MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota. If you work full-time and you are injured in a car accident, you’ll have the right to seek damages for your lost wages. This money ensures that you and your family can make ends meet as you recover from your accident. However, if you are a stay-at-home parent or if you are a family caretaker, you may not be making wages to care for children or for an elderly family member. Even if you are not making money from household duties and caretaking, these services do have value. For example, Minnesota is one of the more expensive states for childcare costs. According to the Star Tribune, the average cost to put one infant in full-time child care is $13,650. If you have children and stay at home to care for them, you could be saving your family thousands of dollars in childcare expenses each year. If you are injured in a car accident and are no longer able to provide these services to your family, your family could suffer or may need to come up with the money to place your child in childcare.
If you’ve been injured in a car accident in Minneapolis, Minnesota, you may be entitled to seek damages for these losses. These claims are known as loss of consortium claims and can help your family recover after a car accident.
Every personal injury claim is unique. In order to determine whether you are a candidate to make a loss of consortium claim, your personal injury lawyer will consider your marriage, each partner’s role in the marriage, and your lawyer will consider the different ways your personal injury or disability has impacted your marriage and day to day life. According to the American Bar, your personal injury lawyer will also review your car insurance policy. Some policies include loss of consortium damages in your policy’s limits and some do not.
In a loss of consortium claim, both partners may be required to testify in court in order to make the claim. Loss of consortium claims are most often initiated after a spouse’s wrongful death, but they aren’t limited to wrongful death claims. If your partner was seriously injured and can no longer work or support the household, you may be entitled to make a loss of consortium claim.
In the aftermath of an accident, you may only have a limited amount of time to make a personal injury claim. The personal injury lawyers at the Law Offices of Martin T. Montilino in Minneapolis, Minnesota can review your claim and help you understand all the legal avenues available to you. While most car accident claims will be focused on medical costs, rehabilitation expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering damages, there are certainly some personal injury claims that involve other legal avenues for compensation. Loss of consortium claims are one such avenue. If you have questions about whether you can make a claim for your partner’s injury, visit our website at https://martinmontilino.com/ to learn more.