When an out-of-state trial lawyer handles a catastrophic pediatric injury claim due to a collision in Illinois, their natural litigation instinct is to simply wait it out. This is because the statute of limitations under Illinois law for minors is usually up until the age of 20, and the reality is maximum medical improvement for minors is a slow and arduous affair, as issues such as cognitive development, the stability of growth plates and the recovery of bones that were broken may take some time.

After the child has reached a certain threshold, one can then demand policy limits where you force the liability carrier into a substantial policy-limits tender by drafting the minor compromise. However, when you attempt to submit the settlement to the Cook County Probate Division, medical lienholders or defense counsel may come out of the woodwork, demanding a cut or attempting to shoot it down, both citing the Illinois Family Expense Act.

According to 750 ILCS 65/15, Illinois law states that medical expenses incurred by an injured minor don’t belong to the minor expressly, but they instead belong to the parents. While the minor’s settlement issue can be tolled until two years after their 18th birthday, the claim for medical expenses is upheld by a five-year statute of limitations under 735 ILCS 5/13-205. Therefore, if that five-year clock ran out while you were waiting for the child’s injuries and cognitive development to stabilize, or if the hospital bill remains unpaid, creating friction between the child’s estate and the parents, it is more than likely that the probate court will halt the settlement.

In such instances, defense handlers will state that medical damages cannot be added into the final settlement, which can effectively take off hundreds of thousands of dollars from the final settlement. If you’re an out-of-state attorney with a minor residing in Illinois who sustained catastrophic injuries, don’t let an expired parent claim tank your recovery – read on to find out how we can help with this.

Are you looking for the best Illinois probate attorney for minor settlements? Please call the best probate attorneys at McCready Law NOW at (314) 481-63338 to learn more about how we can help you obtain Illinois court approval for your minor settlement. The experienced Illinois probate attorneys at McCready Law bring to the table combined experience spanning over 90 years, during which we have helped attorneys from across the country navigate the Illinois probate system with speed, efficiency, and reliability.

To date, we have recovered over $500 million for our clients, and our expertise in all areas of the law, as well as our personable and efficient approach, place us at a level that is unheard of in probate law. We take on cases on an agreed-upon flat fee basis, and the first call to us is consulted on a 100% FREE basis.

Regardless of where you are in the country, McCready Law can assist with your Illinois probate minor settlement approval, and we will handle the entire process from start to finish so you can focus on your practice while we handle the Illinois court approval. Need to speak to someone regarding the potential for a fast and efficient Illinois probate approval? Call us NOW at (314) 481-63338 to learn more about our flat-fee probate services.

How to Overcome the Family Expense Act Hurdle in Illinois Minor Probate Law

When defense counsel or the probate court cites the Family Expense Act (750 ILCS 65/15) in order to challenge your seeking of a settlement on behalf of your minor client, our law firm steps in to execute procedural maneuvers meant to protect the child’s recovery.

Here are some of the tactics we employ:

1. Pleading Judicial Assignment Under Manion v. Chicago Transit Authority: according to this precedential case, parents have the judicial right to either judicially assign or waive their claim for medical expenses directly to the minor. Therefore, we file a petition that includes formal parental assignment, which transfers all medical rights into the estate of the minor, which obliterates the five-year limitation argument.
2. Relocation of 100 Percent of the Settlement Proceeds to Non-Economic Damages: If the five-year statute of limitations period has expired under the parents, medical creditors may try to peg recovery against the minor’s settlement. The way we counter this is by structuring the minor compromise order so that 100 percent of all settlement gross proceeds are positioned within non-economic damages under permanent disfigurement, pain and suffering, and disability. The rationale for this? Creditors acting under the Family Expense Act have no legal standing to come anywhere close to a child’s personal non-economic recovery.

Best Illinois Minor Probate Referral Law Firm – Call Us Today!

These are just two of numerous legal strategies in our armada of procedural weaponry we will employ to ensure that your minor’s settlement remains untouched, and by extension, your contingency fees. If you’re an out-of-state attorney tasked with finalizing an Illinois minor probate claim, don’t go it alone, and do not risk humiliation by both our County Courts as well as defense teams – call us NOW at (314) 481-63338 to inquire about our referral program and the associated flat fees so we can handle the rest of the claim for you, given our extensive experience in this domain. Thanks for reading, and we hope to speak with you soon.