A personal injury is when you’re the victim of an accident that wasn’t your fault. This can be an overwhelming situation. You’ll be dealing with pain and the possibility of seeking compensation can feel overwhelming. But by being prepared you can take some of the stress off. Below, we explore everything you need to make a personal injury claim and how you might go about investing the proceeds.

Keep a diary

The timeline of events following your injury can be difficult to recall – especially if you’re stressed. You can make your life a lot easier in this situation by keeping a diary of events. Simply detail your day-to-day life following the injury and make sure you record anything that seems relevant to your case. This could include details from the day of your injury – perhaps this could be the weather conditions or visibility levels. But in the ensuing days, you should include who’s helping you, how much you’re restricted, hospital treatments etc. By noting these details, it’ll be easier to collect your documents when they’re required.

Evidence of financial cost

The financial cost of your injury is key for setting compensation. You can give yourself the best chance of financial protection with a successful claim with accurate financial information. Ideally, you’ll find evidence of financial losses incurred as a direct result of the injury. This can include loss of earnings from work.

By detailing your payslips before and after the injury you can make a direct comparison. Evidence of medication and treatment costs, as well as travel expenses, damage to personal property and assistance costs are also all directly measurable forms of evidence that can help you in your case too.

Evidence of injury

To make a personal injury claim, you’ll also need to collect evidence of your injury. This is usually straightforward. Your solicitor will arrange for you to see a medical professional who’ll examine you before providing a report. This report will evaluate whether your accident was responsible for your adverse symptoms, or whether there was another cause. The expert can also provide a prognosis, detailing how long you could expect to experience these symptoms.

Making a personal injury claim can be an overwhelming time. But by keeping a diary and collecting evidence of your financial loss and evidence of your injury, you should be well set to begin a successful claim and bolster your personal finances.

Investing the proceeds of a personal injury claim

If you reach a settlement with the defendant or are awarded a sum of damages in public court, your solicitor will arrange for that money to be directly transferred into your savings account as a cash lump sum.

The case is now over, and the cash – whether it be a small sum of £1,000 or a much more substantial amount – is in your hands to invest.

Will you invest it in some of the best funds or best companies with a stockbroker? That may depend on the latest stock market outlook. Instead, you might take the safer route of keeping it in a savings account.

The decision of whether you should save or invest is not one that we can prescribe the answer to. Only a financial adviser will be in a position to offer such advice after learning about your personal circumstances.