QUESTION
What should I do if we are being sued over and above our insurance liability?
Asked on Apr 24th, 2016 on Personal Injury - Wisconsin
More details to this question:
My daughter hit a motorcyclist and he was seriously injured because he was not wearing a helmet. We had $500,000 liability and the insurance company has let us know that the victim is suing for the full amount. The agent also let us know the agency will pay out the amount on the contingency that he sign off on going after us. She did warn us they may not accept the payout and may go after us. We have very little in the line of assets, but we do own our own house. Should we put the house in our other children's names? (They have a different father who has passed away and have different last name) Our assets amount to a federal refund in the bank to pay house insurance, car insurance, and real estate taxes in the next few months. We have about $10,000 in an IRA and my husband has been laid off and only working part time.
1 ANSWER
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Conveying your property for less than a fair equivalent value when you have creditors is a fraudulent transfer, and can be undone by the creditor. It also looks fishy as all get-out. You may not have much to worry about. Unless your equity in your home exceeds your state's exemption limit (which varies a lot from state to state: in Wisconsin it is $150,000 for a married couple), then the victim cannot take much from you. You do have the right to retain a lawyer to protect your interests in the event the final verdict, or settlement amount, should exceed your policy limits. But the majority of victims settle for policy limits. Unless the victim here suffered the very greatest amount of physical injury, he may well do the same thing. But consult your own lawyer with all the facts and details. His not wearing a helmet was certainly contributory negligent to his injuries.
Answered on May 19th, 2016 at 7:17 PM