5 LEGAL TRAPS Full-Time RVers Need to Know, with Steve from Letho's Law. Weed, Guns, Trespassing &..

if you're thinking of hitting the road full-time you might have some legal questions and so today I'm back with Steve Ledo from lados law and he's gonna answer some of the most common questions I get on full time RV life hey Steve how are you doing doing very well it's good to be here again I have some questions for you that my viewers want to know all the time about living full time in an RV so this is gonna be a quick one but let's talk about overnight parking at like a Walmart or a Cabela's or something like that if Walmart has private property for their parking lot why is it that local ordinances can prevent people from parking there well you know here's the thing the local ordinances are the law and I'm not saying they're right but a local municipality has the ability to say we are going to forbid overnight parking or things of that nature and and their argument would be you know if this parking lot turns into a campground it would be a different use than what that property is zoned for so I suspect in most states the municipalities are allowed to do that it's just a question of you know whether it's even forced or not you know gotcha okay and a similar question a lot of people that have RVs or schoolies or something like that dream about maybe getting a little piece of land somewhere maybe buying four acres 20 acres and just parking their rig on it part of the year or full-time and then they find out that the local ordinances don't allow them to do that even if you have a hundred acre property in some places you can't put an RV that you bought on a property that you bought why is that in some places well again the local municipalities whether it's an actual town or village or Township or whatever has the right to regulate you know what we considered a domicile a building that you live in in most areas actually have building codes and zoning ordinances to say if you're going to be living in this building it's got to have the following things they often have things about you know bathrooms and running water and also square footage and quite often I suspect that many trailers don't hit those requirements and so they're gonna say that letting you live in an RV doesn't it a bit your piece of property is letting you live in your RV on your piece of property would be in violation of the zoning ordinance that says your house must be a certain size or whatever and again whether it's right or wrong it's the law so you know you want to just do the research in advance and find out if that law exists someplace because I mean some people obviously have this idea and they find a P ideal piece of property and it looks great but you can't see the building codes unless you do the research so you got to find out what the building codes say and whether you're allowed to do that and if you are great if you're not then the property is not as attractive as it as it should be right kind of thing that people with tiny houses run into yes yes yeah and it's most people don't stop to think about it because if you grew up in America you probably grew up in a house that met zoning requirements and you're so used to being around things that it would shock you if I said oh by the way this house over here is only this one a square feet it has no bathrooms you'd be like what so I understand that that RVs might have all the things that a house has but I suspect most and would run into trouble with with respect to the square footage and things of that nature right you know that makes me think of another one if you if you get a piece of property and you're able to be on it but the road up to your property is on an easement uh-huh what what do you run into there what happens if somebody doesn't want to let you use that road anymore you have to find out what the easement is and what it allows because easements are very very tricky business if you have a piece of property that's landlocked for instance the only way you can get to the crossing someone else's property but you have an easement that says you can cross the property then you can probably drive vehicles over you probably drive a trailer over it but then the question becomes are you dragging anything else over there or not but you can usually find this stuff out in advance again before you buy the property figure this stuff out okay great so now I'm gonna get to the juicy stuff you know it's your house you're going over state lines and stuff what do you have a gun and what if you have some weed what happened to state lines with stuff in your car and here's the thing many people view their RV like it's their home they go this is my house and they getting a mindset like my home is my castle it just happens to be on wheels right but you've got to remember that when you cross threat state lines you're entering another state you're in the jurisdiction of another state and you might find that there's some state that's extremely tolerant of marijuana usage and you might find this a state right across the state line that is extremely intolerant still thinks that reefer madness was a documentary in which case you need to know that before you cross state lines because once you're over there technically speaking you could be breaking the law and you your argument can't be well I wasn't breaking the law in the other state you're not in the other state you more now you're in this state and so that problem is going to occur with marijuana drugs but also guns and I get asked this all the time especially you know many states there's literally a patchwork a quilt of 50 different sets of state laws regarding guns handguns carry permits long guns everything and most states have got so much regulation place that the next state over is completely different and they don't necessarily even recognize each other so that if you have a permit to carry a particular kind of gun in one state cross in the state line you might be in violation of that law now I know people who say Steve that's wrong I'm not here to debate morality with you I'm sorry telling you the law and I've heard of many occasions where someone gets stopped at the border or near the border or they cross the border and there but I came from state where this is legal it's like yeah but you're not there anymore that's the problem so you you need to do some research the good news is with the internet you can research this stuff really easily and find out what the laws are in which state you know if you're in Michigan you can pass over into Minnesota Wisconsin Indiana Ohio and very quickly into Illinois five or six states you can get to very quickly from Michigan it might change how you want to travel to figure out which states are more friendly to whatever it is that you're doing rape let's say you're going over a state border crossing which we it happens to us a lot in RVs like you're going from California to Arizona or New Mexico to Arizona to Julie Arizona and there's a border crossing and they want to search inside the rig itself do you have to let them do that let's say that I did a drug dog alert in you probably do but here's the problem the police who often interact with those on the highways whether it's in a car on a motorcycle or in an RV will quite often ask you or try to cajole you into giving them permission you would would you mind if I looked in your RV and as an attorney I suggest the people you very very politely decline that and if they say oh why are you declining that just so you know something I talked to an attorney once he told me I probably should what can I tell ya you know and now if they want to try to come up with some reason that they think they're entitled to search you know they might search and then the question becomes what they find whether what they find can be used against you in a court and you may have to litigate that which is not pretty but the the problem you have is for instance like let's suppose they pull you over and it's a canine unit you say I don't want to let you search cop walks a dog around the truck RV and you go hey my dog alerted my dog thinks there's something in your RV well that'll probably get them in to do a search and then of course when they find nothing in the RV then the dog looks stupid I feel sorry for the dog but you know that's it's unfortunate because when they search something they don't just walk through and look they're often digging through stuff it's very very intrusive but you know my advice is to not consent and listen very carefully because if they ask you you know would you mind if I looked there they're trying to get your permission and they know that most people out of politeness will say sure go ahead and got nothing to hide and the next thing you know they're in your medicine cabinet going do you have a prescription for these in prescription you know it's like oh you know so I'd prefer not to you know people that travel need to have the same legal documents as other people maybe a will a living will power of attorney something like that where should we keep those documents should we keep it with us or what's a safe place to store those things and what do you think people should have you know that's the interesting question because the concern I have with putting stuff in your RV and taking it with you is I understand that the RVs are relatively secure but they're not as secure as like your home would be and so I would suggest I mean there's certain document you've got to carry on you your driver's license the registration of the vehicle proof of insurance probably is a good idea but as far as like documents like your will and things of that nature I would consider leaving them with someone you trust very very much like I don't know if you have an attorney possibly attorneys off and hold onto documents for people you might want to get a safe deposit box perhaps and and make just make sure you make the payments on it or if you've got someone you trust a relative a parent or a brother or a sister or somebody you know I've held things for you know relatives of mine but they also know I'm an attorney so I you know I hang onto documents for people I can keep them secure and you know if anything ever happens to me this is where this stuff is you know so but that's that's a that's something people should think about because you know I know where all my important documents are but but you know I have a hopless you know so I'd be a little concerned about putting them in the cabinet when the cabinet falls off the wall and you got to take it back for warranty work and stuff but you know there could be a fire or there could be an accident you never know okay well good advice thank you so much super helpful for my people again everybody check out Steve Flatow here on YouTube and on the internet he's got some great books too I appreciate you taking the time anytime thanks all right everybody happy travels and be free [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Creativity RV

Views: 462,895

Rating: 4.9307823 out of 5

Keywords: RV Life, How to RV, Boondocking, Van Life, RV, RV Travel, Nomad, rv living, how to rv full time, digital nomad, solo female rv, rving, rv hacks, tiffin rv, campervan, full time travel, camping, national forest camping, boondocking, why rv, dispersed camping, free camping, FIFTH WHEEL

Id: PBXcNSqHIZs

Length: 10min 44sec (644 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 05 2020