There’s generally a sense of relief when a case settles. You no longer have to worry about a trial and what a jury might do with your case and generally speaking, there’s not much left you need to do. But there are a few things that need to get done before you can get your money.
Practicing personal injury law in Kansas City, here’s what we usually need to do in our cases before that happens.
You’ll need to sign a release.
In exchange for the money you’re getting in your case, the defendant, or his or her insurance company, will get a signed release. A release is a document with your promise to drop your case and never pursue a claim against the defendant again. The release usually contains other terms, and we always review them to make sure there’s nothing bad in there. But the main point of the release is you dropping your case in exchange for the money.
The check will need to clear.
Once the other side gets your signed release, they usually send a check for the gross settlement amount to my office. The check is usually made out to you and my law firm, so we need your endorsement, or permission to endorse, on the check. We then deposit the check into your trust account and wait for it to clear. Once its cleared, which usually takes about a week, we can then distribute the settlement proceeds to you.
We deduct fees and expenses.
When we distribute the funds, we first deduct our attorney’s fees and expenses. Then, we pay out any valid liens or claims for reimbursement on the settlement money. These things can come from unpaid medical bills, child support, or from your health insurance company or Medicare or Medicaid. Once those are paid, we send a check to you for your net recovery. We also send a settlement statement which shows the exact breakdown of the distribution.
The whole process, from settlement to getting money, usually takes about 3 to 4 weeks.
If you have questions about the settlement process, please feel free to contact my firm at any time at 816.867.8611. We only do personal injury cases in Missouri and Kansas and have plenty of experience settling cases.