An unexpected car accident can completely derail your life. Not only do you have to sort out the damage to your vehicle and the changes that can come to your family, but you also can suffer injuries that immediately affect your ability to care for your family, go to work, or even live without pain for many weeks or months to come.
Families who experience car accidents also fall under a sudden and seemingly insurmountable financial burden. All the changes and financial pressure can cause a great deal of stress, which only make injury recovery more challenging.
Follow this guide to reduce stress during this most challenging time, especially as you are recovering or managing an injury.
Contact a Lawyer as Soon as Possible
You might not feel that you need a lawyer to negotiate for your accident. Maybe the crash was minor, or maybe your car or medical insurance offers reasonable coverage for the bills, so you’re not as concerned about it. But car accident cases can get complex as they unfold, and not all injuries are immediately apparent.
Unfortunately, people may not contact legal help until they are buried in insurance paperwork and medical bills, and then it’s harder to compile a case. You’ll save yourself time and stress if you hand the bulk of the problem solving to a legal representative.
When you are not at fault for the accident, managing your car accident case becomes complicated. You want compensation from the other driver’s insurance, but sometimes, it can be hard to prove fault, and in those cases, insurance companies withhold payment or try not to pay out as much as you need.
Contacting a lawyer as soon as you can after an accident helps because your lawyer takes point on collecting witness statements, gathering medical information, and assessing the difficulties ahead before they happen, making it much easier for you to get insurance coverage for financial setbacks.
Your lawyer also does all the negotiating, which prevents you from making costly mistakes, such as giving statements or inadvertently admitting fault. Your lawyer can manage a lot of the paperwork, calls, waiting on hold, and headaches that you would normally handle for yourself. You won’t have to fight with insurance companies about getting the compensation you need.
You also can send your medical bills and reports directly to your lawyer so you don’t have to figure out how they will be paid. Instead, your lawyer will negotiate for payment after your expected settlement comes through. The accumulated bills help to show how much you deserve for compensation.
Don’t be worried about paying for an accident attorney; they get paid through the settlements you get, taking a percentage of what they can win for you.
Remember Settlements Are Good for Stress
Many people refrain from contacting good legal representation because they imagine drawn out court dates with fights back and forth. But most car accident injury lawsuits are settled out of court, and the lack of intense litigation is very good for stress levels.
Sometimes, insurance companies will offer very low compensation settlements, and people take them just to avoid the stress of fighting for more. Your lawyer will advise you on whether or not the settlement is fair since drawing out the process for little payback hurts both you and them.
If you are feeling more and more stressed every day, communicate this with your legal representation. Explain your need for resolution, and explain you want avoid a long, complicated process if you can. Settlements can be a good thing if they are fair and keep your stress levels at bay.
A settlement can also help with stress because you are guaranteed at least some compensation. If the case is complicated, the judge and jury decide your outcome could mean that you have no financial gain to show for your effort and time. If you have to worry about whether or not you’ll succeed, you’re better off with a settlement.
Include Lifestyle Help in Your Settlement
Injuries affect your ability to live life as you did before. Severe injuries, such as head trauma and spinal damage, could mean permanent changes to your lifestyle. However, for stress management, you want to find a new normal as you navigate your life. This process might require help from outside sources.
Stress can come when you feel buried by day-to-day tasks like getting children to school or getting the dishes done. Speak with your lawyer about your inability to cope with the things you could easily do before. Even simple tasks like typing out an email, doing dishes, or switching over laundry can be much more challenging.
If you find yourself struggling to manage because of injury, you might need to hire someone to do tasks for you. This cost could be included as part of your injury payout because of how it affects you and your family.
For more advice on dealing with a personal injury claim while you recover, contact our legal team at Otorowski, Morrow and Golden, PLLC.