[Kevin]

Whoever said the laws vary from state to state is right.

I would imagine that the rules for this vary a great deal from state to state. Go see a lawyer, or if you're wanting to do this cheaply (and a lot less reliably) go to your nearest law school's law library and find your answer in the pro se section (most law schools maintain a section of books for non-law trained people to answer their own basic legal questions).