Suffering even a moderate personal physical injury can create difficult challenges both financially and emotionally for even the strongest among us. However, what happens when someone suffers a serious or catastrophic personal physical injury? Do they get the proper counsel regarding the form of the settlement to protect their current assets, preserve public benefits, and…

July 7, 2020 By Jason D. Lazarus, J.D., LL.M., MSCC, CSSC In a recent Washington Post article, an egregious story of embezzlement was detailed involving personal injury settlements for children whose parents had died due to medical malpractice.  The settlements stemmed from cases against the federal government who in turn had hired the Pension Company,…

March 24, 2020 Now, more than ever, proper settlement planning is critical for disabled clients.  Protecting their recovery should be top of mind and a high priority given the turbulence in our global markets.  There are always going to be ups and downs in the financial markets.  The real estate market has crashed.  The tech…

By Jason D. Lazarus Introduction Catastrophically injured individuals have unique needs when it comes time to settle their cases.  A one-size-fits-all approach does not work given the complexities that are faced today upon resolution of a personal injury lawsuit. Consideration of how healthcare will be obtained have become much more complicated with the Affordable Care…

By Jason D. Lazarus, Esq. Introduction Assume you just settled a personal injury case for John Doe who is married to Jane.  John has a significant brain injury and there are questions of competency.  John was injured on the job but had a product liability claim which is the part of the case you resolved. …

Jason D. Lazarus, J.D., LL.M., CSSC, MSCC If you are confused by the myriad of government benefit programs that many clients receive as a result of being a personal injury victim, don’t worry as you are not alone.  Most times personal injury victims are not sure either about the benefits they receive and can confuse…

B. Josh Pettingill The feeling can be overwhelming for any claimant who receives a large windfall of settlement money, but more so for an unbanked, undocumented worker who is unfamiliar with common banking laws in the United States. There is a large contingent of undocumented workers living in the US, most notably from Mexico and…

In this two-part article, we are discussing the most common types of mass tort cases. By design, mass tort cases help trial attorneys consolidate the best interest of several people (claimants) who suffered damages into a civil action against the entity that caused this occurrence (the defendant). Because this is an extremely tedious and time-consuming…

For catastrophically injured clients, cash requirements which are immediate, as well as those in the future, need to be considered when devising the settlement plan.  This is so because without taking it into account, many settlement plans are devised with insufficient liquid assets to properly address the needs without significant market losses.  Investopedia defines liquidity…

What happens when someone suffers a serious or catastrophic personal physical injury causing permanent disability? Do they get the proper counseling regarding the form of the settlement so as to protect their current assets, preserve public benefits and safeguard the physical injury recovery? Will the recovery be sufficient to pay for all of the victim’s…

By Anthony F. Prieto, Jr., CFP® I consider myself to be a very fortunate person. I have a supportive family and friends. I have a job that allows me to meet, and more importantly help, great people who are in need on a daily basis. I was recently asked what is Synergy and what do…

By Jason D. Lazarus, J.D., LL.M., MSCC, CSSC Attorneys and clients alike get very confused about which governmental benefits are involved in a case as a result of the accident related disability.  The acronyms for the programs are similar and governed by the same or similar government agencies.  For example, a disabled client might get…

An update on Meaghan | It has been  two years since we first told you Meaghan’s story. Her big question was “How am I going to deal with my finances for the rest of my life?” Meaghan’s question is one that plagues many injury victims at settlement. She was facing extraordinary liens, potential loss of public benefits and…

By Jason D. Lazarus, J.D., LL.M., MSCC, CSSC In the confusing landscape of public benefits and planning issues that arise today for trial lawyers, finding your way can be a daunting task.  Should the client seek Social Security Disability (“SSDI”) benefits and become Medicare eligible?  Doesn’t that trigger the need for a Medicare Set Aside? …

» Synergy FAQ – Understanding Settlement Planning Options & Public Benefit…