Settlement money, what should I do now???

[DanThaMan]

A few years ago I was involved in an accident,
and now my case has been finally resolved in a nice
monetary settlement of nearly $125,000. I currently
reside in Illinois.

To make a long story short, I am VERY nervous because
I don't know how will this affect my SSI and SSDI
benefits, as well as other things...such as medicaid
and my section 8 housing, etc, etc. FYI, many years ago
I already had a pre-existing disability due to a spinal
cord injuryand my condition was diagnosed as paraplegia.

One thing I do know for sure is that my medicare
insurance has already informed [actually, they
informed me about this about a month *after* the
incident happened!!] that they *will* seek to recover
their monies for the hospital bills that were incurred
as a result of this accident.

Anyway, I am ABSOLUTLEY ecstatic because hopefully
I'll now be able to buy myself a very nice van that
I've been fantasizing about and maybe start some smart
investing techniques leading towards purchasing a home
somtime in the future!! I've been poor practically all
my life and never had that kind of money before: I
feel that my proverbial "ship has finally come in"!!!
Whew...just thinking of that van sends chills up my
body 'cuz this entails greater freedom and
independence for me (LOL).

However, at the same moment I'm also very nervous and
extremely afraid too because of the afformentioned
delimas (SSI, SSDI, medicaid) may reduce my settlement
money to little or nothing - shattering my dreams and
hopes ;-(

The award money hasn't been issued yet, but will be
here within 2-4 weeks. Can someone P-L-E-A-S-E advise
me on what should I do??? I thought about the idea of
having some relatives of mines conceal my upcoming
fortune by letting them deposit the cash in their own
bank acounts, but I really don't have that needed
trust in them.

Thanks ALOT,
Dan

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My response:

You really didn't give us enough information about the nuts and bolts of your case, and the damages you incurred - - rather, you were telling us about your dreams and plans for "fraud."

However, despite the above, I will speak generally about your situation. In the average personal injury settlement, there are attorney's fees, court costs, expert fees, and medical bills to be paid - - all of which get paid by your attorney from your settlement amount before you see your first dime.

Realistically, and after all of your expenses are paid, you'll be very lucky if you see a "Net" amount of $25,000 to $40,000.00 in your pocket.

Good luck to you.

IAAL

 

[DanThaMan]

Re: I AM ALWAYS LIABLE

Thank you for your response and really I appreciated it! Regarding the award monies: I recieved an *overall* higher settlement amout than I stated and my lawyer's fees were already computed and deducted, thus giving me a NET total of $125,000.

The only amount that wasn't figured into the above award was medicare's hospital costs - which is approximately $35,000. However, I was told by my attorneys that they will attempt to "negotiate" with medicare in an effort reduce that amount.

The reason why I didn't mention the damages I incurred nor the "nuts and bolts of my case" as you put it is because I didn't feel it necessay nor *relevant* to the question and/or concerns that I'm seeking answers to!!!

Now, you can label this "fraud" if you want to (the concealment of my upcoming assests), but I gotta say this to you. In some respects you may be correct, but I just received an e-mail from some wise person advising me to look into an attorney that specializes in what's called a "Special Needs Trust." Do you know what that is and can you tell me more information about it? Thanks again