Timeline For Receiving Your NY Car Accident Settlement
After your New York auto accident attorney assists you in securing a NY car accident settlement, you may be eager to receive the compensation so you can catch up on bills incurred due to your injury and so you can achieve some measure of financial security that you may not have had as you struggled to recover.
The specifics of exactly when your settlement will be received can vary from case-to-case. However, there are certain steps that are taken before payment is released to you. The timeline for completing all of the necessary steps normally takes approximately one month.
Timeline for your NY car accident settlement
Once you have agreed to settle your case, the following steps need to be taken before you receive the money:
- Release forms are sent to you. These are the forms in which you formally agree to the settlement and they must be signed releasing the defendant of liability before payment is issued. These forms can usually be overnighted to you after a settlement agreement has been reached.
- Forms are signed and returned. You’ll need to sign the forms as soon as you receive them and return them as quickly as possible to avoid holding up your payment. If you sign and return the forms immediately, the insurance company normally receives them within 2-3 days after you signed them.
- Payment is processed. After the insurance company has received your signed release forms, the forms must be processed by the insurer. The insurance company has only a limited time in which to complete this processing as New York law requires defendants to issue payments within 20 days of receiving the release forms. However, while the insurance company could take as long as 20 days, the company may also process the paperwork and release payment sooner.
- Insurance company sends the check to your attorneys. By law, the insurance company must send the settlement payment to the attorney of record. After the check is received, it is deposited into a special escrow account that only holds client funds. It can take several days for the check to be deposited and clear.
- A check is issued to you. After the check from the insurance company clears into the escrow account, the funds from your NY car accident settlement can be released to you. Your check may be sent via mail or hand-delivered.
From start to finish, therefore, the process can take a little over a month depending upon how quickly you send forms back, whether the insurance company takes the full 20 days to issue payment allowed by law, and how quickly the bank clears the check.
Receiving a NY car accident settlement
The money from your car accident settlement should relieve hardships after your auto accident by covering medical bills and costs, lost income, pain and suffering damages and other losses. The sooner you take legal action after an auto accident, the sooner a settlement can be negotiated with the insurance company to get you the money you need.
For more than 45 years, the New York auto accident lawyers at The Sanders Firm have been helping injured clients pursue car accident damages and to successfully negotiate settlement payouts with insurance companies. Our attorneys are here and ready to help with your case, so call today at 1.800.FAIR.PLAY for a free consultation.
