Insurance settlements while in a 13

[becky20]

So this is extremely premature, but I just thought I'd ask...

Today dh and I were in a car accident - my mom and dad and our 2 year old daughter, and the two of us. It was the other persons fault. My dad and dh went to urgent care - dad has major back pain, and dh has a horrible knee pain and they think he may have torn a ligament and need surgery.

I'm guessing at some point we'll be talking to insurance about getting reimbursement for time off work, medical bills, etc.

So my question is, how do we find out what our state exemptions are, if anything?

[BigJohn]

I believe you are entitled to what it takes to get everybody back on their feet and repair of your car, but any lump settlement for pain and suffering, etc., I believe goes to the Trustee.

Before we filed I was thinking of filing a medical lawsuit. Our layer informed us when we filed that any settlement would go to the lawyer. If I was your husband, I would not plan on going back to work right away.

[Flamingo]

You need to inform your lawyer right away about this because if you and your hubby are both in active Chapter 13 and he cannot work for a while, there will need to be income to cover the Chapter 13. He will need to check as to his short and long-term disability at work and also what the auto insurance company may cover as to this and if you get a personal injury lawyer involved, your Chapter 13 attorney will need to know. You have a lot of work ahead of you with this and be thankful it wasn't much worse. I wish your hubby and dad a speedy recovery.

[becky20]

Thought I would post an update... DH ended up having knee surgery - missed a total of 6 weeks of work and spent months in physical therapy. Received a decent settlement from the insurance company and our attorney said that a personal injury award for a post petition accident would not be considered "income" and as such would not be required to be submitted to the Trustee. Such awesome news!!

unfortunately, dh is now dealing with a fractured vertebrae due to a SECOND car accident that happened after 4th of July - again completely not his fault - missed 6 weeks of work and we have no idea how much we'll be incurring in medical bills this time around - but good to know that any settlement we get from this one as well wouldn't need to be given to the trustee!

[rrockinggramma]

wow I wish your husband a speedy recovery. Stay away from vehicles!!!!!!