Community Chat

[151949]

My parents died as the result of an auto accident so I have the displeasure of having to more experience with this than I ever wanted. Basically, there are many variances - first of all the laws in your state- do you live in a state that has no tort laws - it makes a difference , unlesss you have a huge claim. Also - was it you or the other party who has been determined to be at fault - this makes a difference between weather you are going to be the party being sued or the party doing the sueing. Third - has your insurance co offered to provide you with an attorney? Basically - it is usual for an attorney to look over your case information and then meet with you to tell you if you have a case to sue the other party - in which case he would take your case and take his payment from the settlement he gets for you. If you are the party who was at fault - your insurance co should provide you with an attorney and (I guess depending on your coverage) they will pay him or you will - but you need a defense attorney. In our case I was fortunate that my parents were not at fault - the other driver was drunk and high - but it is still very complicated legally and we retained my Mom's cousin as our attorney.It was nice to have someone I have known all my life and felt comfortable with. our attorney handled everything - from dealing with the insurance co to the inevitable law suits to my parents estates - all of it. When I needed money to place my Dad into a nursing home where they take ventilators the attorney loaned me $50,000 deposit the home required. Then he went to the VA and did what was necessary to get them to pay for my dad's care for me, and i got the deposit back and was able to repay him. It would have been almost impossible for me to navigate all this myself - esp. as Pa is a non tort state so that really complicates the process.