Safeguarding Your Financial Future Following Injuries
Being offered a settlement for your injuries may seem like a victory, but there is still a lot of work ahead as you plan the rest of your life. Since many injuries can have life-long consequences that aren't easy to detect at first glance, you'll need to plan ways to keep your finances at a stable level no matter how much your condition changes. Consider a few ways to push for better financial safety in settlements to craft a negotiation plan that supports you and isn't as likely to be rejected by your opponent.
Be Confident In Your Demands
As you look to your future costs, consider what you won't be able to do if injury conditions get worse. Assess your work life, personal life and the cost of hobbies, as each has a major impact on the way you live. As you put facts behind what you're owed, you can more confidently demand compensation.
For your work life, consider how the injury affects your job performance. If you're unable to work at all, it was seem like a simple fact of being compensated for your old pay rate, but it gets a bit more complicated than that. You need to consider your potential for being promoted, joining new teams or even moving to new types of work.
Potential may be difficult to argue on the negotiating table, especially if there's any question of fault that allows your legal opponent to bargain against your demands effectively. Higher demands can help by making sure that your demands can at least go higher than what you're owed and hopefully not much lower.
Personal Life Has Monetary Value
For your personal life and hobbies, you need to understand that you may not be able to move around and enjoy life as much as you used to. Your lack of an earned income or reduced income may end your hobbies until the settlement comes through, or your family may be strained because of financial hardship.
You shouldn't be expected to suffer for the rest of your life with nothing to enjoy. While hobbies aren't as tangible or necessary as medical coverage and job rehabilitation, the mental health and stress relief factors shouldn't be ignored.
Bargain for your losses plus interest. Bills, assistance from friends and family and the hardship that you and those around you suffer should all be factored in when it comes to paying you. If you're unable to drive or sit unattended, make sure that those who have assisted you are compensated. Even if you're getting help from a school-aged child or other relative, their time is still important and just as affected by hardship.
To begin designing a negotiation plan that takes all of life's costs into consideration, contact a personal injury attorney from Kaiser Law Group or a similar firm.
