If you win your personal injury case in Houma and Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, you may have a couple of options about how your personal injury award will be paid. Most personal injury settlements are paid as lump sum payments. The award is determined either inside or outside of court, and the amount is paid once, in full. But sometimes victims are seriously injured, suffer catastrophic injuries, and stand to receive significant settlement amounts. When settlement amounts are designed to compensate a person for a life-long disability, for lost wages over the long-term, or for long-term medical care, sometimes victims and their families choose to receive a personal injury award as a structured settlement.

A structured settlement is an arrangement whereby victims and families receive the settlement amount in periodic payments, rather than all at once. Payments are made to victims and their families once or twice a month for a period of years. This arrangement ensures that victims receive regular income and money to cover their medical and other expenses. It also is chosen by families when they are concerned about budgeting their personal injury settlement over a lifetime. The amount of money you’ll receive periodically with a structured settlement will depend on your settlement award, how long you want to receive structured settlement payments (some stretch the payments over 10, 20, or even more years, depending on whether families want payments for a lifetime, or payments to cover them through retirement). How much your family will receive periodically will depend also on how much you receive periodically. This will depend on your needs and the settlement award.

Families often choose a structured settlement arrangement when their personal injury settlement is significant and when they want to make sure that their settlement will cover their living and other costs over a period of time. Families may use a structured settlement to help them better budget their personal injury award. However, a structured settlement arrangement is by far not the only option. Some families put their personal injury award into a trust, and others might hire financial planners to invest a larger lump sum settlement on their behalf. Ultimately, each family will need to decide for themselves which arrangement is best for their needs. Sometimes settlement amounts aren’t significant enough to lend themselves to the structured settlement arrangement, so each family will need to decide for itself what arrangement they plan to use.

If you have been seriously or catastrophically injured in a car accident or personal injury, you could stand to receive a significant personal injury settlement. The Doyle Law Firm is a personal injury attorney in Houma and Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana that works closely with victims and families to help them seek damages for their losses. Our personal injury lawyers can take the time to review your case, estimate the value of your claim, and assist you with the next steps. Contact the Doyle Law Firm today or connect with USAttorneys.com to learn more about your options or rights under the law.