Tweet

Michigan Attorney Tells Entrepreneurs How Michigan Families Can Pay Major Unknown Costs From a Car Accident

Written by: Terry Cochran

Article Overview: Without warning, Michigan families when involved in an auto accident find themselves on a tight budget are faced with almost overwhelming questions, such as: who will pay for my medical bills, now and in the future? Who will pay for my car that’s damaged or totaled? How can I keep food on the table and the roof over the head of my family when all these sudden major costs have to be met? Entrepreneurs, although likely not on a tight budget, face some of the same issues the next day after a car accident.

Michigan Attorney Tells Entrepreneurs How Michigan Families Can Pay Major Unknown Costs From a Car Accident

By Terry Cochran

An auto accident, no matter how serious, almost always has economic consequences rather families or entrepeneurs are involved. But when car accident injuries are involved, the economic consequences can quickly mount up to tragic proportions.

Without warning, Michigan families on a tight budget are faced with almost overwhelming questions, such as: who will pay for my medical bills, now and in the future? Who will pay for my car that’s damaged or totaled? How can I keep food on the table and the roof over the head of my family when all these sudden major costs have to be met?

The best protection the victim can have is to seek consultation from an auto accident attorney, especially a lawyer who specializes in Michigan No Fault law. Michigan No Fault laws are very complicated and almost guarantee that settlements will not be timely and reimbursements will not be fair if left to chance.

Because of the No Fault Law in Michigan, the state where I practice law, the injured motorist must look first to his own insurance company for medical expenses, lost wages, attendant care and reimbursement for household services such as cleaning & yard work.

Under certain circumstances, depending on the severity of injury, the injured motorist can sue the driver who caused the accident by making a third party claim. But if the person causing the accident is uninsured, you cannot recover unless you have an uninsured motorist rider on your insurance policy.

When things work right insurance companies will relieve you of the burden of paying for car repairs and immediate medical bills. But sometimes insurance companies balk and won’t reimburse all of your real costs from an accident. In that case, an attorney can intervene for you and insure that profit-motivated insurance companies do right by you and not just to their stockholders.

If you are injured in a vehicle accident in Michigan, and your involved vehicle was registered in Michigan, than you most likely are entitled to First Party Personal Injury Protection (PIP) benefits.

These benefits include:
• Reimbursement for lost income, up to three years
• Reimbursement for attendant care if you are disabled
• Medical costs and treatment expenses, including rehabilitation therapy
• Limited payments for funeral and burial
• If disabled, modification of your vehicle or home to make them wheelchair accessible
• Reimbursement for necessary personal or household services you would have performed if not disabled, such as cooking, cleaning and lawn mowing.
• Mileage for driving to and from the doctor’s office, hospital or rehabilitation clinic.

Insurance companies, at the end of the day, will answer fully and honestly only to their stockholders. You cannot rely upon your insurance carrier to fully inform you about all eligible benefits. Many personal injury attorneys, including my firm, will operate on a contingency-only basis so that the victim does not pay anything out of pocket to the law firm. A lawyer who specializes in automobile accidents, No Fault law, and personal injuries can make sure the present and future of a family’s economic security is protected.

Related Articles
  Insurance Agency Entrepreneurs or Business Managers Have An Untapped Source To Boost Income
  Don’t Cut & Gut Michigan No Fault Says Attorney Terry Cochran
  Call for Safety in Motorcycle Industry Will Challenge Resources of Motorcycle Shop Entrepreneurs Business Managers and Product Developeers
  Entrepreneurs Should Donate Time to Help Good Causes Such As Combatting Drunk Driving Says Michigan Car Accident Attorney
  Boating and Personal Watercraft Businesses Still Booming for Entrepreneurs Across Great Lakes

Article Tags: attendant care, auto accident attorney, car accident injuries, car repairs, economic consequences, entrepeneurs, food on the table, household services, insurance companies, insurance policy, medical bills, medical expenses, michigan families, michigan no fault law, own insurance, reimbursements, right insurance, terry cochran, tight budget, uninsured motorist
Referred by: http://www.westwindcos.com



Related Forum Posts
Re: It's great to be back...can anyone suggest? - The business I intend to start is about designing...graphical design or whatsoever, I am researching about different designs better if it is for real like the videos I came across in Youtube. The plan is to convert it to graphical thing, I am thinking photoshop or firework. But really need advices if I can do this, or we need to ask the owner of that video just to have it legal....and the business office hopefully will be in Michigan....hope that sounds clear, I am searching for graphic design forum so that they can help me as well same with the advices I need from here. Is it alright also setting up business in Michigan?
Source of Inspiration - Ever since I can remember, I've always had an innate interest in business. My father is a businessman, and I have been doing odd business jobs for quite some time before my eyes were really opened. After graduating college, I was contemplating whether I should go back home and take over the family business, or get an entry level job somewhere and begin my career. But I would never forget the day I read Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki while traveling on a plane to Michigan back in 2001. From the first chapter on, the book really hit home, and I learned more about what I wanted to do with my life by reading that one book, than anything I learned in college. (I did graduate cum laude) It seemed as though, the story mimicked my life, and was written just for me. It was the ultimate source of inspiration for me, and I truly began my journey with no turning back.
Wills, Power of Attorneys personal, bank, health - These four items are important even if you don't have a business. You don't have to have a Will because the law has procedures that are in place just incase someone dies without a Will. It is call dieing intestate. However, it can be an expensive process for your beneficiaries and your estate may not go to who you want it to go to. A Will - helps you set up where you want your assets to go to and who they go to. They set out your wishes for the business as well. In Ontario, you do not have to have a Will prepared by a lawyer but sometimes it is in your best interest to do so. There is a lot of info on the internet and kits that are available but they key to this are the witnesses to your signature. You may want to write it yourself and then have a lawyer witness the signing of the Will. If you handwrite you’re Will then you don't need to have it witnessed. But the entire document must be in your handwriting no typing allowed. The Power of Attorneys - Personal or Health Personal - This gives someone consent to act on your behalf if you can't due to physical or mental disabilities. The Power of Attorney goes into effect only when you are incapacitated or you authorize it. So it can be signed and ready to be used but only takes effect when you are ready to use it. You don't need a lawyer to prepare these - there are kits on the internet, there are kits that the government have where you can fill in the blanks. But if you have an extensive estate I would take it to the lawyer because their could be other issues that need to be dealt with. Health – This Power of Attorney outlines what you want to happen in case of medical emergency, for example, do you want to be revived if there is no hope of recovery, is the most common reason, maybe the type of treatment that you want to receive for the particular illness you have. This Power of Attorney protects your health rights when you can't speak for yourself and it gives someone else the right to speak for you. In the Power of Attorney you would outline your request and designate someone to carry them out. Bank - This one designates someone to look after your finances if you aren't able to do them. The banks have special procedures and these forms are completed at the bank. So if you became ill then your designated person can take care of your finances until you are ready to resume doing them. The Power of Attorneys and the Wills are legal documents and they can be revoked or changed at any time. If your estate is very large then I would suggest that you have a lawyer prepare these documents to protect your interest. Again, the law does not have the same rules as a married spouse so this would protect the surviving partner in a common-law relationship. I realize that most of the subjects that are discussed on this site are concerning growing your business but I deal with the hidden aspect of the business as well and these could affect your business as much as if you can't find that next client. Happy and Prosperous New Year Everyone
Re: Fashion - Nana, At you choice you may choose to research the fashion industry a bit more. There is obviously a Business side to it as well as a creative side to it. Find out all the types of roles that exist in the industry. Some that come to mind merchandiser, Window dresser, floor plan organizer (someone needs to determine the layout of a retail store to best sell the goods), fashion consultant (Yorkdale mall has fashion consultants that take you around and tell you what looks great on you - you also get a cut from the sales). This is what I've observed from the business side, you may know more. All these roles I've written about will help you grow as a business person and make the contacts in the industry...possible stepping stones. But further more you'll also notice that you need to develop some business acumen possibly tailored to the fashion industry. When I was at Ryerson I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur someday too. I knew I needed some basic business courses to get a foundation to build from. I was in a Tech/Business Major (I'm sure Fashion has something similar - Fashion/Business Major) and then started to create my own minor. Here are some of the courses I took: Marketing, Law, Entrepreneurial, Management, consulting.. and a few more . Also, I'm sure that within the Fashion Major there are also courses you have to take where you can use your creative side and create designs. Typically within a Major there are focuses you can choose - ask the program coordinator. Your next step is to do some research. 1. Visit Commercial retail outlets like H&M, Banana Republic, or jacob. Tell the Manager your doing some research for University and would like to know what types of Corporate roles exist aside from the roles on the retail floor (like sales associates). If she asks you to elaborate then you can use some of the roles I mentioned above. 2. With this information in hand you can visit the Ryerson Fashion department and inquire with the Program Coordinator on what focus within the Fashion Degree would help you the most. In my program there were 5 different focuses within the Tech/Business program. Just a quick aside. A good friend of mine too has a dream of fashion. he want to create a niche fashion line tailored to skinny men (I can't mention the style). He's in Business school but not in the Fashion program... He's in International Business but all his Minor courses are tailored to running a successful business ... similar to the ones I mentioned above for myself. I have no doubt in my mind he'll make it 'cos his vision is that strong.
laptop vs. Desktop - I'm not a heavy gamer or graphics person so a Laptop is ideal for me for all the obvious reasons (portability, wireless, work on the go, etc etc) Major downside is the battery power and the cost to replace it - half as much as the cost of the laptop on my current IBM.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Marketing & Sales tools – going back to basics

The Importance of Master Data Management (MDM)

The Biggest Domain Name Myth

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.