How Long After a Settlement Do I Get Paid?

When you sit down with a Morgan and Morgan personal injury lawyer for a free case evaluation, your legal counsel will discuss several issues that require a decision. One of the first decisions for you to make involves choosing one of the two types of legal settlements.

Structured

A structured settlement means you receive a series of payments in monthly installments. You decide on the frequency of the payments, as well as the amount you want to receive each month. A structured legal settlement allows you to manage your money better by creating monthly budgets. For example, you set aside part of your settlement money each month to cover car, mortgage, and Internet payments. However, since you receive future payments, inflation might erode some of the value of your legal settlement.

Lump-Sum

A lump-sum payment represents the most common type of legal settlement. You receive the entire value of your settlement after your personal injury attorney accounts for several factors that determine the net value of your cash award. Deciding to go with a lump-sum arrangement ends the legal process, which means you no longer have to retain your legal counselor for support. You also avoid the money devaluing impact of inflation. If you are skilled at managing personal finances, then a lump-sum settlement makes sense. On the other hand, clients that have trouble managing a large sum of money should consider a structured legal settlement.

A legal settlement covers two types of financial awards: Economic and non-economic damages. If your personal injury attorney decides it is in your best interest to file a lawsuit that seeks monetary damages, you also can ask the court to award you punitive damages.

Economic Damages

Economic damages cover tangible expenses, such as medical bills, property damage receipts, and lost wages. You have the right to request compensation for the costs associated with diagnostic tests, treatment programs, and physical therapy sessions. If you spent money out-of-pocket for prescription medications and an assistive device such as crutches, you should ask for compensation for those expenses as well.

The key to getting an insurance claim approved and/or a favorable legal judgment issued by a judge during a civil trial involves submitting persuasive evidence. This means submitting copies of every medical bill and the receipts generated by paying for property damage. You also should submit timekeeping and bank account records to demonstrate how much you have lost in wages because of your injuries.

Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages do not come with a price tag like expenses such as medical bills. Your personal injury lawyer calculates a value for issues such as pain and suffering, which covers mental and emotional distress issues like fear, anxiety, and depression. Loss of consortium is another example of non-economic damages. To calculate a fair value for non-economic damages, your legal counselor refers to a formula that includes the variable called economic damages.

The key is to submit a fair value for non-economic damages. Otherwise, your insurance company denies your claim and the judge hearing your case approves a much lower value for monetary damages.

Negotiations to reach a settlement begin when your personal injury lawyer submits an offer to your insurance company and/or the other party’s attorney. The insurance company and/or the other party’s lawyer can either accept, reject, or send back a counteroffer to continue negotiations. The back-and-forth counteroffers between your attorney and the other side can take a considerable amount of time before either both parties agree to a settlement or decide to take legal action to resolve the case.

If you reach a legal settlement, you then discover the answer to the question, “How long after a legal settlement do I get paid.”

Sign and Submit a Release Form

Signing and submitting a release form prevents you from taking additional legal action against the other party. Your personal injury attorney carefully reviews the release form to ensure you receive the legal protections established by state and federal laws. Another document to submit is called the Order of Statement, which you have between 30 and 60 days to send to the other party. The Order of Statement verifies that you understand the terms and conditions explained in the legal settlement, as well as the legal ramifications of signing a release form.

Settlement Check Goes to Your Personal Injury Lawyer

One of the most common misconceptions our clients have concerns the distribution of the settlement check. The settlement check goes to the personal injury attorney that you hire from Morgan and Morgan. A percentage of the settlement check is your lawyer’s compensation. Because Morgan and Morgan operates on a contingency fee basis, you pay the agreed-upon fee that is calculated as a percentage of your total compensation. Your attorney also deducts court costs, as well as pays off any liens placed on your settlement check to cover debts. For example, if you owe $2,000 in medical bills, your lawyer deducts the medical bills lien from your settlement check.

Receive Your Money

For a lump-sum arrangement, you can meet with your personal injury attorney to receive the check or have it sent by certified mail to the address your legal counselor has on file. For structured settlement payments, setting up a direct deposit account ensures you receive your monthly checks on time. You also have the option to cash your settlement check or checks, but the cashing option costs a considerable amount of money and it can be a hassle to convince a bank or cash checking service to cash your settlement check or checks.

The answer to the question, “How long after a settlement do I get paid” is anywhere between a couple of weeks or several months depending on the complexity of your settlement.

Several factors can play a role in delaying the reception of your legal settlement check. If you did not submit a properly completed release form, the court will send back the form for modifications. You then have to make the correct changes to the release form and send it back for processing. This can add between one and two weeks to the reception of your settlement check. If your settlement check involves several liens placed on it, your lawyer has to take the time required to process the payments of the liens and take care of the legal documents that accompany each lien. If you have racked up substantial debt, you might have numerous liens placed on your settlement that can take a month or two for processing. For example, your lawyer might have to pay off a lien to a hospital, car repair shop, healthcare specialist, and rehabilitation center.

One of the most common reasons for a delay in the reception of a settlement check is accounting for weekends and holidays. Settlement checks do not get processed at the service centers operated by the United States Postal Service on weekends, as well as on state and federal holidays. When dealing with an insurance company, a delay in the processing of your settlement check can happen because the processing system is overwhelmed or the insurance company does not act with a sense of urgency. Hiring an experienced personal injury attorney who has established positive professional relationships with insurance adjusters can speed up the settlement check process.

Working with one of the personal injury lawyers at Morgan and Morgan can reduce the amount of time you have to wait for your legal settlement check. Our personal injury attorneys possess superior negotiating skills to help you get paid by your insurance company, as well as reach a deal that helps you avoid a costly and time-consuming civil trial. Our attorneys respond promptly to emails, phone calls, and text messages to keep you updated on the status of your legal settlement check.

Schedule a free case evaluation with a Morgan and Morgan personal injury attorney to learn more about the negotiation process.