Here are 8 Things To Give To Your CT Personal Injury Attorney
After you set up a meeting with an attorney for the first time, you will probably have a lot of questions. Like “do I have a case?” or “how long will my case take?”
One question we’re asked all the time is, “What documents should I bring to our first meeting?” This post will cover the basics. Don’t worry if you don’t have all of these things. We can have you sign authorizations and get them for you. Every personal injury case is different. And every case can require different documents. These 8 things are generally good documents to provide to your attorney as soon as possible if you have them.
Driver’s License:
This is for simple identification purposes. A driver’s license tells us the correct spelling of your name, your current address, and your date of birth–all of which are necessary for us to have on file.
Health Insurance Card:
We work with injured people, so we deal with insurance companies a lot. It is necessary for us to have your health insurance information in order to have a full understanding of your coverage and recovery.
Medicare ID:
We are required to report claims to Medicare, so if Medicare is covering the medical costs for your injury, we’ll need to know this. We will only need this if you are on Medicare.
Auto Insurance Policy:
If you’ve been in a car accident, we’ll need to have your auto insurance policy information on file. Why? We may have to pursue an underinsured motorist claim, or you may have other benefits that we can help you to obtain. You may have medpay benefits.
A Recent Tax Return:
If you’re missing work because of an injury, a recent tax return tells us who your employer is and what your earnings are. These lost wages are important as we negotiate a settlement or prepare for trial. If your case gets put into suit and there is a lost wage claim the defense attorney will be entitled to 3 years of tax returns.
Accident Photos:
If you have ’em, we need ’em. Accident photos are critical documents as we negotiate a settlement or prepare for litigation. More immediately, they help us to understand what happened to you.
Police Report or Accident Summary:
If you were just in a car accident and the police were called to the scene, the reporting officer probably gave you a slip of paper. This is an accident summary. We use this document to order a police report and to identify the person or persons who struck your vehicle. The accident summary will contain their insurance policy information, which we will use to send a letter of representation to their insurance company.
Medical Documents:
If you happen to have bills or medical records, please bring them. If not, don’t sweat it. We ask all of our clients to sign a release so that we can order their complete medical records pertaining to their injury.
That about covers it. These are the 8 things to give to your CT personal injury attorney. If we need anything extra from our clients, we discuss it at our meeting. But bringing these documents gives us what we need to hit the ground running. These are the documents in personal injury cases that will help your lawyer prosecute your case.