You just got a call in the middle of the night and learned that your sibling, child, partner, spouse or other loved one was arrested. What is your next move?

For a lot of people, this is a very frightening moment. Feeling concern for your loved one is normal, but when you are not sure how to help them, your feelings can shift to panic, which is the last thing you need in an emergency. If a loved one is arrested and facing criminal charges, the best thing for you to do next is stay calm, take rational actions, and create a plan.

Gather Information
Once you learn a loved one has been arrested and charged, you need to find out whatever you can next, including where they are being held and the name of the police station or center. Usually, you will be able to get this information from your loved one when they call you. Never discuss any details of the case over the phone; only talk about the basics of the arrest and where they are being held. Any phone conversations you have in this situation could be recorded and used against your loved one down the road.

Keep records of everything that pertains to the case. Log all the call times between you and your loved one and between you and any law enforcement representative. If you asked the officers not to question your loved one, make sure you make a note of that and to whom you spoke.

Speak to Your Loved One
Once you have learned where your family member or friend is being held, speak to the police department that arrested them. Ask about the charges and whether you are allowed to visit. If you are allowed to visit them, tell them not to say anything about what happened —including the incident and the arrest— until their lawyer is present.

Contact an Attorney
For a minor crime, a person may be let out of jail within a day. However, for more serious charges, you need to contact a criminal lawyer as soon as you can. You can likely speak to an attorney before you even are able to visit your loved one in jail, but this does depend on the situation. In either case, when your loved one has an experienced criminal defense attorney on their side, it does increase the chance of them getting the most favorable outcome possible in their particular case.

Offer Your Support
Your loved one is likely experiencing a lot of emotional turmoil, which can be a lot for one person to bear on their own. Offering your loved one a strong support system is one of the most important things you can do in this situation. Be physically accessible and emotionally available to your loved one. They will likely have appointments with their lawyer, future court dates and other meetings and dates that they may need your help with. During this time, your love, patience and help can make a big difference for your loved one.

Thanks to the Law Office of Richard J. Banta, P.C. for their insight into what to do if a loved one has been arrested.

Stay on Time: What to Do When Filing a Wrongful Death Claim

If you recently lost a loved one, even though you know you deserve compensation, you may have too much on your mind to consider a wrongful death action. The problem with this line of thinking is that most think they have time to bring a claim. The truth is that you should go through the process as quickly and timely as possible. Otherwise, you could miss important deadlines or go beyond the statute of limitations.

Talk to a Lawyer

When filing a wrongful death claim, it is important that you talk to a lawyer as soon as possible. There is a statute of limitations and you need to work in a timely manner to file the lawsuit. Most states say that you have two or three years to file a claim. However, this can vary based on state and circumstances. For some states, you have from the date of the death to file. Whereas other states allow you to file within two or three years of finding out that there was a responsible party for your loved one’s death.

Gather Evidence

In order to streamline the process, it helps to have all of the necessary evidence before you file your claim. Any proof that you have that can point at a negligent party as responsible for the death is important. Your lawyer can help you determine the best evidence and also build a strategy based on that evidence.

Mind Your Deadlines

If you have a lawyer, this step will be a lot easier for you. Your lawyer will keep track of important dates when it comes to litigation. Often, your lawyer will file important documents with the court for you. When you’re mourning the loss of a loved one, it can be difficult to focus on your case. You cannot always remember the dates that you have to meet. Regardless of your strategy for dealing with deadlines, it is crucial that you abide by each one or else it can have a devastating impact on your case.

There is a statute of limitations on wrongful death claims. They vary from state to state, but on average the statute of limitations is around two to three years after you suffered the loss. It is important, however, that you work as quickly as possible because sometimes evidence is stronger when you put it together in the beginning. For help with your wrongful death claim, set up a consultation with a wrongful death lawyer,  like a wrongful death law firm in Indianapolis, IN, today.

Thank you to the experts at Ward & Ward Law Firm, for their insight into personal injury law.

An injury in any form throws a kink in your plans. You may not have the financial resources to cover the disparity in what the insurance covers and the actual damages to your vehicle. You may also be hurt, but without medical insurance coverage for the time. Are injuries caused by an accident covered by the insurance company, or will you be unable to get help? Take a look at how accident injuries may be handled, with and without private medical insurance.

Payment Due When Services Rendered 

As in most medical practices, when you go to seek treatment from a doctor, you must be able to pay for the service. After an accident, you may require medical care of varying levels. When you do, the providers may expect money upfront to treat you. If you don’t have health insurance, you may have to get help at the hospital. Emergency rooms are typically required to treat patients, even if they do not have medical coverage. However, you are still responsible for the bills that accumulate as a result of this treatment. Even if a car accident wasn’t your fault, most insurance companies do not start paying out until the investigation and claim are settled. In the meantime, you will have to do your best to pay what you can or forego treatment.

Personal Injury Insurance Coverage 

Some auto insurance policies may contain a medical clause for personal injuries. If you have a policy that allows for this, you may have some of your medical treatment paid for once your claim is received and begins processing. This first prong is through your insurance company, and once it is used up, you are left holding the bills. If the other driver’s insurance policy also has medical coverage and that driver is found to be at fault right away, there is a chance that those benefits will pick up fairly quickly. Some states require drivers to carry medical as part of their policy, while others do not. It is critical that you understand where your state law stands.

Lawsuit Options 

After the investigation concludes and you are cleared of responsibility for the crash, the other driver and their insurance company may pay for your damages, including medical. However, there are policy limits, and once those are reached, the insurer will stop paying for property damage and medical bills. At this point, you may want to file a lawsuit against the driver personally to recover money civilly.

Insurance laws differ from state to state, and as such, an auto accident lawyer, like an auto accident lawyer in Memphis, TN, in your city is a valuable resource. You may want to consider retaining the services of someone who understands how medical claims work after a car crash.

Thanks to Patterson Bray for their insight into whether medical insurance will cover car accident injuries. 

If you have been hurt in a workplace accident and filed a workers’ compensation claim, you may begin to suspect that you are being watched as you go about your daily activities. Unfortunately, this may not just be your imagination. Insurance companies are eager to deny workers’ compensation claims or reduce the amount that they owe. They can justify this by producing evidence that suggests that your injuries may not be as serious as you claim.

To gather this information, the insurance company may hire a private investigator to conduct surveillance of your activities. This surveillance can take one of two forms: physical surveillance or electronic surveillance.

Physical Surveillance

Physical surveillance involves following you as you go about your daily activities, observing your actions and capturing photos or videos that may be taken out of context and used against you in court. As long as these surveillance activities are confined to observing you when you are out in public, which includes standing in your own front yard where you are visible to bystanders, it is legal to conduct these types of surveillance activities. It is also legal for the investigator to knock on the doors of your neighbors and ask them questions about you.

However, the law does place some legal limits on physical surveillance. The laws against trespassing apply to private investigators, which means they cannot peek inside your windows or gain access to your home under false pretenses. Furthermore, you have a right to feel safe in your own home and within your community. This means that if you feel that your safety may be compromised due to surveillance, you have the right to call the police for help.

Electronic Surveillance

Electronic surveillance involves looking at what you post online. It is much easier than physical surveillance in that it isn’t necessary to follow your physical movements and the law presumes that everything that you post publicly online is fair game.

The most foolproof way to guard your online information is to delete or disable all of your social media accounts for the duration of the workers’ comp case. However, if that is not feasible, you should up your privacy settings on all your accounts and only grant “friend” status to people that you know and trust.

If you have any reason to believe that a private investigator working for an insurance company has violated your rights, contact a workers’ compensation lawyer, like a workers’ compensation lawyer in Wytheville, VA, right away. An attorney can explain exactly which surveillance activities are legal and which are not.

Thanks to The Law Offices of Mark T. Hurt for their insight into how you might be surveilled during a workers’ compensation investigation. 

In many cases, an arrest is just the beginning of a long and tiring court process that could last several months. This entire process begins with one simple step, the arraignment. Because the arraignment will define your entire legal process it’s imperative that you prepare for this important hearing. But what should you expect from your arraignment? And do you have to face it alone?

What Will Happen at My Arraignment?

While the actual arraignment only lasts a few minutes, you will likely spend several hours in the courthouse while your prosecution is finishing up the documentation. Once before the judge, you will be directed to stand in front of a microphone. Your charges will then be read aloud and a clerk will ask you how you want to plead. There are three ways to respond:

• Not guilty – You are denying all charges or you wish to request a trial
• Guilty – You admit that you committed the crime
• Nolo contendere (No contest) – A true middle ground where you don’t plead guilty, but you are willing to be sentenced if found guilty 

What Will Happen After My Plea?

Once you’ve submitted your plea, the judge will determine the next steps for your case. The case could go straight to trial or pre-trial, or, if you plead guilty or nolo contendere, the case could move on to further hearings. Afterward, if you’ve been released either on bail or your own recognizance, you have time to prepare before your next court appearance which will be several weeks away. If you remain in custody after the arraignment, your next court appearance will be sooner.

Do I Need a Lawyer?

If you committed an offense in which you may go to jail, you are required to have a lawyer present. This lawyer could either be appointed by the judge called a “duty lawyer” or hired by the defendant. If you have not committed a jailable offense and are planning to enter a plea of “not guilty,” you may not need an attorney present. When determining whether or not to hire an attorney for your arraignment, consider your punishment if convicted. If you’re concerned about hidden punishments for minor offenses, such as loss of license, insurance raises or deportation, it would be wise to have an attorney onsite.

Remember, the United States Constitution grants you the right to an attorney, even if you can’t afford one. If faced with an upcoming arraignment, find a criminal attorney in Washington, DC to stand by your side for the case. They will be able to educate you on the legal process and help you devise a defensive strategy. Having an attorney on your case could reduce the stress of the arraignment process and lessen the potential consequences of your offense.

Thanks to The Law Firm of Frederick J. Brynn, P.C. for their insight into criminal law and your constitutional rights.