Sticking The Landing In Your Personal Injury Case
Congratulations! You and your attorney have reached a negotiated agreement with the defendant and their attorney and your personal injury settlement check will soon be in your hands. Whether your Colorado Springs personal injury case took months or years to resolve, you are about to receive the money you deserve for the injuries and losses you experienced. Depending on the nature and extent of those losses, that personal injury settlement check may be a large one. But when it comes, you will want to make sure that you handle the proceeds in the best possible way.
There are several different options for depositing your personal injury settlement check. Which one is right for you depends on your circumstances and needs. Here is what you need to know about what to do with your check when it arrives.
Receipt of Your Personal Injury Settlement Check
The first thing to know about your personal injury settlement check is that you probably won’t receive it immediately when your case settles. You may have to wait several weeks or possibly months between the time you resolve your case and the time you receive your check.
Why the delay? Because the amount of your final settlement will not be the same as the amount of your settlement check. The defendant (or, more likely, their insurance company) will issue a check or otherwise transfer the full settlement amount to your personal injury attorney, who will then deposit it into a trust account. Your attorney will then deduct the agreed-upon percentage in your contingency fee agreement from the settlement proceeds as payment for their work on your case. Additionally, your lawyer will also subtract any reasonable expenses they incurred pursuing your claim.
Your attorney may also need to send some of the proceeds to any doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers who treated you for your injuries if they have yet to be paid. Once your attorney and healthcare providers receive their payments, you will receive the final settlement check. Most attorneys will provide you with an itemized statement of payments made from the settlement trust account at the time they release your final personal injury settlement check to you. If this statement is not given to you, request a copy for your records.
For More Information, Read Our Blog Article How Is A Settlement Paid Out From a Personal Injury Lawsuit?
Depositing Your Personal Injury Settlement Check At Your Bank
Most people deposit their personal injury settlement at their own bank. However, be aware that you may not have immediate access to the total amount, especially if your settlement was for a particularly large amount. Depending on your account and your bank’s policy, they may place a hold on some or all of the funds for several days.
Depositing your check with your bank is the safest and most prudent way to handle your personal injury settlement proceeds. But there are other ways to access those proceeds once you receive your check.
Cashing Your Check At a Bank
You can, of course, choose to cash your personal injury settlement check at the issuing bank. However, this course has some drawbacks.
First of all, having large sums of cash on hand is neither wise nor safe. Second, depending on the amount of the check, smaller bank branches, in particular, may not have the full amount of funds on hand to cash the check. If the bank branch needs to order funds from the federal reserve to provide you with the cash for the settlement check, you will be facing at least a 1-2 business day delay before receiving your funds. Even if this is not the case, you may be charged a small “non-account-holder fee” by the issuing bank.
Cashing a Check At Non-Bank Check-Cashing Locations
Cashing a Check At Non-Bank Check-Cashing LocationsIf you do not have a bank account or want to get your money immediately, you can cash your check at several types of non-bank, check-cashing locations. These include grocery and convenience stores or check-cashing/payday lending stores.
The check-cashing policies at a grocery or convenience store will include charging you a small fee and may limit the size of the check they will cash, usually at $5,000. Accordingly, this may not be an option if your personal injury settlement check is for a larger amount.
If you choose to go to a payday lending/check-cashing store, be prepared to pay a hefty fee for their services, often based on a percentage of the amount of the check. This could substantially reduce the amount of money that winds up in your pocket. Be careful and understand how much the store plans to take from you before handing over your check. You’ve waited a long time for that personal injury check, and the last thing you want to do is needlessly give that money to someone else.
King & Beaty: Colorado Springs Personal Injury Lawyers
If you have recently been injured in a car accident, slip and fall, or other accident, the experienced Colorado Springs personal injury attorneys at King & Beaty welcome the opportunity to speak with you about your options for recovering damages. We have helped countless clients on the Front Range get the compensation they deserve and need to move forward with their lives. And, yes, you pay nothing in attorneys’ unless we recover money for you. Please contact us today to arrange for your free initial consultation with an injury attorney.
