Whether an attorney should charge a legal fee to a child when that child’s car accident case is settled without having to file a lawsuit is a decision I’ve decided to confront head on.
When a case involving a child is settled with the insurance company pre suit, the settlement and the lawyer’s fee must be approved by a judge in the county where the accident took place. Too many times I’ve been in court and have seen lawyers attempt to charge fee in cases involving a child, where the child was in the same accident as his or her parent, and the fee, as far as I was concerned, was unjustified. I’ve decided to do something about that by starting the “No Fee for Kids” program.
Here’s how the “No Fee for Kids” program works.
- It must be a case where the child was involved in the same car accident as one or both of his or her parents.
- The program applies to car accident cases that settle without having to file a lawsuit.
- It applies for any child who is 12 or under at the time of the accident.
- It has to be in a county where I regularly practice.
- It must be a case that is not referred to me by another attorney.
However,an equal if not greater danger to teens as drivers and as passengers in a car driven by another teen is cell phones. I insist that my daughter turn her phone off and put it in the trunk when she drives. I don’t make or receive calls when I’m driving or when I’m a passenger. I just turn the phone off. It’s simply too tempting to answer it. I hope my kids model my behavior.