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How Do You Pay the Bills After Your Spouse Gets Hurt in a Wreck?
How do you pay the bills after your spouse gets hurt in a wreck?
by sushmitha.p@thomsonreuters.com | Dec 8, 2021 | Car Accident Injuries
When you find out that your spouse was in a car crash, you may understand the gravity of the situation right away. Many people who get into car crashes break a bone or suffer from whiplash. While they need medical care and may require some weeks off of work, they will eventually recover.
Other people will suffer permanent injuries like traumatic brain injuries or spinal cord injuries. Catastrophic injuries from a car crash can leave someone unable to work and possibly dependent on nursing support for their daily needs.
Needing to pay for medical treatments or have a family member leave their job to provide nursing care is a major concern, especially if the family member who got hurt was the primary wage earner for the family. How can your family pay the bills after your spouse gets hurt in a car crash?
Making an insurance claim will help
Every driver should have liability coverage on their vehicle. When someone causes a crash that permanently injures your spouse, their policy should help reimburse your family. Sadly, not all drivers will have enough coverage to fully protect you from the losses you will suffer when your spouse gets hurt.
If your loved one was the only person hurt in the crash, the maximum insurance coverage could be just $30,000. If other people got hurt in the wreck, they will have to share as little as $60,000 of coverage with your loved one.
Bodily injury liability coverage pays for both medical bills and lost wages, so a driver with minimal coverage won’t be able to fully compensate your family. You may need reimbursement for far more medical costs than that and also for years of lost wages.
Explore a civil lawsuit for compensation
You may be able to file a civil lawsuit against the person who caused the crash if they don’t have enough insurance. Sometimes, there may also be other parties with responsibility for the wreck. If a defective vehicle component caused the crash, for example, you could potentially make a claim against the manufacturer of that part.
Reviewing the specifics of your spouse’s car crash can help you determine what compensation is available to help you support the family.