There are a ton of different documents that players can set up through the government. These documents officially legalize and put in place certain things like legally marrying a couple, making a legally bound contract, allowing players to build on land, and more. Below is a list of all the different types of documents, who you need to contact to get one set up, and how you will go about setting them up!

Government IDs

Obtaining a government-issued ID is pretty easy and important as government-issued IDs will allow you to confirm your age allowing you to purchase alcohol if you are over the age of 21, work for Town Hall and potentially other jobs, and more. Below are the steps you will need to take to obtain an ID for your character

1: Contact Town Hall via the town hall hotline or go to the front desk and get in contact with any town hall member, as all employees of the town hall can hand out IDs, you will need to be at the front desk to receive and get an ID so please be there and ready

2: Once a town hall member shows up at the front desk, they will ask you for your full legal name, your current age, your birthday, and your place of employment.

3: The player will be asked to place their fingers in an ink pad, then they will be asked to place their fingerprints on a paper where all their fingerprints will be logged. Keep in mind the player will be asked to place ALL their fingers onto the special paper so that the government has all of their fingerprints and not just their thumbprint on file

4: Finally, you will be asked to make a payment of $10 dollars, where once that is done the town hall worker will print out your ID!

If you start using a new character, change your character's name, or job, please get a new ID. You will not have to be re-fingerprinted if you are using the same character.

Building Permits

If you are purchasing land, before you can build on it you need a building permit which will need to be signed by a judge. If you build on the property without the proper build permit/approval for the building, it could be torn down by the government and you could lose the property. So be sure to always have a building permit before building on the property you bought.

This does not apply to apartments or housing, only applies to buying plots of land that have little to no buildings on it prior to purchase.

To get a building permit, please follow the steps down below:

1: Please contact a judge via the Town Hall hotline or meet with one at the front desk. They will take you back into their office once you can meet with them

2: The judge will ask for your IGN, RP-Name, DOB, Current Age, Place of Employment, and Place of Living, how much you paid for the land, where the land is located, and how big the land is. Please be prepared to share all this information, if you do not have this information ready you will have to meet with the a judge at a later time, as they cannot assist you until you have all the necessary information.

3: The judge will then ask you to provide the layout plans of what you wish to build. You can either describe what you are building or you can show it via screenshots of it in another world, drawings, etc. Please be prepared to share the exact size (LxWxH) of the building you wish to make, all rooms, etc.

4: If accepted you can begin building your set build right away. If denied you must come back with a different build plan than the one prior.

Keep in mind, you must stick to the build plan you showed and got signed/approved by the judge. Failure to do so will result in punishment such as removal of the building, arrest, or more.

Official Contracts

Players can write up their own contracts whenever, however for it to become legally bound the contract needs to be looked over by a judge and approved/signed by them. If a contract is not signed by a judge, it is not legally bound making it so if a player breaks the contract, they cannot be punished for breaking the rules of the contract. At least, not in a legal setting. This means if the contract is not signed and approved by a judge, you cannot:

Charge/Fine the other player any sort of money for breaking the contract

Confiscate or take any of the player's items/property for breaking the contract

Suing the player for breaking the contract

and more. Hence why it is so important to get all contracts legally bound by a judge. The players signing the contract do not need to be present for this process, but the owner/creator of the contract does. Once the contract is approved by a judge, anyone who signs their full name is legally bound to it and must follow the rules that are in the contract at all times. Breaking a legally bound contract can lead to many different punishments, but it's up to the creator/owner of the contract to decide the punishment. The punishment must be mentioned in the contract so players know what will happen if they do break it.

Once the contract is signed by a judge, the rules of the contract cannot be changed under any circumstance. The judge will create a copy of the original contract they signed and approved so that they have a reference of what the contract looked like when they approved it in the case of the owner/creator editing it. If the owner/creator does edit the contract, it instantly becomes not legally bound and the contract will no longer be valid. Even if its a small spelling error, you cannot change it without a judge re-approving it

Please follow the steps down below to get a contract legally set up:

1: Contact a judge via the Town Hall hotline or meet with one at the front desk. They will take you back into their office once you can meet with them.

2: The judge will ask for your  IGN, RP-Name, DOB, Current Age, Place of Employment, and Place of Living.

3: They will then ask you to provide a link to the contract or IC item. All contracts should be written either on Google Docs or a book ICLY. However, Google Docs is better as it is easier to read through, easier to contain more text, easier to attach screenshots, etc.

4: The judge will look over the contract to ensure the rules are reasonable, that all punishments for breaking the contract are listed, and such. Afterward, the judge will either approve or deny it.

5: If accepted, the owner/creator will be asked to also sign the contract.

Adoption Forms

Players sometimes may end up wanting to adopt another player under certain circumstances. In these situations, if the player wants full legal custody over the child, they will have to go through the adoption process which requires a judge. There are a few rules for adoption, please be sure to follow them prior to adopting a child

1: If you wish to adopt someone, the waiting child (child you want to adopt) has to be under the age of 21.

2: You cannot have been arrested for a felony charge in the last 3 OOC months if you wish to adopt a child. The government wants the child to be in a safe environment and space, and being arrested and charged of a felony in the last 3 OOC months months tells he government that you may not be able to provide that safe space. Misdemeanors can be ok. But it’s up the judge to determine if the environment is still considered safe even if the adopter was arrested for a misdemeanor in the last 3 OOC months.

3: You cannot be homeless. As mentioned above, the government needs to know that the child will be in a safe and comfortable environment. This means the adopter’s need to have some form of residency so that the child can have a place to life/stay.

4: You must have a form of income. As mentioned again, the government needs to know the child will be in a safe and comfortable environment. If you are unable to even provide for yourself money-wise, you cannot be trusted to provide for yourself and another person. Your income needs to be high enough to where the government can know you can pay for the basic necessities (food, water, place of living).

5: The adopter(s) must be above the age of 25.

6: There can only be up to two adopter(s) per set of adoption

7: Players can only adopt up to 3 kids every 6 OOC months. Being able to adopt a maximum of up to 6 children in total

8: You cannot adopt a player if the player's birth parents are present in their life. If they haven't been present for 1 OOC month, then you can adopt the player. If the birth parents are not providing a safe environment for the child. You can go to a judge and request a child safety check. You will need evidence for this to work, but if you do provide evidence  a judge will send an police officer to investigate the birth parent's environment. This includes checking the birth parents' home, checking their place of employment, questioning the child about the situation, etc. The Head of Public Safety will be the one to determine if the environment meets standards or not

Legally adopting another player means they will become the adopter(s) legal child. This means in some cases, the adopter will be contacted instead of the birth parents. Examples include if the adoptee is injured EMS will contact the adopter(s) instead of the birth parents, if the adoptee is detained they can request the adopter(s) to sit with them during interrogation/questioning, etc. It has it's benefits but it also means the adopter(s) become legally responsible for the child. This does mean in some cases, if the child is injured or put into any bad situations the adopter(s) may be held responsible.

The government has a right to revoke the adoption if at any point they feel the environment that the adopter(s) are providing for the adoptee becomes unsafe. Examples include:

Adopter(s) get arrested for a felony charge while the adoptee is under their care

Adopter(s) losing their place of living and becoming homeless leaving the adoptee also homeless

Adopter(s) are under investigation for suspicious criminal activity (i.e. the police department has some proof suspecting the adopter(s) work for a gang)

Police illegal items in the adopter(s) place of living where the adoptee lives

The adoptee is arrested for any felony crime and investigation shows the adopter(s) may have played a part in it

and more. All of the examples listed above are reasons why an Judge can revoke an adoption Which if this happens, the adopter(s) will be blacklisted from adopting anyone again for the next 3 OOC months. After those 3 months, if their life has improved ICLY, they can attempt to adopt again.

When it comes to adopting, there are a few steps you need to follow. These are listed below:

1: Please contact a judge via the Town Hall hotline or meet with one at the front desk. They will take you back into their office once you can meet with them. Please be prepared. All adopter(s) must be present, alongside the waiting child (adoptee) must be present too

2: The judge will ask for the adopter(s) IGN, RP-Name, DOB, Current Age, Place of Employment, and Place of Living. Alongside they will also ask the waiting child these same questions

3: At this point the waiting child will be asked to step out of the office so that the judge and adopter(s) can talk in private. At this point, the Judge will ask the adopter(s) why they wish to adopt the waiting child, how they met the waiting child, how long have they known the waiting child, their current relationship with the waiting child, and if they truly are sure about going through with this

4: Once the adopter(s) answer all questions, the adopter(s) will be asked to step out of the officer and the waiting child will be asked to step in so that the judge can speak to the waiting child in private. The judge will ask the waiting child how they know the adopter(s), how long have the adopter(s) been in their life, their current relationship with the adopter(s), and if the adoptee feels they will be a good fit/parent to them.

5: Once all questions are answered, all players will be brought back into the office where the judge will ask all players (adopter/s and the waiting child) to sign a document that gives consent to the government to undergo a safety check to ensure the adopter(s) environment is a safe place of living for the waiting child. If the adopter(s) or waiting child refuses to sign it, the government will be unable to legally check if the adopter is capable of taking care of the child, meaning the government cannot let you legally adopt the child

6: Once the document is signed, the judge will get in contact with the Head of Public Safety and Police Officer, which will go and check the adopter(s) place of living and employment. This does mean PD will go into the adopter(s) place of living and check all chests/barrels/storage to ensure there are no weapons, check all rooms to ensure there are no secret rooms which could have affiliation with gangs, etc. The head of public safety will also be there to ensure the place of living is considered a safe environment. As mentioned. They also check the place of employment to get employee’s views on the adopter(s) to ensure everyone is in agreement that the adopter(s) are good people capable of providing a safe living environment for the waiting child. Police will also run background checks on the adopter(s), and more .

This process can take a few days to complete. If at any point the adopter(s) don’t meet the requirements and PD finds stuff illegal in the apartment, or the head of public safety feels it isn’t safe, the adoption process will be stopped and the adopter(s) will be denied. If more than one person is attempting to adopt the same waiting child(s), both adopter(s) will be investigated.

7: If PD finds nothing, and the Head of Public Safety determines the adopter(s) living environment is safe enough for a child, the judge will get back in contact with the adopter(s) and the waiting child, meet again with them, and go over the adoption papers one final time to ensure all party members know what they are getting into. If all party members agree, they will sign the documents and finalize the adoption!

With all that being said and done. Please keep in mind that adoptions last forever unless the adoption is revoked by a judge. At any point, any player can report the adopter(s) or birth parents to a judge if they feel the environment the child is living is in unsafe. Please understand proof must be provided for an investigation to begin. If proof is provided, as mentioned in rule #8 the judge will get in contact with police officer and the Head of Public Safety where they will investigate the adopter(s) homes, work environment, and even potentially detain them for questioning. This also means the child will also be detained for questioning where officers will question the child to confirm if they are happy in the living situation. 

If it is determined the environment is NOT safe. The birth parents or adopter(s) will lose legal custody of their child. They will not be able to regain custody of the said child or adopt another child for 3 OOC months, and only after that time, they can attempt to gain custody of their child or adopt another. If it is determined the environment IS safe, they get to keep the child.

All players must go through this process. Even if you're a judge you will have to contact another judge and go through the same process. If you're the Head of Public Safety you will not be allowed to be present while PD checks your home and the Mayor or Deputy Mayor will be the one to determine if the environment is safe enough.

Written by Zach