How Your Finances Can Change Following a Personal Injury Lawsuit
Most people don’t like the idea of filing personal injury lawsuits. It’s not exactly fun. You must take time and energy to find a lawyer, vet them, and then allow them to investigate your claim that a person or entity harmed you.
You can bring a personal injury lawsuit against many different individuals or entities. For instance, you can sue a commercial trucking company for negligence. That’s an option if you can establish that they convinced the trucker to push past the number of hours they could legally drive before taking a break.
You might sue a drunk driver who plows into your car. Perhaps you’ll sue a doctor who gave you the wrong medication. You might bring a product liability lawsuit against a company if their product hurt you or made you sick.
No matter why you’re suing a person or company, though, you should think about how your finances can change, win or lose. We will talk about that in detail in the following article.
You Can Pay Off Your Debt
If you bring a personal injury lawsuit against a person or entity that you allege harmed you or made you ill, then you might have major plans for that money. You may not know exactly how much you will get, though.
You can talk to your lawyer about that when you hire them. They might give you a ballpark estimate of what you may receive. They can look at precedent from their personal legal experience and in a more general sense as well.
If you get a pretty decent payday, then remember you must pay your lawyer out of that. Personal injury lawyers usually operate using a contingency payment structure. You might give your attorney 30%-40% of your winnings.
You cans use some of the money you have remaining to pay off any debts you have. Maybe you have some medical debts from the accident or incident that injured you. You will probably want to pay those off as quickly as you can.
However, maybe you also have some additional debt. Perhaps you have student loans that you’ve carried for many years. Maybe you owe back rent, property taxes, or school taxes.
If you have those kinds of outstanding debts, then the local government might have a lien on your property. If you can pay off the money you owe, that should feel great. To live debt-free feels incredible if you’ve lived with debt for a very long time.
You Might Have a Nest Egg if You Win Your Lawsuit or Get a Settlement Offer
Maybe you don’t have any debts, or you pay them off with your winnings, but still have some money left over. You will probably want to talk to any adults with whom you live. You can decide together what you might do with the rest of that money.
What you may do with it probably hinges on whether you have a lot left or just a little. If you have a little left, then you might decide you want to keep it and put it in a savings account.
You can have that money as your nest egg. You can keep it for your eventual retirement, or you might just have it handy in case you and your family encounter an unexpected expense.
No matter how carefully or frugally you live, you will probably have some unexpected expenses sometimes. Maybe someone in the family has a large medical bill or your car breaks down and you need to spend a couple of thousand dollars getting it drivable again.
No matter what expense you have, you can pull money out of your savings account and spend it. That’s one of the more responsible things you can do if you win a personal injury lawsuit or force a settlement.
You Might Buy a House for the First Time
Maybe you wanted to buy a house for many years, but you never had the money before. If you win your lawsuit and get some cash out of that, then perhaps you have enough to put a down payment on your home.
If you can pay a large chunk of the house’s cost, then you will not have to get a mortgage for very much money. A bank or credit union will often give you a mortgage for a relatively small amount if you can pay off most of the home’s cost during the initial purchase process.
If you have enough money to pay off the whole home right after the civil case concludes, then that’s even better. Imagine having your own house that you own free and clear. For many people, that’s the American dream.
You May Upgrade Your Car or Do Some Home Improvements
Maybe you’ll use the money you got to upgrade your car. If you have an older vehicle with some issues, then putting some work into it makes sense. You might even buy a new car if you feel it’s not worth resurrecting the old one.
Perhaps you already own your home, but it’s not in the best condition. You might have a to-do list for the house, but you can’t afford much of the rehab work.
If you get money from a personal injury lawsuit, though, you might improve your home. You can buy a new roof. You might fix cracks in the foundation.
Maybe you’ll install new windows or add a deck or backyard fence. All of that will improve the property’s resale value. It’s another responsible thing you might do with that windfall.
You Might Not Have the Money You Anticipated
We should also mention that if you lose your case, then you will get no money, and your finances won’t change. Understand that even if you’re very confident going into this lawsuit, something unexpected might happen.
If so, you must modify your plans. That’s why any ideas you have should remain hypothetical till you have the money.