Child Injury Claim

Answer:

If your child has suffered an injury, whether it happened in a car accident with you or at the hands of a doctor or some other personal injury matter, you may be asking yourself, “How do I handle that?” There are a lot of complicated legal things that go into it, but basically what the laws says is you, as the child’s parent, become “the next friend” of that minor child. In other words, you file in the court and you say, “This is my child. They have an injury,” and you represent your child through that injury. At the end of the case, the money for that injury is the child’s. It’ll go into the registry of the court to take care of them later in life. Many times, we can set it up so that they can be taken care of until they turn 18, as well as after.
If your child has been injured, you as a parent can bring that claim. There are people that call our office and say, “I’m a grandparent. I’m the only person taking care of this child,” you would then step into that role. We’ve had situations where due to previous tragedies, that child’s being cared for by an aunt and uncle, in that scenario, they’d step into that role. That’s why the courts call it “next friend,” not mom or dad. As long as that child has someone taking care of them, you can bring that case on behalf of the child.