Accident settlements for minors?

Question

in accident 2 yrs ago my claim has been settled,now my 17yr olds is going thru process,agent says has to go thru court why?

Answer 1

The insurance company, or your attorney needs to file a "friendly suit".  A guardian ad litem needs to be assigned to the claim.  Once the suit is filed, and the settlement is reviewed by the ad litem, the parties can then file a joint motion for the court to render judgment, which would then be binding on all parties.

The resolution of the friendly suit will not take very long.  It is not full blown litigation.

Answer 2

You are talking about a court approved minor settlement.

Yes,.. with minors - you have to go to court and have a judge sign off on the settlement.

This is to protect the minor.

The judge makes sure that the settlement amount is fair.

And - it protects the minor from dishonest / bad parents.

The court will require the money be put in an account and held in trust for the minor. When the minor turns 18 - he gets the money.  This prevents the parents from using the minors money to buy something for themselves.

It's sad -- but there really are parents out there who would use the money to remodel the house b/c the minor lives there too -- or buy themselves a car and call that for the minors benefit b/c I'll use it to take him to practice. There are even parents out there that would use the money to buy drugs.

This way-- the parents can't touch the money with out the courts ok. (and the court is not going to approve a house remodel- car etc).

The only other option is to wait until the 17 year old turns 18. At that point - he's an adult and court approval is not needed.

Answer 3

Difficult to understand your question.  What does "going thru process" mean ?  Give more info.