Child Personal Injury Claim

[redjax]

Hi, can anyone give me some advise please. My daughter in law was involved in a car accident which resulted in injury claims for her and my two granddaughters, ages 7 and 14. The claims have been agreed and my daughter in law has been paid out for her injuries. They have now received a letter from Hampton Hughes stating that the injury claims have been agreed for the two girls. The amounts will be paid into the court office and the girls can claim them when they are 18. This is 4 years for one and 11 years for the other. The money while it is held will not gain any interest while it is held. Is there anyway they can claim this sooner or can it be put into their own child trust fund where it will earn interest as it sits there. Is this set in stone? Hampton Hughes said they can challenge this but they want my daughter in law to send them £5000 to cover the cost of any legal action?? Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[mjt2013]

That information sounds completely wrong. As the Claimants are minors the case should be settled by way of an infant approval hearing, essentially the judge reads the papers, sees the children and makes sure the settlements are fair for them. Assuming the settlement is approved the money is usually invested in the Court Funds Office until the children each turn 18, the fund applies interest at 0.5%, but all you would need to do is ask at the hearing for the money to be paid into a different fund. It's up to the judge but if the money will be going into a secure account attracting a higher rate of interest then it's a perfectly proper request. Simply making the request at the hearing should not cost any more than you would have to pay for the hearing anyway.

[Ganymede]

That information sounds completely wrong. As the Claimants are minors the case should be settled by way of an infant approval hearing, essentially the judge reads the papers, sees the children and makes sure the settlements are fair for them. Assuming the settlement is approved the money is usually invested in the Court Funds Office until the children each turn 18, the fund applies interest at 0.5%, but all you would need to do is ask at the hearing for the money to be paid into a different fund. It's up to the judge but if the money will be going into a secure account attracting a higher rate of interest then it's a perfectly proper request. Simply making the request at the hearing should not cost any more than you would have to pay for the hearing anyway.

 

 

 

I agree with you about asking at the hearing to pay the monies into a separate account but in 99.99% of cases the Judge will not allow it.

[redjax]

Thanks for your replies. We haven't been advised of any court hearing? I think I need to contact the Hampton Hughes people. Any advice on what I should ask, or how I should word the letter?

[Ganymede]

Your daughter in law will need to ask her solicitors. They won't reply to you as you have no connection to the claim (unless you are litigation friend to the two children).

[mjt2013]

I agree with you about asking at the hearing to pay the monies into a separate account but in 99.99% of cases the Judge will not allow it.

 

I agree in general but if the account is secure and cannot be accessed by anyone until the child turns 18, and it attracts a higher rate of interest, then there are definitely a few judges who will see the benefit. As always, it's a bit of a lottery!

[mjt2013]

Thanks for your replies. We haven't been advised of any court hearing? I think I need to contact the Hampton Hughes people. Any advice on what I should ask, or how I should word the letter?

 

What is your understanding of what HH will do next? What have they told you about the rest of the process?

[Ganymede]

I agree in general but if the account is secure and cannot be accessed by anyone until the child turns 18, and it attracts a higher rate of interest, then there are definitely a few judges who will see the benefit. As always, it's a bit of a lottery!

 

 

It is but I've never known of it happening.

[mjt2013]

Really? I have a few times but you're right, it is rare. Deputy DJs in particular are generally reluctant to do anything other than pay it in!

[redjax]

Thank you all for your replies. HH want £5000 to cover the cost of the hearing and that's than the settlement figures combined, so think it will be going into the court office after all. Thanks for your help though much appreciated.

[mjt2013]

I still don't understand what HH are charging you extra for. Even if the money is invested in the court funds office there will need to be a court hearing so presumably you'll have to pay for that whether you make a request for a payment out or not?

[goodatresearch]

Its paid into court to protect the child's money. To many parents see the settlement as their money and it isn't. It earns interest so leave it where it is. The child will not get more interest investing elsewhere. If they've won the case their solicitors fees will be recoverable anyway, so what's the problem?

[mjt2013]

Its paid into court to protect the child's money. To many parents see the settlement as their money and it isn't. It earns interest so leave it where it is. The child will not get more interest investing elsewhere. If they've won the case their solicitors fees will be recoverable anyway, so what's the problem?

 

The fund may very well attract more interest elsewhere. The CFO pays 0.5% p.a., it's not too hard to find a high street child fund that will pay more.

 

As for fees if the claim is funded by a new DBCFA the problem is that the fees will be deducted from the settlement and therefore it is all the more important the OP is told by HH precisely why she will have to pay more if she requests a payment out into a different sort of account.

 

Also, as a matter of general principle, the solicitors should be able to explain why they intend to charge the OP more.

[goodatresearch]

My understanding is that its only the success fee and ATE that arent recoverable any more, base costs are still

recoverable. £5,000 for an infant approval seems excessive though.

[redjax]

Thanks for all your answers, really appreciated. They are going to leave it as is. They wanted to transfer them into the girls own saving accounts which earn much more interest and are protected until they are 18 as well.

[mjt2013]

Did your solicitors ever explain *why* they were going to charge if the money was not invested in court?