)

      

 

 

 

additional article (link)

 

 

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Getting Oklahoma Highway Patrol Dash Cam & Audio Into The Open

Currently the Oklahoma Highway Patrol has an exception allowing them to NOT release dash cam video and audio recordings when asked.  This means when there is a need to know what happened during a traffic stop, arrest, field sobriety test or anything else, OHP can refuse to release their video and audio in question.  The OHP are the ONLY law enforcement agency with this exception.

WARNING- legal speak ahead.

Senate Bill 1513 is making it’s way through the Oklahoma Senate and had good intentions to remove the exception.  But now that looks to have been squelched.  Below is the text in question from SB 1513:

• “Provided further, law enforcement agencies may redact or obscure specific portions of audio and video recordings depicting law enforcement officers who become subject to internal investigation by the law enforcement agency until the law enforcement agency concludes the investigation. At the conclusion of the investigation and disciplinary process, the audio and video recordings shall be available for public inspection and copying.”

The goal is to have OHP aligned with the Oklahoma Open Records Act, so video and audio may be viewed.  The problem with the text is that OHP can state they are having an “Internal Investigation” so they don’t have to release their video and audio and the “investigation” can go on for as long as they choose. The Hosty Law Office is in favor of all law enforcement agencies complying with the Oklahoma Open Records Act, creating transparency for everyone involved with a potential crime.

Tom Hosty has over 22 years experience defending Oklahomans and protecting their rights. 

Once you have been arrested, time is critical.

Call today and schedule your FREE office visit with Tom so you can start the process to protect your freedom.

The Hosty Law Office are experts in defending people arrested for drunk driving, DWI APC, drug charges, felonies and misdemeanors.  Call us so we can help; it’s what we do.

405-235-4040 (click to dial office)
405-210-3462 (click to dial Tom’s cell phone)

       

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District Attorney David Prater and Oklahoma Parole Board Settle

Since last year, Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater charged the Oklahoma Parole Board with “Illegally voting on inmates’ request for early release without proper public notice.”  This was an alleged violation of the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act which is a necessary level of governmental transparency.

Recently this has been settled resulting in:

• The five board members signed a statement of wrongdoing how the early release requests were handled
• Changes made to keep potential Open Meeting Act violations from happening again
• If the board ignores the changes, DA Prater may be able to seek indictments

D.A. David Prater did the right thing in following the law and holding people accountable.

If you are arrested, Tom Hosty has over 11 years experience defending Oklahomans and protecting their rights for DUI and other criminal charges.

Once you have been arrested, time is critical.

Call today and schedule your FREE office visit with Tom so you can start the process to protect your freedom.

The Hosty Law Office are experts in defending people arrested for drunk driving, DWI APC, drug charges, felonies and misdemeanors.  Call us so we can help; it’s what we do.

405-235-4040 (click to dial office)
405-210-3462 (click to dial Tom’s cell phone)

   

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Oklahoma Inmate Population With Severe Mental Illnesses Continues To Rise

Across the state each day, hundreds of Oklahoma prisoners line up and receive medications for bipolar, depression, psychosis and other mental illnesses.  Correctional facilities have ten different psychiatric medications to distribute, depending on an inmates condition.

2013’s medication distribution shows Oklahoma inmates don’t suffer from the ‘blues’ from being locked down, a percentage have serious mental illnesses.  The number of inmates with these conditions is continuing to rise.

Inmates diagnosed with mental illness:

• 2008- 20%
• 2013- 36%

Inmates on psychotropic medications has increased by 50% since 2007: 6,200 in 2013.  These increasing numbers illustrate the decline in community mental-health services throughout Oklahoma.  –Oklahoma’s Corrections Department chief mental health officer, Janna Morgan.

  

Tom Hosty has over 12 years experience defending Oklahomans and protecting their rights. 

Once you have been arrested, time is critical. 

Call today and schedule your FREE office visit with Tom so you can start the process to protect your freedom.

The Hosty Law Office are experts in defending people arrested for drunk driving, DWI APC, drug charges, felonies and misdemeanors.  Call us so we can help; it’s what we do.

405-235-4040 (click to dial office)
405-210-3462 (click to dial Tom’s cell phone)

      

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Flawed Oklahoma DUI Form May Help The Convicted

Following a SFST (Standardized Field Sobriety Test) the arresting officer needs to have a place where he/she backs up the facts that the driver was driving intoxicated.  On the current Oklahoma form a place for that does not exist.

WARNING: LEGALESE AHEAD-

In the current standardized affidavit form the arresting police officer will cite his/her facts impling the driver of the vehicle was intoxicated while driving.  But the sworn statement from the arresting police officer is not on the current form affirming the circumstances that led the police officer to judge that the driver of the vehicle violated Oklahoma’s DUI law.  This is a BIG difference in the eyes of the law.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE-

This affects people between 2008 – 10/2013 and a lawsuit has already been filed by attorneys.  This lawsuit could apply to thousands of cases and involve millions of dollars- possibly being refunded to people wrongly convicted / fined.  This will probably wind up in front of the Oklahoma Supreme Court.

If you were convicted on a charge related to intoxication while intoxicated between 2008 – October 2013, you may be part of the current lawsuit.  Please give us a call to schedule your FREE office visit.  405-235-4040

The Hosty Law Office has been defending people for DUI/DWI/APC charges since 1992.  Tom Hosty is one of Oklahoma’s premier DUI attorneys and will stand up for your rights in court.

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Judiciary Integrity or Court Of Public Opinion

This is Part One in a beginning series about Oklahoma judges and their ability to rule on the law and not on the Court Of Public Opinion.

Over the past few years there have been pushes to undermine our Judiciary (our court system).  The issue at stake is that judges are appointed so they are able to rule and focus on the law.  The “pushes” are to remove that appointment and make the positions an elected position.

The concern is that when judges are an elected position, judges will not rule solely on the law- they will rule while taking into consideration the Court Of Public Opinion.

To look at this a different way: you are facing conviction and your judge is thinking about the law along with how your case will make him/her look in the news media.  Do you want your judge making a decision about your future while weighing television headlines?

Tom Hosty has over 11 years experience defending Oklahomans and protecting their rights. 

Once you have been arrested, time is critical.

Call today and schedule your FREE office visit with Tom so you can start the process to protect your freedom.

The Hosty Law Office are experts in defending people arrested for drunk driving, DWI APC, drug charges, felonies and misdemeanors.  Call us so we can help; it’s what we do.

405-235-4040 (click to dial office)
405-210-3462 (click to dial Tom’s cell phone)

       

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Follow Up- Police Using Computerized License Plate Readers

During a normal shift a police office runs close to 100 license plates.  The LPR system can to the same task 5,000 times in the same amount of time.  The system checks for everything from unpaid parking tickets, warrants and anything else outstanding.

Photo: joebeone, flickr

Should people be concerned over this increased ability to scan the license plate that is in plain sight?  These types of systems also provide fixed cameras on any structure traffic poles, light poles, buildings, anywhere.

Grand Rapids, MI Channel Eight:

The Hosty Law Office has been defending people with traffic and other driving crimes for more than 21 years.  We want you to keep your driving freedoms and independence.  Call today to schedule your FREE office visit.

405-235-4040

204 North Robinson Avenue, Suite 1717

Oklahoma City, OK 73102

Handgun Permit Applications Increasing

This year, 2013, the amount of people applying for handgun licenses in Oklahoma is on pace to increase by 60 percent over 2012.  According to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations (OSBI).

The permit allows an Oklahoma resident to legally carry their firearm openly in public.  The former law only allowed for concealed carry (you may have your firearm with you, but it may not bee seen).

Jessica Brown, spokeswoman for the OSBI, “We don’t know why it went up so much.”  This trend is not alone to Oklahoma, other states are seeing similar trends.

Handgun Permit Application Submissions In Oklahoma

Miles Hall, Founder of H & H Shooting Sports, has seen this trend for himself and the demographic of people submitting applications is across the board.  His sports complex, here in Oklahoma City, is one of the largest in the Midwest where people may submit applications, receive professional safety training and advanced classes.

Betsy Randolph, spokeswoman for Oklahoma Department of Public Safety, thinks the increased violence in the past few years and press coverage of increasing gun control have led to people purchasing firearms and attaining concealed-carry permits.

Entire Article- CLICK HERE

Thomas Hosty of the Hosty Law Office asks that everyone follow the law and is responsible with a firearm at all times.

If something does happen and you find yourself or someone you know, needing professional criminal defense, he has over 21 years experience and will stand up for your rights in court.

405-235-4040

Flawed Drivers License System Causing People To Wrongly Lose Their License?

Lose your license between 1/2008 – 12/2012?

More than 40,000 Oklahomans have requested hearings about their drivers license being taken from them between 1/2008 to 12/2012.  Are you one of these people?

How We Got Here:

Documents used by the Department of Public Safety to revoke people’s drivers licenses after DUI breath tests were not in compliance with state law.  This raises serious questions about past cases, causing 40K+ people file for a hearing.

Adding to the problem, back in 1990 DPS was told about this problem by the Oklahoma Supreme Court.  At that time the phrase “Fatally flawed” was used to describe DPS’s license revocation documentation.  the issue is that the blood-alcohol test reports did not comply with wording in state law.

In mid October, Oklahoma’s Court of Appeals rulings ordered lower courts to dismiss license revocations for two people in Tulsa county and one in Cleveland County.

The Department of Public Safety is taking the position that they will not ask the Oklahoma Supreme Court to review the cases and decisions.  Even though back in 1990 the same court (OSC) told DPS their paperwork was “Fatally flawed.”

Recently a “Supplemental sworn report” is now included by the arresting officer.  There doesn’t seem to be any action to change the form that doesn’t comply with state law, just another form…

Thomas Hosty

If you had your drivers license taken from you between 1/2008 and 12/2012, call our office (405-235-4040) and schedule your FREE office visit.  Thomas Hosty is available by appointment only and want to hear your side of things.

He is one of Oklahoma’s premier DUI and Criminal Defense attorneys and has been in practice since 1992.  He is located in the middle of downtown OKC- 204 N. Robinson, Suite 1717, Oklahoma City, OK 73102.

Click here for Google Maps directions.