Why would my lawyers office lie?

Question

I signed the release to receive a settlement on 8/11. I called the lawyers office today to see what the status was. The secretary put me on hold, came back and asked for my name and told me they sent the signed paperwork out to the insurance company on 8/14 and that they usually receive a check in 30-45 days. The insurance company told me that they issued the check on 8/25 and sent it to my lawyers office. I work at the post office and if they sent it out on the 25, they should have normally received it by now. But there can be missorts where it can be delayed for a day or two. I don't think that it should take 30-45 days to receive a check when a settlement is reached and the paperwork is signed. Why would she tell me that? Do you think they're trying to do something underhanded.

Answer 1

I doubt the lawyers office is lying to you. That is their general answer. Each and every insurance company takes time to get these things out. I find it completely unusual that an insurance company already did so!

Now, the postal services play their part in taking as long as they want in getting the check to the attorneys office. The attorney is not always in to get the check either. They have pesky jobs that sometimes keeps them in courtrooms instead of just sitting around waiting on your check. So it might take them a few more days to get to it on their desk. They have to see and accept the check before giving it to you. What if the insurance didn't send the right amount? They can work to clear it up without you having to be informed.

Hence, they put a generic time frame like 30 to 45 days so as to not upset anyone. If the insurance takes longer or the mail or the fact the attorney is in court... you still know that you got the check in the time frame they said.

Many insurance companies do take several weeks to send out a check.  

Answer 2

No. Whenever a human intervenes in a computer run society you get a lot of false information unless they are intimately familiar with your case. Your lawyer probably has a hundred similar cases in the works. Be patient and welcome to the information age. I doubt that such an obvious paper trail would be abused ,but don't drop the ball and demand a precise answer.

Answer 3

Nothing in your post suggests that your lawyers office lied to you.

Insurance companies are NOTORIOUSLY slow at sending out checks. Saying that they 'usually' receive a check in 30 - 45 days is, if anything, optimistic. If the lawyer sent the release to the insurer on 8/14, and the insurer issued a check on 8/25, that's remarkable - you're very lucky.

If the insurer issued the check on 8/25 - Monday - they probably didn't mail it till Tuesday. Chances are it wasn't even delivered to your lawyer yet - and if it was it was probably only received today, which means it's VERY unlikely that the fact of it's receipt has been noted in your file yet.

Best case scenario...... They get it today and actually deposit it in the bank today as well, then cut you a check tomorrow and mail that tomorrow as well, and you get your money Tuesday. (Or if they deposit the check today you may be able to go in and pick up a check tomorrow)

Worst case... they get the check today and put it in a bundle of stuff to be banked, which doesn't happen till Tuesday. The insurance check is on an out-of-state bank so it doesn't clear for a week, then the lawyer cuts you a check, takes a day or two to mail it to you.

So you can expect your money any time from tomorrow until 2 weeks from now.

Richard

Answer 4

Well, my guess is that the law office recieved your check, deposited in their account and is now earning interest on the money.  If they make it a standard practice to wait the maximum amount of time each time a settlement is received, they probably make a tidy sum just in interest on money.  Or, it could also be that they need the money to pay continuing business expenses and they've actually spent your money and figure on paying you at some point in the future out of revenues that they bring in on other business.

Answer 5

That's how Lawyers make their money. They receive your settlement check and use their power of attorney to cash it and use the interest and their cut before they send it to you.

Answer 6

Because they are lawyers.

Lawyers will pimp their mothers for a few bucks, why should they be truthful and up front with you, or anyone?

Answer 7

I would suspicious if I were you. Your attorney is lying to you and you need to demand your money now

Answer 8

I don't think they're doing something underhanded. It takes time to process and while you may work for the post office this is three days and they just may not have processed it yet.

Answer 9

No, I don't think that the 30-45 days is shipment time.  That could be processing time for the office to get the check shipped out.  When an office is busy, it might take that long to get it taken care of.  If you don't get it in a couple days, ask them to resend it.

Answer 10

There are a couple of possibles here..

Number one, just because the agency issued the check on 8/25 doesn't mean they sent it that day.  Most companies issue checks but then mail them in bulk.

Number two, there may be additional paperwork associated with the check the firm needs to handle.

Number three, depending on your agreement with the firm, if they are deducting a commission, they will need to cash the check and wait for it to clear, this can take 7-10 days if the insurer is issuing from an out of state bank.

30 days from 8/14 is 9/13 and that doesn't seem unreasonable given mail and processing times.

Answer 11

They probably want more money cause nothing take 30-45 days to mail they are filling u with bullshit.