Will Your Special Child’s Personal Injury Lawyer Screw Up the Case?
Does your child’s personal injury lawyer know whether your child ought to have a special needs trust? Unfortunately, many personal injury lawyers don’t know how a special needs trust can protect their young clients.
I recently participated in a seminar sponsored by the Fairfax Bar Association and the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association. It was eye opening! A disabled child who receives Medicaid or Social Security benefits and who also receives money from a personal injury case could lose all her benefits if her personal injury lawyer doesn’t make the right arrangements to protect them.
Every personal injury lawyer should know the answers to these questions:
1. What types of clients needs special needs trusts?
2. When should a lawyer start figuring that out?
3. Who would the lawyer call to get her clients’ special needs taken care of?
If your child’s injury lawyer doesn’t know the answer to the first question, go find another lawyer.
Here’s the answer to the second question: Immediately, at the first meeting, the lawyer should start figuring out whether the client might need a special needs trust.
True scary story. A personal injury lawyer in Texas, a friend of mine, was asked for advice on how to allocate the money the woman’s disabled father received in his personal injury case. The goal was to maintain his Medicaid and Social Security disability benefits. Big problem: Her father had already received the funds! (This was not my friend’s case.) The daughter had gotten information from the Internet about “supplemental needs trust” and “purchase of a single premium annuity.” Unfortunately, it was too late to take advantage of either of these asset protection plans. Disaster. He’ll lose his benefits and much more.
Too bad her father’s lawyer didn’t know she should call the best special needs trust lawyer in town. Now, that lawyer must tell her own malpractice insurance carrier that she screwed up that gentleman’s case.
If you are in Virginia, and your child has been seriously injured, and you want to talk to someone about whether a special needs trust or structured settlement ought to be considered, give me a call. I don’t know how to set them up, but I sure do know the best special needs trust lawyer in town. And, sometimes, that’s the best advice a lawyer can give.
My number is 703-260-6070, send me an email at Sandra@RohrstaffLaw.com or contact me through our website, www.RohrstaffLaw.com.
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