Most financial advisors suggest keeping a cash reserve on hand that’s enough to cover your personal expenses for six months. This fiscal buffer can be a godsend if you’re injured in an accident and are unable to work for an extended period of time.
While this plan looks great on paper, actually executing it is another story entirely. For most working families, keeping just a few weeks’ worth of expenses in reserve is something of a stretch.
So what can these families do if their primary breadwinner is injured in the kind of accident we described earlier? Unless they’ve found proper legal representation, they’re probably looking at a some serious financial pain to go along with their physical pain.
If you or one of r your loved ones is in this situation, here are a few things you need to consider if you want to protect your assets while you’re waiting for a settlement from the insurance company.
First Offers
If you’ve been injured in an accident that wasn’t your fault, you can pretty much guarantee that some insurance company lawyer will stop by with some kind words and a settlement check. While this might seem like a nice gesture, it’s most certainly not.
If the insurance company is offering you a check without a legal fight, you can rest assured that you’ve got a pretty good case on your hands. These kinds of offers are made in the hopes of saving the company money by offering you a small amount of cash up front. They’ll also come with the condition that you sign away your rights to any further legal action.
To avoid some serious troubles in the future, you’ll want to politely decline and start searching your city for reliable personal injury lawyers.
Here Come the Lawyers
If you’re like most people, you’re not particularly litigious and would rather settle things on your own, without an attorney. In the perfect world, that would be a nice option to have but, in the real world, it’s not all viable.
Only an experienced attorney will be able to both negotiate a fair settlement for you and protect your remaining assets while you’re waiting for your check.
While you may think that employer-provided disability insurance is going to be enough to cover your expenses after the accident, that’s usually not the case. Not only are these policies not the equivalent of your paycheck, they normally won’t kick in until several month after your accident.
In the meantime, the credit card companies and banks are going to want their monthly payments. Anyone who’s interested in keeping their credit score intact while they’re in recovery should definitely be talking to an accident attorney as soon as possible.
There’s nothing easy about the physical and financial recovery following a debilitating personal injury. But with the right legal representation, you’ll be able to buy yourself a bit of breathing room while getting back on your feet. With time and effort, you may be able to pick up your life exactly where it was before the accident.
Holly Madison is a freelance writer. She blogs about home, family and legal issues.