Car Accidents And Bankruptcy

As a Bankruptcy and Personal Injury lawyer, I receive a rather unique perspective in my practice. Lately, I am seeing more bankruptcy clients who fell behind on their monthly payments, credit cards, mortgages, etc. because of injuries they received in a motor vehicle accident.

Individuals are not immune from car accidents, and let’s face it, accidents usually happen at the most inconvenient times. With the holiday season in full swing, there are more cars on the roads than ever before. Car accidents which cause an innocent party injuries are horrible, but when you compound this with missing work, it can also be financially devastating to individuals.

This morning, I wrote a blog on what to do if you are involved in an automobile accident in Florida for my new Personal Injury blog. I wrote this blog for my clients and others who simply do not know what they should do if they are in a motor vehicle accident. Then it occurred to me to take it one step further, what about the financial devastation that occurs after an accident.

Unless they have a savings account with six months of expenses saved for a rainy day, car accident victims with serious injuries must immediately pick up the pieces of their lives and get back to work, or they may suffer a fate much worse than being injured, damage to their credit reports because of missed payments.

Although this is not the first thing that people should be worrying about, it usually is. I can usually tell what my client’s financial position is at the first meeting because of the questions that they ask me. I want my clients to have the security of knowing that even if the doctor says they will be off of work for a couple of weeks, they will be able to make ends meet.

Unfortunately, I am seeing just the opposite. Many of my personal injury clients are skimping on their medical treatment because they cannot afford to miss anymore work. In today’s economic climate, they are worried about losing their jobs or taking too much time off from work. My clients do not have the money saved to protect them from financial problems; and therefore, are unable to heal properly.

Or, even worse, the insurance companies do not want to pay the medical providers or fail to pay the medical providers as they should. This increases the pressure on the injured party. Who wants to

In other words, they are one paycheck away from financial disaster and the car accident is the straw that usually breaks the camels back. This is just another example of how individuals in today’s society are coping with the financial pressures.