Your personal injury settlement money is usually safe. California generally doesn’t allow garnishment of personal injury awards. However, in some circumstances, such as if the accident victim owes childcare support, a judge may order a garnishment.
When Can My Car Accident Compensation Be Garnished?
State law usually prevents the garnishment of financial awards stemming from car accidents. Creditors who are owed money by the victim wouldn’t be allowed to take some of that insurance money. Victims would instead be expected to use that money to pay their medical bills and support themselves and their families while they can’t work.
One exception would involve child support payments. If an accident victim was behind on child support, a judge might order accident compensation to be garnished to catch the parent up on those payments. Another situation where garnishment would be an option would be if both parents agreed that money would be garnished for this purpose outside of a court order.
How Can a Modesto Car Accident Lawyer Help Me Earn More?
If money will be taken from your accident settlement before you receive it, it’s critical to get the most out of the insurance claim as possible. Losing support can leave you or your family responsible for medical bills that go unpaid. You might fall behind on normal monthly bills when losing money that was meant to help you replace paychecks you’ve had to forfeit while you’ve been unable to work.
Allowing a car insurance adjuster to shortchange you with a “lowball” settlement offer simply won’t be an option.
If you suffer a serious injury on a Modesto road due to a reckless driver’s mistake, a lawyer may be able to get you thousands of dollars more in a settlement than you could have earned by filing your case yourself.
This additional support is especially important if you owe back child support. Once a garnishment is complete, you’ll want as much left over to help you heal and rebuild your life as possible.
Your lawyer would be taking these actions to help you hold an insurance company fully accountable for a careless motorist’s actions:
- Fully investigate your accident
- Protect you if an insurance company tries to point the finger of blame at you
- Make sure insurers can’t undervalue your injuries
- File a claim that doesn’t leave out any damages, including pain and suffering support
- Negotiate to earn you the most possible for your injury and your car damage
- File a lawsuit backed with evidence if an insurer refuses to accept full liability
Talk Over Your Case with a Modesto Car Accident Attorney for Free!
If you suffered a serious injury in a car accident and a careless driver was to blame, a lawyer may be able to help you earn much more in an accident claim than you could earn for yourself. Contact Maison Law Accident & Injury Lawyers of Modesto to schedule a free, confidential consultation with a real Modesto car accident lawyer. We want to hear what happened to you and partner with you to secure help dealing with your economic and non-economic hardships.
Keep in mind that you don’t have any savings to afford powerful legal representation. If you need our help earning what’s fair, we don’t get paid unless we win your case for you. Then our pay comes out of the settlement check an at-fault driver’s car insurer must pay you.