Legal Question in Personal Injury in North Carolina

Re: Settlements Involving Minors

the money representing your daughter's "pain and suffering" and any medical expenses after age 18 is hers, therefore it needs to be held in trust for her, in some fashion. There are some situations in which you could hold the money, depending on the judge, but it is rare, and you could be sued by her for mis-handling the money, theoretically. Any claim for the child's medical expenses before 18, however, is your (and the father's) claim! Therefore, that $$ is yours. Also, from a technical standpoint, if your child needed $$ for surgery relating to this accident, theoretically it should not come from the Court-held money, but from you! Sometimes, however, the technicalities are overlooked.

Re: Settlements Involving Minors

The law requires that such settlements be paid into the

Clerk's office to be held and invested until the minor

reaches the age of 18. There are some exceptions. In

small (less than $5,000) settlements, the insurance

company may be willing to forego court approval and

get what is known as a parent-guardian release. Larger

settlements may be "structured," by purchasing an

annuity which will begin making payments at age 18.

The law does not consider it to be in a minor's best

interest to allow him/her to have access to large amounts

of money while still a minor. Because all parents can't

be trusted not to convert the money to their own

use, the law also will not allow payment of the funds

to the parent for the benefit of the child. This does

sometimes result in hardships but the Courts cannot

conduct the kind of investigation, in every case, that

would satisfy them of a parent's good faith, thus the

"one size fits all" rule. If the child needed medical

attention, for a condition related to the injury giving

rise to the suit, and there were no other funds with which

to pay for the treatment, the Court MIGHT allow access

to the funds being held by the Clerk for the sole purpose

of covering those expenses. Otherwise, the law views it the

responsibility of parents to provide necessities of life for

their children.

Bill Horsley

1-800-953-2542