You need to review the contract or retainer agreement you have with your lawyer. Typically the agreement will say the attorney gets 1/3 of any monies recovered, whether they are No Fault benefits from you insurer or 3rd party pain and suffering money from the at fault parties insurer. Some lawyers will not take a fee from voluntary No Fault (PIP) payments if they did not have to sue your insurer and/or did not have to monitor the case, collect your wage loss info, your medical bills, get replacement service logs and otherwise "handle" the claim for you - but if you asked the lawyer to handle it and didn't do the leg work yourself, then you would expect to pay the lawyer for their services. Certainly if your insurer agrees to make voluntary monthly payments going forward, after the initial payment to bring the payments up to date, you can ask that the payments come directly to you and ask that your attorney agree to this and not take a fee out of future voluntary payments.
Answered on Jan 21st, 2016 at 3:34 AM