Steve Harrelson, a personal injury lawyer Little Rock, AR trusts, discusses the procedure of resolving an open suit in the event a client passes away prior to settlement.  Lawyers, let’s say you represent a woman for a bodily injury claim in connection with a car accident.  The claim won’t resolve itself, so you file suit in a court of competent jurisdiction, serve the Defendant, and begin the discovery process.

At some point prior to trial, your client passes away due to unrelated causes.  However, her husband and three children come into your office subsequent to her death, and the five of you reach a settlement with the insurer.

Probate and Personal Injury Lawyer Little Rock, AR

How do you resolve the case and distribute the settlement proceeds?  The good news is that most jurisdictions won’t require you to substitute the party in the civil case, nor will the court require you to even ask for a stay of proceedings or leave of court to resolve probate issues.  However, you will need some expertise in probate matters in order to move forward.

Since the check cannot be made out to the decedent, you will need to initiate probate proceedings to have a special or personal representative appointed, and then you will have to have the settlement approved by both the civil court and the probate court.  If your client’s husband and all three children are in agreement with the settlement, prepare a Waiver of Notice and Consent to Settlement for each of them to sign and file of record in the probate matter.  If the decedent’s home is a probate asset, you will need full probate administration in most states.

Yes, you will need to prepare the family that this is a process, and that it will require some additional filing fees and hearings, and it may even require you bringing on a probate attorney if you don’t feel comfortable in the realm of decedent’s estates.  However, this will be the only way you can fully resolve this for your client’s family and close out the open civil case.  And, of course, if your client passes away prior to trial, nothing prevents you from having a personal representative appointed, substituting in the estate for the Plaintiff, and going to trial.

For these reasons, it is always smart to associate a veteran litigator and experienced trial lawyer who has been involved in these particular issues in personal injury and probate cases.  Steve Harrelson, a personal injury lawyer Little Rock AR trusts, has successfully resolved cases of personal injury all over Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas.  If you or a loved one has been injured or killed due to someone else’s negligence, the lawyers at the Harrelson Law Firm in Little Rock, Shreveport, and Texarkana stand ready to help.

Thanks to Steve Harrelson and our friends and co-contributors from Harrelson Law Firm, P.A. for their added insight into potential probate issues in personal injury cases.

As New York workers’ compensation attorneys handling workers’ compensation or on the job injury claims, we are very often asked about eligibility for Social Security Disability.  There is often confusion between the different types of disability and who is entitled to what benefits.  This article should help clear up the confusion

Workers’ compensation is paid when there is an on the job injury that prevents you from working.  It serves as a wage replacement system.   In contrast, if an off the job injury prevents you from working you may be entitled to temporary disability.  These are exclusive, opposite remedies and you are only entitled to one of them.

If you suffer from an injury or illness that is expected to keep you out of work for a year or more you may qualify for Social Security disability, regardless of whether the injury or illness was the result of your work.  While New York State workers’ compensation only covers you for a disability that is directly attributable an on-the-job injury, Social Security looks at your overall condition to determine if you are entitled to benefits.  You can receive both workers’ compensation and Social Security at the same time, with Social Security being offset for workers’ compensation.

So if, for example, you have a work injury to your back and you also suffer from high blood pressure, you can receive your workers’ compensation benefits for your back injury and Social Security for both the back and high blood pressure.  Even if the injuries from your work injury would not rise to the level of severity needed to win a claim in workers’ compensation,  you may  have other injuries or medical conditions, not related to the underlying accident, the totality of which could result in being approved for Social Security.

If you have been out of work due to an on the job injury for more than 6 months you should apply for Social Security Disability.  The benefits you receive from workers’ compensation can be supplemented by your Social Security.  While you can get Social Security and workers’ compensation at the same time, in most circumstances, the maximum combined amount is about 80% of what your earnings were before you were injured.   It is very important to keep Social Security advised of the money you are receiving from your workers’ compensation case.  If your workers’ compensation benefits are lowered, your Social Security may go up as the reduction may bring you below the level of the original offset.

Obtaining workers’ compensation and Social Security can be very challenging and it can be very important that you speak to attorneys who specialize in these areas to get the legal advice you need to protect your rights and your benefits.

Thanks to our friends and blog authors at Polsky, Shouldice & Rosen, P.C. for their insight into workers’ compensation and Social Security benefits.