If you've been injured in Modesto, California, you may be offered either a structured settlement or a lump sum payment for your medical expenses, lost wages and/or pain and suffering. Personal injury cases are traditionally settled by insurance companies to avoid legal action. If you've experienced a personal injury because of the negligence of someone else, it's important to remember that the job of insurance adjustors is to keep settlements as small as possible.
Hiring a personal injury lawyer can help you maximize your recovery amount through either a structured settlement or lump sum payment. Which you choose is up to you, but here are some of the benefits of each:
Lump Sum Payments
Often, minor or moderate injuries are settled with lump sum payments, given the fact that these injuries don't usually warrant exorbitant amounts or the need to factor in the costs of future medical payments. An example would be a broken arm from a slip and fall injury. This sort of injury should heal normally in a finite amount of time without recurring issues in the future, so a one-time payment would likely be enough to satisfy the legal responsibility of the negligent party.
Structured Settlements
More severe injury cases are typically compensated through structured settlements for two reasons. First, the amount of these types of settlements (i.e. for disfigurement, paralysis or other lifelong injuries) can be quite sizeable, so insurance companies prefer to pay them over time. Second, these amounts are often structured to accommodate the costs of ongoing or future medical expenses that may not be calculable at the time of the injury.
Structured settlements have several benefits. They are considered tax-free income, which means that you keep 100% of the settlement without having to ever pay taxes on the sum. Also, you'll receive payments over the long-term, which can help sustain you and your family, even if you're unable to work. Finally, structured settlements allow you to use the money to pay for a variety of expenses related to your injury at your discretion.
