Disability and Settlement Planning

When injury, chronic illness or lifelong disability alters the landscape of day-to-day life, the financial and legal issues facing a family grow complicated and overwhelming. When eligibility for assistance is threatened because of an injury settlement, inheritance, workers compensation claim, divorce settlement, Social Security back payment or other welcome, but unplanned-for lump sum payment, the complication grows faster.

We can help manage new funds, show you the impact they will have and advise you how to keep benefits and use the settlement for your supplemental needs. More importantly, we can help plan for the best use and organization for a lump sum before it arrives, so that assistance programs stay in place, and important decisions can be considered and made with ample time instead of in a crisis mode. In the end, the planning we use will give the person with the disability the financial opportunity to do the extra things that bring joy and comfort.

Disability and settlement planning is also an invaluable service the our attorney colleagues working to secure settlements in the first place. We can provide the perspective and context needed to understand the value of a potential settlement and we are at the forefront of dealing with the external influences that can distract the settlement attorney. We can worry about the client’s needs and eligibility for government assistance so the settlement attorney doesn’t have to.

We can advise the settlement attorney about Medicare conditional payments and set asides, Medical Assistance liens, Qualified Settlement Funds and a host of other external influences and settlement management tools so he or she can concentrate on maximizing the settlement.