Being hit by a car while riding a bicycle can be deadly. If you were lucky enough to survive such an event, there are some specific things you should do to help you obtain the compensation you deserve. The following are some steps you should take.

Collect Evidence

There are a lot of different types of evidence you could collect to help your claim. First, one of most important pieces of evidence is the police report. Do not neglect calling authorities. It’s illegal to do so in most states, and the police report will generally hold up well in court.

Second, collect contact information, insurance information and vehicle information from the at-fault driver. It’s possible he or she will give you false information, which is another reason you should have a police officer on the scene with an official report.

Third, you should collect contact information from any witnesses who stayed at the scene of the bicycle crash. It’s not absolutely necessary to have witnesses in order for you to prove the collision wasn’t your fault, but they definitely help. If most of the witnesses corroborate your story, it could be more likely a judge and insurance adjuster will believe it.

Finally, take pictures of the scene, the surrounding area, your bicycle, your injuries, the other car and anything else that could help to prove fault with the other driver. If you are unable to collect any evidence on your own because of injuries, be sure to have someone do it for you.

Get Medical Assistance

If you’re injured, don’t deny yourself medical assistance. Even if you feel your injuries are not serious enough to warrant a visit to the emergency room, it might be a good idea to get a checkup anyway. Some injuries seem mild at first, but present more serious threats at a later time. If your injuries are not found early, and you settle the case without knowledge of them, you may not be entitled to receive compensation for them.

Be Careful What You Say

Whether you’re still at the scene or are speaking with your insurance provider at a later date, be careful what you say. Even a simple, “I should have been more careful,” could make it appear as though you blame yourself. You’d basically be accepting fault, and you should never do that.

Contact an Attorney

Being in a bicycle/car crash is a serious matter. After your accident, collect evidence, receive medical care and watch what you say so you can receive the compensation you deserve. Contact a bicycle accident lawyer in Trenton, NJ today for more information or to schedule a meeting.

 

Thanks to Davis & Brusca for their insight into personal injury claims and what to do after a bike accident.

 

 

Divorce can be a difficult time in anyone’s life and may be unwanted by you or your spouse. In some cases, it might not be wanted by either of you, but you just don’t see another way to improve your lives. Whatever your unique situation may be, there are rare instances that a judge might require you both to attend a certain amount of marriage counseling if they think a reconciliation is possible. In some states, if one spouse asks for this, the state then must require it. Courts may also require other types of education or counseling depending on your needs and where you live.

In some states, there are certain grounds for divorce which the court will then request the marriage counseling for, such as irretrievable breakdown. The court will then ask you to complete a certain number of counseling sessions or to attend for a period of time, such as three months. The counselor then reports back to the court with your attendance record.

Likelihood of Required Counseling

Many states have no-fault divorce laws, which allow one spouse to file for divorce without the other spouse’s consent and with no grounds. Because of this, even if the unwilling spouse asks for counseling, the court does not have to do this. In more extreme cases, such as marriages with abuse involved, these are exempt from any required counseling.

It’s good to note that if you or your partner do not want the counseling, the chances of it working are far less. Effort from either of you cannot be measured by the court, so because you both will be putting forth the time and the money to do this, before asking for this, it is important to decide if it would be worth it.

Other Types of Required Counseling

Marriage counseling is less likely to be court-ordered than other types of counseling or education, such as:

Family counseling: When children are involved, these types of sessions help the whole family work through emotions and conflicts that may come up throughout a divorce. Anyone in the family can attend.

Divorce counseling: Marriage counseling is used to try to fix the marriage, where divorce counseling allows each spouse to express their feelings about the divorce in a healthy way. This helps to improve communication and decrease chances of conflict.

Parent education: It can be difficult to understand what children experience in a divorce. These educational classes help teach parents what to expect and how to work with their child’s best interests when deciding on child custody.

Whether you go through counseling or not, working with an experienced divorce lawyer in Fairfax, VA is important to ensuring your rights are protected and that the divorce is completed in the fairest way possible for both you and your ex.

 

Thanks to May Law, LLP for their insight into family law and if marriage counseling can be required.

 

Often people ask: “Do I really need a Will? I have people designated on my retirement accounts and my life insurance, so why do I have to create a Will?”

 

The first version of “simple” planning is to do nothing. Name people as beneficiaries and hope that your house along and other assets will get to them as well. The problem with this plan is that it’s short sighted. If the person who died has assets greater than $100K in Illinois, which would include the house and savings accounts, then the family members left behind must open a probate estate. This court process can cost the family $5K-$10K to begin with and can go upwards from there depending on how much fighting may happen or how many claims are made against the estate. The process takes a long time, often 1-2 years, or more. The process is also available for the public to see. Your family members’ names, addresses and how much they will inherit will be available for anyone to see. This can lead to scam artists taking advantage of people who are already in a vulnerable state because of the death of the loved one.

 

Doing nothing may feel fine for you, and may eventually carry out the plan that you have in your head, but it will likely cause more time and money for your family.

 

The second “simple” option is to create a Last Will and Testament, and Transfer on Death Instrument. The Will has the provisions to say, any assets that does not have a beneficiary designation will go to the people you name in the Will. The Transfer on Death Instrument, or TODI, allows you to add a beneficiary to your real estate. The TODI gets filed with the county, and when you die, the real estate automatically titles into the person you have named in the TODI. Then as long as all of your other assets have beneficiaries, then your estate should avoid probate.

 

The problem with the first two options of doing nothing, and creating a Will, is that you have not done any planning for your beneficiaries/family members. In other words, once they receive the assets, such assets are subject to potential divorce, lawsuits, creditors, bankruptcy and special needs issues. In our experience, some of our client’s beneficiaries have lost money because they were already in the middle of bankruptcy, or they were already on Medicaid, and become disqualified since they received an inheritance directly.  So if you are at all concerned about your family’s protection of your hard-earned wealth, then the simple solutions are probably not enough for you.

 

The last and most comprehensive solution is creating a Living Trust. This is a standby device that will own your assets during your life, if you become incapacitated and upon your death. It will avoid probate for your family, and it can also provide a lot of instructions as to protection for divorce, lawsuits and special needs issues.

 

Simple always seems like such a nice and cheap option when it comes to estate planning. However, if you really care about protecting everything you have worked your entire life for, and you really care about your family’s well-being, it is often better to look at the more comprehensive way to plan and protect with the assistance of an estate planning lawyer in Rolling Meadows, IL. This way you will have peace of mind.

 

Thanks to Bott & Associates, Ltd. for their insight into estate planning and smart ways to plan.

 

If you were ordered by a judge to pay alimony to your ex-spouse, you might be frustrated and believe the ruling was unfair. However, you should never stop paying alimony altogether. Instead, hire a family lawyer to help you file a request a hearing for spousal support modification.

Here are some of the consequences of not paying alimony:

Seize Assets

If it has been a while since you have made alimony payments to your ex-spouse, the court may choose to seize your assets, such as your house, in order to collect the money you owe. 

Wage Garnishment

Failure to pay alimony can also result in wage garnishment. The judge can order your employer to withhold the alimony amount from your paycheck and send it to ex-spouse. This will guarantee your ex-spouse receives the alimony regularly. 

Driver’s License Revocation

If you have not paid alimony to your ex-spouse, the court can also choose to take away your driver’s license for a long period of time. This can make it difficult for you to get to work, the grocery store and other important places. You will have to rely on other people to give you rides to places.

Arrest

Finally, not paying alimony can lead to criminal charges. If you have failed to comply with court orders in regards to alimony payments, the judge could have you arrested.

What Should You Do If You Can’t Afford Your Alimony Payments?

Certain life events, like job loss or pay reductions, can prevent you from making your alimony payments. If something is keeping you from paying alimony, you should file for spousal support modification.

In order for the judge to grant your request, you will have to show proof that you can’t pay the current alimony amount. For example, if you got fired from your job, you should bring your termination letter to your hearing. 

When Can You Stop Making Alimony Payments?

There are certain situations where your ex-spouse won’t be eligible for alimony payments anymore. For instance, if your ex-spouse has had a pay increase at work and can fully support him or herself, you may not have to make payments anymore. Your ex-spouse may also not be eligible for support if he or she remarries.

Hiring a Family Lawyer

If you do not think you should have to pay your ex-spouse alimony anymore or want to reduce the amount you pay, it is important to speak to a divorce law firm as soon as possible. He or she can help you file for spousal support modification and represent you in court.

 Although there has been a concerted effort over the past few years to implement safe practices and require specific types of safety equipment, people who participate in sports still sustain injuries in accidents that result in impacts on the victim’s life.

There are many reasons why sport-related accidents happen, including unsafe conditions and defective equipment, however, negligence also plays a significant role in many of these devastating injuries.

 

Some of the types of negligence that a personal injury attorney sees in the sport-related accident cases he or she handles include:

 

•       Failure to hire staff who have been properly trained and experienced
•       Failure to prohibit, limit, or stop violent or risky activity during the sport
•       Failure to properly supervise participants
•       Failure to properly train those participating
•       Failure to provide equipment that fits properly
•       Failure to provide the correct equipment
•       Having opponents -whether individual sports like boxing or team sports like football – who are of unequal size, experience, training, etc.
•       Failure to warn participants (or parents if the participants are minors) or risks associated with the sport

 

There are important caveats when it comes to determining whether or not the victim understood what the risks were in participating in the sport he or she sustained injuries in. In personal injury law, this is often referred to as “inherent risks.” The defendant (also known as the at-fault party) in a personal injury lawsuit will often use an inherent risk defense against liability, meaning that because the victim knew of the risks that were involved if they participated in the sport, the defendant is not responsible for the injury.

 

A personal injury lawyer in Salt Lake City, UT will examine whether or not there are certain elements present that would lead a jury to conclude the victim knew the risk during deliberations of a personal injury lawsuit:

 

•       The assumption that when a person volunteers to participate in an activity know to have risks, then the person is aware of the risk they are subjecting themselves to.
•       When a person wears protective gear to participate in an activity, this is evidence that they are aware of the risk they are putting themselves in.

Even if the victim was well aware of the risk of potential injury if they participated in the sport, courts have found that this does not absolve others from liability when there is negligence or recklessness on the part of the party or parties who have deemed to be at fault for the victim’s injuries.

 

For example, most people know that when they play baseball, there is a risk that they could be hit and injured with the hard ball used to play the game and this is why players wear hard helmets for protection when they are up at bat. However, if the pitcher intentionally throws the ball at the batter and the batter suffers an injury, the known risk of playing the game would not apply and the pitcher could be held liable for the injury the batter suffered.

 

Thanks to Rasmussen & Miner for their insight into personal injury claims and sports related injuries.

 

 

When you go to the doctor for help, you expect to start feeling better after some time passes. If this doesn’t happen, and if you start feeling worse, you may want to make a return trip. A hospital is supposed to be a haven for people to go when they need care. There are some instances when a person seeking help in a hospital setting may wind up getting sicker or even dying. When a person dies after being at a hospital for care, who is responsible? Examine some of the factors that go into determining who the fault lies within a medical malpractice case.

 

The Physician

The doctor is the first person who is tapped in when a person is sick or injured. They assume responsibility when they take on a patient, even in a hospital setting. A physician is in charge of a patient’s course of care, and if that doesn’t turn out well for the patient, the doctor is the one who ultimately holds liability. Even if someone acting under a doctor’s orders messes up, the doctor is on the hook for giving the directive that led to a person getting hurt. Therefore, in almost every medical malpractice suit, a doctor is named as a responsible party.

 

The Nursing Staff

Nurses play a vital role in patient treatment, particularly in a hospital setting. They track vital signs, dispense medication and deal with emergencies. A nurse does have to follow the patient’s course of care that the doctor hashes out based on what the test results show. At times, nurses may also make mistakes in caring for patients. They may read charts improperly and administer the wrong drugs. They might accidentally stick a patient with a used needle. They may cause a patient to fall or trip during transport. When a nurse is responsible for a patient getting hurt, they are liable to face a lawsuit naming them personally.

 

The Hospital

When an egregious error occurs at a hospital, there is a good chance the medical facility will somehow be on the hook for it. In some instances, hospitals are responsible because they failed to train medical staff properly, or they have outdated equipment. In either case, the hospital can usually be named in a medical malpractice lawsuit as contributing to the negligence that caused a patient’s illness or injury.

 

The doctors and medical staff that work at hospitals are there to help you feel better. When the opposite occurs, it is a good idea to speak to a FL medical malpractice lawyer for assistance.

 

Thank you to David & Philpot, P.L. for their information on medical malpractice.

People who have been arrested for a DUI may rush to an attorney’s office to help. Facing a criminal charge can be terrifying since a person’s future can be ruined for a long time if convicted. There may be situations where the person arrested wasn’t truly guilty and the officer had made a mistake. It is vital to your case that you have an attorney investigate further into your arrest and develop a defense strategy. 

What are police looking for when searching for drunk drivers?

When police officers are on patrol, there are more than a dozen signs that they may watch out for when searching for drunk drivers on the road. It is important to note that an officer cannot just pull over a car because they get a gut feeling that someone is drunk, there has to be observable evidence that something is awry. Those who were arrested for a DUI and believed they were driving perfectly fine, may want to talk with an attorney about whether their arrest was carried out unfairly. Here are the signs that an officer may look for when it comes to a drunk driver:

• Straddling between two lanes, over the center marker
• Performing too wide of a turn when unnecessary
• Weaving back and forth between lanes (either quickly or slowly)
• Driving off a highway
• Swerving within the same lane
• Nearly missing or actually hitting another car, object, or property
• Tailgating
• Braking excessively, especially when there is no apparent reason to
• Delayed response to changing traffic signals
• Odd slowing or stopping without an approaching stop sign or light
• Accelerating and slowing down abruptly
• Driving without the headlights on

What if the officer didn’t read me my Miranda rights?

People who have been arrested for a DUI may meet with an attorney and ask if their case can be dropped since the officer didn’t read them their Miranda rights. Unfortunately, the case may not be dismissed for this reason. Officers do have to inform you of your 5th amendment rights, but it doesn’t have to be declared until after the arrest has already taken place. 

If I was arrested for being drunk behind the wheel, what charges could I face?

The most common charges for being drunk while driving include a DUI (driving under the influence), DWI (driving while intoxicated), and OWI (operating while intoxicated). Your attorney can go into further detail about the differences between these charges and which you are more likely to face depending on the factors of your arrest. Drunk driving is defined as having a BAC (blood alcohol content) of 0.08% or more. 

What if my BAC was tested after my arrest?

If your BAC was tested 30 minutes up to 3 hours after your arrest, your DUI attorney in MD may recommend using the “rising BAC defense”. Studies have suggested that the body can take a half-hour to several hours before the alcohol is fully absorbed. So it is possible that the person who was arrested for a DUI wasn’t actually drunk while behind the wheel, and that their BAC level raised after the arrest as the body absorbed the drinks entirely. 

Thanks to The Law Firm of Frederick J. Brynn, P.C. for their insight into criminal law and DUI defense strategies.

You may have heard that breastfeeding can increase the risk of tooth decay or cavities in infants. Is there really any truth to this claim? If so, what can you do to avoid the risks that breastfeeding poses to your child’s tooth development? This short guide will explain everything you need to know.

Breastfeeding and Tooth Decay

The relationship between breastfeeding and dental health in infants is not fully understood yet. Studies are still being done, and some of the results of previous studies seem to contradict each other. There have been studies that seem to suggest that breastfeeding for longer than the child’s first year of life can more than double the chances of developing a cavity. There have also been studies that suggest breastfeeding extensively for the first six months of an infant’s life can have great dental health benefits. The most common scientific belief right now is that breastfeeding for more than one year does not directly cause tooth decay, but rather this practice disproportionally comes along with other habits that do.

Caring For Your Infant’s Dental Health

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that mothers breastfeed for one year, and longer if both the mother and child want to. Babies’ teeth are especially susceptible to damage, so you need to be very careful with the sugar content of everything you give your child.

Another aspect is that those who breastfeed extensively often do so at night when it is harder to take the correct precautions to protect their little teeth. You should always use a moist cloth to wipe a baby’s gums after they eat. This includes after breastfeeding, as breast milk has sugar in it. If you breastfeed late at night, it may be easier to ignore this need, but you should be vigilant about it. Additionally, you should gently brush your infant’s teeth twice a day and make sure to visit a dentist. Call a Dentist for more details and to schedule an appointment.

Whether or not breastfeeding causes tooth decay directly or simply correlates with other bad dental health practices is yet to be seen. But in the meantime, it is vital that you take eliminate every bad habit and take on good dental health practices. Doing so will ensure your baby has strong teeth for his or her entire life, regardless of how often you want to nurse your child. There are strong benefits to nurse, both related and unrelated to your baby’s teeth.

An attorney has helped many innocent people like you who have suffered from a traumatic brain injury due to no fault of their own. Traumatic brain injuries can happen due to car accidents, workplace accidents, slip and falls, or any other instance where the head suffers trauma. Victims of traumatic brain injuries may not realize that they are entitled to receive compensation from the offender who caused their accident to happen. If you believe that another person or company was responsible for all that you have endured thus far, then contacting our firm should be your next course of action. 

An attorney can empathize with the anguish that can happen after a loved one endures a traumatic brain injury. Depending on the severity of the case, this person may not be able to live their life the same way they had prior to the accident. If you are a family member of a traumatic brain injury victim, then we are happy to answer any questions you have about how you can take action on behalf of your loved one. 

How The Body Responds to a Traumatic Brain Injury

After a traumatic brain injury, a person may not be able to perform the basic activities for taking care of oneself daily, either temporarily or permanently. An attorney knows that such an incident can completely turn a person and his or her family’s lives upside down. Please know that you do not have to battle this alone. We are a team of experienced and seasoned attorneys who are ready to fight for the compensation you need to recover or manage a newly developed condition from the accident.

Here are examples of how the body may respond to a traumatic brain injury. If you or your loved one has shown the following symptoms, going to the emergency room is critical: 

Physical Symptoms

• Nausea and/or vomiting
• Losing consciousness after an incident (lasting either seconds, minutes, or hours)
• Dilated pupils
• A headache that just won’t go away or has worsened
• Seizures or convulsions
• Clear fluid draining from eyes or nose
• Problems with coordination and equilibrium
• Trouble with coordination
• Muscle weakness
• Numbness of toes or fingers

Cognitive/Mental Symptoms

• Slurred speech
• Combative behavior
• Unusual agitation or impatience
• Severe confusion
• Coma
• Impulsivity
• Vocal outbursts
• Apathy
• Lack of inhibition
• Egocentricity
• Lacking motivation or initiative

Under no circumstances should you wait to see if the symptoms related to a traumatic brain injury get better on their own. Devastatingly, traumatic brain injuries can quickly turn into a life-threatening situation, so any hesitation whatsoever is strongly disadvised. As your brain injury lawyer in Trenton, NJ may tell you, waiting to get medical care can also impact your lawsuit if you do pursue damages against someone else who was at least partially responsible for the injury accident. If you make claims about a serious brain injury but then waited a week or longer to get care, it can have an impact on the case outcome.

Thanks to Davis & Brusca for their insight into personal injury claims and brain injuries.