How Long Does It Take to Get Paid After a Settlement?

When Will I Get My Settlement?

Contrary to popular belief, most personal injury claims are not resolved through a courtroom battle but through the process of negotiating a settlement. However, clients generally want to know how long it will take for the payout to arrive after the settlement agreement. Just as obtaining a settlement agreement is a process, so is securing payment on a settlement.

If you want compensation after someone else’s carelessness or recklessness injured you, read on to learn more. To learn more about your legal options and answer questions about your case, contact an experienced attorney to get started.

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The Settlement Process

A settlement is an out-of-court resolution for your claim that occurs when the at-fault party’s insurance provider offers compensation for your injuries that is less than the established value of your claim. The process of agreeing on a settlement can take time.

Settlement agreement times also depend on the willingness of the insurance provider to make an offer that fairly compensates you for the expenses and impacts of your injury. Once an agreement is in place, it can take up to six weeks to receive your compensation. Below are the common phases of the settlement process.

Hiring an Experienced Personal Injury Lawyer

If you seek compensation for injuries that occurred due to someone else’s negligence, you will want to speak with an experienced personal injury lawyer about your claim. While having an attorney is not required to engage in the process, attorneys play a vital role in the success of personal injury claims.

By the time you meet your attorney, they have completed at least seven years of post-high school education and have passed the bar exam to obtain a license to practice law. They have also likely spent years learning the ropes in the personal injury arena. This includes the legal personal injury claims process, the type of compensation needed after severe injury, the actions insurance companies are required to take when they receive a third-party personal injury claim against the insured’s policy, and the formalities and expectations of the court.

Why is this experience significant? Because personal injury claims are complex, insurance adjusters often bank on the claimant’s lack of legal knowledge to use tactics to reduce or eliminate payouts on claims filed by people who were injured by their insured.

Your attorney’s experience helps protect the value of your claim from these tactics. In addition, your lawyer’s experience and communication skills can help them garner a fair settlement for you. If the insurance adjuster fails to offer a fair settlement, this experience is also essential for your case as a personal injury lawsuit filed in civil court.

The Demand

Once you have hired an experienced personal injury lawyer to assist you with your claim, they will go to work investigating the details of your case and the injuries you have suffered to:

1. Determine all liable parties and their associated insurance resources
2. Establish a value to your claim based on the severity of your injury and the expenses and psychological impacts you incurred because of it

After determining liability and your claim’s value, your attorney will send a demand package to the at-fault party’s insurance provider. This package includes details of your accident, documentation of injuries and expenses, and a demand for payment of the claim’s value.

Once the adjuster has received and reviewed this information, they can either:

• Accept the liability of their insured and pay the claim as demanded. There is no need for settlement negotiations if this occurs because your case resolves.
• Deny the claim and provide notification and a reason for the denial to the claimant. If this happens, you and your attorney will likely consider going ahead and filing your claim in court.
• Accept some insured liability and make a settlement offer.

Settlement Negotiations

If the at-fault party’s insurance provider offers a settlement, your attorney will discuss the details of that settlement with you and guide you as to what a fair settlement is for your claim. It is important to note that even though your attorney is handling the negotiations for you, the decision to accept a settlement is yours to make.

If you do not feel that the offered settlement equates to fair compensation for your claim, your attorney can continue negotiating. As the statute of limitations draws near for your ability to file your claim in court and a settlement has not been obtained, you and your attorney can determine that it is time to file the lawsuit. However, even after you file a lawsuit and as your attorney prepares your case for trial, settlement negotiations can continue, and you may reach an agreement.

The Offer

You should never accept a settlement offer if it does not fairly compensate you for your injury.

Fair compensation, at minimum, should cover:

• Past, current, and estimated future medical expenses related to your injury
• Income loss for when you were too injured to work
• Lost earning capacity if your injury results in a permanent disability, and you can no longer earn in the same capacity
• Any property damage you suffered in the accident, such as damage to your vehicle in an auto accident
• Pain and suffering you experienced as a result of your injury

One of your attorney’s most important roles is to guide you through the process so that you have an understanding of what your claim is worth, what you will likely need in the future as a result of your injury, and whether the insurance company might make a higher offer.

The Agreement

Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute explained that a settlement is an agreement that ends a dispute and results in a voluntary dismissal of any litigation into the matter.

Settlement agreements are often the preferred way to resolve personal injury claims because:

• Litigation is time-consuming and expensive for all parties involved.
• Settlements allow both the claimant and the defendant to “have a say” in terms of the resolution, while litigation places all decisions to be made in the matter in the hands of the court.
• Generally, a settlement agreement can resolve a claim within a year. Due to court scheduling issues, it can take 1-2 years for the trial to begin after a personal injury lawsuit has been filed.

Signing the Release

Once you decide to accept a settlement offer, there will be several documents for you to sign, including a release form stating that you have no further claims to make against the at-fault party’s insurance and that you will not come back in the future to seek additional compensation. Your attorney may try to speed this part of the process up by creating a release form and having that ready to submit to the insurance company as soon as the agreement is in place.

Your Attorney Receives the Money

As soon as the insurance company receives your signed release, they will issue payment. This can take hours or days. The payment will be made in the names of both you and your attorney and will be sent to your attorney.

Your Attorney Gets Paid

Most personal injury attorneys are paid through a contingent fee billing method. This means that your payment for your lawyer’s services is contingent upon a favorable outcome to your claim. You and your attorney enter into a contingent fee agreement when you begin working together. The agreement spells out the services your attorney provides for you in exchange for a percentage of your settlement. When your attorney receives your settlement payment, they will collect the agreed-upon rate.

Your Creditors Get Paid

In addition to outlining the percentage of your settlement that will be paid to your attorney upon receiving your settlement, your contingent fee agreement will also outline your attorney’s responsibilities to pay your creditors directly. Many healthcare providers, group health insurance providers, and providers of government-funded insurance (such as Medicaid) will place liens on a settlement to ensure that they are paid for the services they have provided for you. Often, there is an opportunity for your attorney to negotiate the amount you owe on these liens to allow more money to be available for you.

You Get Paid

After your attorney has paid themselves and your creditors, you will have a meeting with them to finalize your claim. There will be additional documents to sign, and afterward, you will receive the remainder of the compensation owed to you. One of the documents you must sign is a distribution document that lists the exact amounts of what has been paid out of the settlement and to whom.

Will You Receive All of Your Compensation at Once?

There is plenty of space in the settlement negotiation process to determine and voice how you would like the settlement paid. Settlements are paid either through a lump sum, meaning you get all the compensation owed to you in one payment, or through a structured settlement, which provides the compensation in a series of payments for a specified amount of times.

Options include obtaining a more significant payment upfront and then receiving smaller payments on the remainder of the compensation.

The type of settlement you choose depends on several factors, such as:

• The amount of money you owe to creditors. Structured settlements can often take longer for you to satisfy the liens and pay off other creditors.
• How you intend to use the money. If you plan to purchase a home, go back to school, or some other significant life change, you will likely want to have the money in a lump sum to enable these more significant purchases.
• Who the money is for. Often, compensation obtained by minors is placed in a structured settlement, so they have access to funds when they need it, but the bulk of the money is reserved in a trust or account until they reach the age of majority.

Issues That Can Delay Payment on a Settlement

Many of the delays commonly encountered during the process of receiving your settlement payment are through no fault of either party. These common delays include weekends and bank holidays that can cause a temporary slowdown of processed payments or delays resulting in how often the insurance company processes payments, as many only do so once a week.

How to Speed up Your Settlement

In addition to having your release prepared in advance, your attorney can take additional actions to speed up the time it takes to receive your settlement. These include ensuring they have all the documents needed to provide to the insurance company in advance and using expedited shipping and return receipt mailings when submitting documents to avoid having the insurance company state that they had not yet received the documents.

If you have additional creditors that you are responsible for paying when you receive the funds, you can speak with your attorney about the option of having them release part of the settlement funds to you in advance while retaining the portion needed to pay them and the creditors they are responsible for paying.

A Personal Injury Attorney Can Help You Obtain Compensation for Your Injuries

After settlement negotiations, many people are understandably anxious to receive their compensation after the back and forth. Your attorney understands your need for compensation and will work to ensure that it gets into your hands as quickly as possible.

Contact a personal injury attorney today to learn more about the personal injury claims process and the services they can provide to assist you in obtaining compensation through either a negotiated settlement or a court award.