If you have secured the services of a Bexar County, Texas personal injury lawyer and won your personal injury case, you will receive your compensation. However, before it is paid out, you may notice that you have a lien or two on your settlement. What this means is that part of your settlement needs to be paid out to someone else before you can collect on your settlement. Most of the time, a lien is legitimate and you do have to pay it. A lawyer can help you figure out if a lien instead needs to be negotiated or fought.
Who Can Put a Lien on My Settlement?
The entities that can place a lien on your personal injury settlement are often ones that have incurred some sort of debt as a result of your accident. Many liens come from:
- Health insurance providers
- Government benefit providers
- Healthcare providers
- Workers comp insurance providers, if you were injured on the job
These are all entities that may have had to pay for something, like medical care, as a result of your accident. Now that you have received a settlement, they look to be reimbursed for the funds or services that they provided earlier.
Can a Lien Be Negotiated?
In some cases, yes. Sometimes a lien is valid, but it should not be taking so much from your settlement. In other situations, someone who placed a lien on your settlement should not actually be doing that. You should not have to pay off this entity in any way before you get your settlement.
It can be difficult to negotiate liens on your own, but an experienced lawyer can help you navigate this challenge if it comes up.
Can Liens Be Ignored?
As we mentioned, sometimes a lien has been placed by a party that has no real right to place a lien on your settlement. Can you just ignore them?
Unfortunately, no. If there is any confusion here, it needs to be cleared up. Simply ignoring the lien can just cause more issues. Think of this as any other debt. If you check your credit report and find a debt that should not be on there, just ignoring it can mess with your credit score and ability to secure future loans and credit. You need to address it and show that you should not be responsible for it.
How Can a Lawyer Help?
Your lawyer can help in a few key ways here. First of all, they can tell you who and who is not entitled to a lien on your personal injury settlement. Second, they can help you negotiate those legitimate liens. Sometimes these liens are quite high, and a lawyer can convince someone to take less money than they initially asked for.
Contact Our Law Firm
If you are ready to pursue a personal injury case of your own, do not delay. Contact Sahadi Legal Group and schedule a free consultation with our team today. We can answer your questions about settlements, liens, and anything else.
