http://www.727injury.com (727) 381-2300 St Petersburg Personal Injury Attorneys McQuaid & Douglas
How long does it take a client in a personal injury case to get their check after their case settles? Now it came up with this topic because we get a lot of questions from clients calling our office asking where's their check, where's their check? And we constantly have to explain the procedure and the process of what happens after the personal injury case settles so that they're able to understand what all is going on. So I figured, let's put together a video and informational video where our clients can watch this and then understand completely the process so that they're dot anticipating a check for example the next day, which by the way, a lot of people do. So let's go back to the first step in the process. You have a personal injury case. Doesn't matter if it's a car accident, slip and fall, truck accident, auto accident, motorcycle accident, whatever the case may be.
The process of the settlement is generally the same. So you agree, you've agreed with the insurance adjuster or even in a, um, uh, in a litigated case, you've agreed with the other lawyer on a set amount of dollars. Now if the case is in a lawsuit and usually you'll be dealing directly with an adjuster, but sometimes everything will go through. The lawyer just sort of depends. So you've got your dollar figure settlement on your personal injury case. Well it doesn't happen automatically that you get your check the next day. First the insurance company needs from the law firm a w nine a they'll watch uh, our tax ID number. They'll also want to know how the check is to me made payable and that's usually pretty easy. Now there's two, there's two ways that insurance companies handle the next step. Some just mail out the check to us with a release.
Some send the release first, have us review it, have the client sign it and send back before they'll issue the check. So obviously the first way to sending the check in the release, that's a lot quicker because all we need to do is get the client in checks already there. We deposit it. The second way, again, may delay the case as long as it takes for us to review the release, get declined in to sign it and send it back. And then they start the, the processing of the check. So insurance company will then process the check, they send it out, we receive it, it's not as simple as, as soon as we get the check, we turn it over to you. What happens is at least at our office, we deposit every single check and then we have to hold it seven to 10 days.
And that's just to make sure that it clears. All right, so what should have been happening the, and this is really the next step that ties up cases and makes our clients very anxious. So once you're in the process of negotiating the settlement, the lawyer and the staff should be pulling together all of the outstanding medical bills and knowing basically what you're going to owe, um, as far as paying any of those bills out of the settlement. Uh, generally while this is going on, while the settlement is happening or why you're waiting on the check, your law firm should be calling the, uh, providers and trying to negotiate those balances so you have an exact amount down to the penny, but sometimes not all providers answer quickly. Sometimes staff gets overwhelmed, maybe they miss a bill here and there, so that can delay the process a little bit.
To read the full transcription, please visit our website:
http://www.727injury.com/video-series/how-long-does-it-take-to-get-a-check-after-a-personal-injury-case/
*The above has been transcribed by a third party service and has not been checked for accuracy
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St Petersburg Personal Injury Attorneys McQuaid & Douglas are committed to helping their clients achieve the best possible outcome. If you or a loved one has suffered a personal injury due to someone else’s negligence, don’t hesitate, contact us today at (727) 381-2300. We are open 24/7 and you will be speaking with an attorney.
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