How Long After a Settlement Do I Get Paid?

How Long After a Settlement Do I Get Paid?

  • The Fee Is Free Unless You Win®.
  • America's Largest Injury Law Firm™
  • Protecting Families Since 1988
  • 20 Billion+ Won
  • 1,000+ Lawyers Nationwide

Free Case Evaluation

Tell us about your situation so we can get started fighting for you. We tailor each case to meet our clients' needs.
Results may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstances.
Our results speak for themselves

The attorneys featured above are licensed in Florida. For a full list of attorneys in your state please visit our attorney page.

How Long After a Settlement Do I Get Paid?

The aftermath of a personal injury can take months or even years to address all the issues that are associated with sustaining one or more injuries. You have to receive medical care, which quickly racks up substantial bills. The extent of your injuries might be severe enough to prevent you from working, which means you do not have any income coming in to pay off rapidly increasing debts. On top of money and healthcare issues, your insurance company has denied your claim for financial assistance and you discover another party committed an act of negligence that caused your injuries.

There is a lot on your plate that one of the experienced personal injury attorneys at Morgan and Morgan can help clear.

One of the most important benefits of hiring a state-licensed personal injury lawyer is to deal with your insurance company and file a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages for the negligence committed by another party. The personal injury lawyer that you work with from Morgan and Morgan will try to negotiate a settlement with your insurance company and if needed, do the same with the attorney representing the defendant during a civil lawsuit.

After your personal injury attorney reaches a settlement, you might expect immediate payment. However, receiving the money owed to you from a legal settlement requires following several steps that prolong the payment process. If you want to know the answer to the question, “How long after a settlement do I get paid,” the answer is it depends on the complexity of your case and the professional skill level of your legal counsel.

At Morgan and Morgan, we have more than 30 years of experience negotiating favorable settlements for our clients. Our team of personal injury lawyers also has recovered more than $14 billion in the monetary damages awarded by judges presiding over civil trials. If your highly-rated personal injury attorney from Morgan and Morgan cannot reach an agreement with your insurance company and/or another party that committed one or more acts of negligence, your legal counsel will not hesitate to take legal action to recover your financial losses.

Schedule a free case evaluation today with one of the skilled litigators at Morgan and Morgan.

Scroll down for more
FAQ

Get answers to commonly asked questions about our legal services and learn how we may assist you with your case.

Morgan & Morgan

  • Do I Have a Choice On the Type of Legal Settlement?

    When you sit down with a Morgan and Morgan personal injury lawyer for a free case evaluation, your legal counsel will discuss several issues that require a decision. One of the first decisions for you to make involves choosing one of the two types of legal settlements.

    Structured

    A structured settlement means you receive a series of payments in monthly installments. You decide on the frequency of the payments, as well as the amount you want to receive each month. A structured legal settlement allows you to manage your money better by creating monthly budgets. For example, you set aside part of your settlement money each month to cover car, mortgage, and Internet payments. However, since you receive future payments, inflation might erode some of the value of your legal settlement.

    Lump-Sum

    A lump-sum payment represents the most common type of legal settlement. You receive the entire value of your settlement after your personal injury attorney accounts for several factors that determine the net value of your cash award. Deciding to go with a lump-sum arrangement ends the legal process, which means you no longer have to retain your legal counselor for support. You also avoid the money devaluing impact of inflation. If you are skilled at managing personal finances, then a lump-sum settlement makes sense. On the other hand, clients that have trouble managing a large sum of money should consider a structured legal settlement.

  • What Does a Legal Settlement Cover?

    A legal settlement covers two types of financial awards: Economic and non-economic damages. If your personal injury attorney decides it is in your best interest to file a lawsuit that seeks monetary damages, you also can ask the court to award you punitive damages.

    Economic Damages

    Economic damages cover tangible expenses, such as medical bills, property damage receipts, and lost wages. You have the right to request compensation for the costs associated with diagnostic tests, treatment programs, and physical therapy sessions. If you spent money out-of-pocket for prescription medications and an assistive device such as crutches, you should ask for compensation for those expenses as well.

    The key to getting an insurance claim approved and/or a favorable legal judgment issued by a judge during a civil trial involves submitting persuasive evidence. This means submitting copies of every medical bill and the receipts generated by paying for property damage. You also should submit timekeeping and bank account records to demonstrate how much you have lost in wages because of your injuries.

    Non-Economic Damages

    Non-economic damages do not come with a price tag like expenses such as medical bills. Your personal injury lawyer calculates a value for issues such as pain and suffering, which covers mental and emotional distress issues like fear, anxiety, and depression. Loss of consortium is another example of non-economic damages. To calculate a fair value for non-economic damages, your legal counselor refers to a formula that includes the variable called economic damages.

    The key is to submit a fair value for non-economic damages. Otherwise, your insurance company denies your claim and the judge hearing your case approves a much lower value for monetary damages.

  • How Long After a Settlement Do I Get Paid?

    Negotiations to reach a settlement begin when your personal injury lawyer submits an offer to your insurance company and/or the other party’s attorney. The insurance company and/or the other party’s lawyer can either accept, reject, or send back a counteroffer to continue negotiations. The back-and-forth counteroffers between your attorney and the other side can take a considerable amount of time before either both parties agree to a settlement or decide to take legal action to resolve the case.

    If you reach a legal settlement, you then discover the answer to the question, “How long after a legal settlement do I get paid.”

    Sign and Submit a Release Form

    Signing and submitting a release form prevents you from taking additional legal action against the other party. Your personal injury attorney carefully reviews the release form to ensure you receive the legal protections established by state and federal laws. Another document to submit is called the Order of Statement, which you have between 30 and 60 days to send to the other party. The Order of Statement verifies that you understand the terms and conditions explained in the legal settlement, as well as the legal ramifications of signing a release form.

    Settlement Check Goes to Your Personal Injury Lawyer

    One of the most common misconceptions our clients have concerns the distribution of the settlement check. The settlement check goes to the personal injury attorney that you hire from Morgan and Morgan. A percentage of the settlement check is your lawyer’s compensation. Because Morgan and Morgan operates on a contingency fee basis, you pay the agreed-upon fee that is calculated as a percentage of your total compensation. Your attorney also deducts court costs, as well as pays off any liens placed on your settlement check to cover debts. For example, if you owe $2,000 in medical bills, your lawyer deducts the medical bills lien from your settlement check.

    Receive Your Money

    For a lump-sum arrangement, you can meet with your personal injury attorney to receive the check or have it sent by certified mail to the address your legal counselor has on file. For structured settlement payments, setting up a direct deposit account ensures you receive your monthly checks on time. You also have the option to cash your settlement check or checks, but the cashing option costs a considerable amount of money and it can be a hassle to convince a bank or cash checking service to cash your settlement check or checks.

    The answer to the question, “How long after a settlement do I get paid” is anywhere between a couple of weeks or several months depending on the complexity of your settlement.

  • What Factors Can Delay the Reception of a Settlement Check?

    Several factors can play a role in delaying the reception of your legal settlement check. If you did not submit a properly completed release form, the court will send back the form for modifications. You then have to make the correct changes to the release form and send it back for processing. This can add between one and two weeks to the reception of your settlement check. If your settlement check involves several liens placed on it, your lawyer has to take the time required to process the payments of the liens and take care of the legal documents that accompany each lien. If you have racked up substantial debt, you might have numerous liens placed on your settlement that can take a month or two for processing. For example, your lawyer might have to pay off a lien to a hospital, car repair shop, healthcare specialist, and rehabilitation center.

    One of the most common reasons for a delay in the reception of a settlement check is accounting for weekends and holidays. Settlement checks do not get processed at the service centers operated by the United States Postal Service on weekends, as well as on state and federal holidays. When dealing with an insurance company, a delay in the processing of your settlement check can happen because the processing system is overwhelmed or the insurance company does not act with a sense of urgency. Hiring an experienced personal injury attorney who has established positive professional relationships with insurance adjusters can speed up the settlement check process.

  • Minimize the Amount of Time It Takes to Get Paid

    Working with one of the personal injury lawyers at Morgan and Morgan can reduce the amount of time you have to wait for your legal settlement check. Our personal injury attorneys possess superior negotiating skills to help you get paid by your insurance company, as well as reach a deal that helps you avoid a costly and time-consuming civil trial. Our attorneys respond promptly to emails, phone calls, and text messages to keep you updated on the status of your legal settlement check.

    Schedule a free case evaluation with a Morgan and Morgan personal injury attorney to learn more about the negotiation process.

Scroll down for more Load More

How it works

It's easy to get started.
The Fee Is Free Unless You Win®.

Results may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstances.

  • Step 1

    Submit
    your claim

    With a free case evaluation, submitting your case is easy with Morgan & Morgan.

  • Step 2

    We take
    action

    Our dedicated team gets to work investigating your claim.

  • Step 3

    We fight
    for you

    If we take on the case, our team fights to get you the results you deserve.

Settlement

$40,000,000

Customer Story

“I was in a difficult situation when I was injured by a faulty product. I was hesitant to seek legal help but with the help of Morgan & Morgan, they made the process easy. They took immediate action and got me the compensation I deserved. I couldn't have done it without them. I highly recommend their services.” Estate of Patricia Allen v. RJ Reynolds, et al. | 2014

Client success
stories that inspire and drive change

Explore over 55,000 5-star reviews and 800 client testimonials to discover why people trust Morgan & Morgan.

Results may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstances. Based on Select nationwide reviews

  • Video thumbnail for 5l3q2e67j8
    Wistia video play button
  • Video thumbnail for yfe952tcop
    Wistia video play button
  • Video thumbnail for z1bqwg9hkl
    Wistia video play button
  • Video thumbnail for s5nb3hnvkv
    Wistia video play button
  • Video thumbnail for t4elibxene
    Wistia video play button
  • Video thumbnail for 5nr9efxqj3
    Wistia video play button
  • Video thumbnail for e8s1x6u5jp
    Wistia video play button