Legal Question in Medical Malpractice in California

Unfortunately there are attorneys who commit misconduct and some even steal. You need to write this attorney a letter, certified mail, that says you demand a full accounting of the settlement within 10 days or you are going to file a complaint with the state bar. Then do it.

No there is no time limit within which a defendant has to pay a settlement but usually a reasonable time is a couple weeks to perhaps a month. If your attorney has already gotten the settlement check and deposited it into their trust account then it should take a couple days to a week at most to clear and be available for distribution. You should have gotten a settlement distribution statement that sets forth what the fees ( they are governed by statute by the way) costs and any other charges against the settlement were and what is your portion.. You should have gotten that before the settlement check was deposited into their trust account.

So as Michael suggests if they already have the settlement check and it has been more than a week send them a letter and demand to know what is happening or else you will complain to the State Bar. The State Bar takes a very dim vew of lawyers who mess around with client's settlement funds.

Good luck and hope you are able to work it out.