Your share is whatever remains after the agreed fee, case expenses, and valid medical or benefit repayments have been taken out of the settlement. Until those amounts are known, the answer is an estimate. The document to ask for is a draft settlement statement. It connects the offer you are considering with the payment you may eventually receive.
Take an offer of $100,000, just as an example. It is easy to start mentally spending it: the rent that fell behind during recovery, perhaps, or a replacement car. Some of that money may already be spoken for. Before making those plans, work through the proposed distribution with the lawyer handling the claim.
Start with the written fee agreement
Pull out the contract from when you hired the firm. A conversation about “the percentage” can leave out quite a lot—whether the rate changes at trial or on appeal, for instance. Even after locating the right rate, check which amount it applies to. Taking expenses out before calculating the fee and taking them out afterward need not produce the same answer.
These details belong in the written contingent-fee agreement. Texas Disciplinary Rule 1.04 requires the method of calculation, the expenses to be deducted, and whether they come out before or after the fee calculation. The rule addresses reasonableness of fees as well. When the matter concludes, it requires a written statement explaining the outcome and, where there is a recovery, how the client’s remittance was determined.
On a draft statement, “expenses: $2,000” would leave a fair question unanswered: which expenses? There should be an itemized ledger behind that entry, with receipts for such things as records charges or filing fees. Payments already credited need to appear too. An expected future charge can be included in an estimate, provided it is labeled that way. You should be able to tell an incurred cost from a forecast and both of them from the attorney fee.
Verify bills, liens, and reimbursement claims
A bill can be out of date by the time it reaches your mailbox. For example, the provider may have printed it before posting an insurance payment or a contractual adjustment. Its current ledger, read with the insurer’s explanation of benefits, is a better basis for checking the account. Look at the dates and treatment descriptions as well: an unrelated appointment can turn up on the same statement as accident care.
A provider’s unpaid bill and an insurer’s demand to be repaid are different kinds of claims. Either may affect the distribution. Make sure the lawyer has the benefit-plan information and any collection or repayment letters. Where a hospital lien, assignment, or letter of protection is involved, the underlying paperwork matters as much as the balance. The question is what obligation exists and what current written payoff will satisfy it.
Medicare requires a closer look. It may have paid for treatment conditionally, before responsibility for the bill was resolved. A later settlement, judgment, award, or other payment can bring a repayment demand. The lawyer reviewing that demand needs to check the treatment it covers, subsequent payment entries, and any allowable procurement-cost reduction. There are procedures for getting certain figures before settlement—the CMS guidance describes them, including its final conditional-payment process—but a case has to qualify and the required steps have to be completed. A number saved earlier from the portal may no longer be the amount at issue.
There is no single repayment procedure for every source of benefits. Private health coverage, Medicaid, workers’ compensation, Medicare, and a provider agreement can raise different issues. Counsel needs to work out which law or contract controls each one. If a reduction has merely been requested, it is still a request. The closing estimate should not silently treat it as an agreed payoff.
Use a transparent calculation
For the $100,000 example, let the fee be $33,000 under the assumed agreement. Put $2,000 in the expenses column and $20,000 in the column for verified medical or benefit payoffs. The figures would appear this way:
- $100,000 proposed settlement
- Less $33,000 attorney fee
- Less $2,000 case expenses
- Less $20,000 medical or benefit payoffs
- Equals $45,000 estimated distribution to the client
That $45,000 holds only if there are no further valid deductions or reserves. These are invented numbers for an arithmetic example, not the firm’s quoted fee or an estimate of anyone’s claim. Your documents may produce quite different figures.
What about a payoff that has not come back yet? A reserve for it should be visible on the statement, with the unresolved claim identified. “Other” does not tell you enough. You need to know how much could be distributed now and how much would be held. Keep the date next to an estimated payoff so that, when confirmation arrives, you can compare the two and see why the distribution changed.
Ask what is not included
There is another question behind the dollar figure: what is the payer buying with this payment? The answer is in the offer and release. Money for vehicle damage may be separate from a bodily-injury settlement. One defendant may be settling while a claim against another remains, or more than one claimant may be looking to the same policy. Have the lawyer explain the allocation and the claims being released before treating a quoted net as the whole result.
There may be expenses ahead that are not deductions on this statement. Future treatment is an obvious example. A final release can matter long after the present bills have been paid, so discuss any documented ongoing medical need as part of the settlement decision. Cases involving minors, government benefits, or Medicare beneficiaries may also need additional procedures. Those questions can affect when a distribution is possible.
Even a fully checked statement cannot make the settlement decision. You still have to weigh the proof of fault and damages against the expense, time, and risk of pursuing the claim. There may be good reasons to continue; there may be serious weaknesses in the evidence. Discuss them with the lawyer who knows the file. No one can promise a favorable result.
Questions to ask before approving disbursement
It is reasonable to ask the person reviewing the statement with you to show where each deduction comes from. Which agreement provision supplies the fee? Where are the receipts? Which provider or plan has confirmed its payoff? Has unrelated care been removed where appropriate? For a disputed balance, who is handling it and what happens to the reserved money?
The release is worth reading again at this point. Are these the parties and claims you understood would be covered? Keep a copy with the draft statement and any notes about unresolved deductions. If the final statement later shows a different number, you will have the earlier version in front of you when asking why it changed.
Related reading
For the questions that come before dividing a payment—proof of medical losses, future needs, responsibility, and available insurance—see the Texas Injury Claim Value Knowledge Hub.
General information, not individualized legal or financial advice. The example is hypothetical; actual fees, obligations and distributions depend on your agreement and case.
ABOUT THE ATTORNEY
Aaron A. Herbert
Founding Attorney
Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law
Aaron founded The Law Firm of Aaron A. Herbert in 2010 to focus on developing each client's case and seeking its maximum value. For over a decade, he has represented people seriously injured in major accidents and industrial catastrophes, pursuing trial verdicts and settlements while working to reduce the stress of litigation.
Education
- Texas A&M University · B.S., Criminal Justice, 1999
- University of Oklahoma College of Law · J.D., 2002; graduated in the top of his class
Trial experience & approach
Aaron earned numerous jury verdicts at boutique personal injury litigation firms. According to his biography, he spent a year as the top-earning litigation attorney at a firm that frequently appeared in verdict searches as having one of the highest numbers of trial wins in Texas. At another Dallas personal injury firm, he moved from managing pre-litigation attorney to managing litigation attorney over seven years as the firm grew into one of Dallas's largest personal injury firms.
His biography describes a reputation as one of America's most aggressive trial lawyers, with noteworthy recoveries from judges and juries and substantial pretrial settlements. Most of those settlements included confidentiality agreements requested by the defense. Aaron has said the recoveries were justified by the injuries and losses involved, which no amount of money could make someone choose to experience.
His approach combines passion, preparation, persistence and courtroom imagination. He believes a well-supported, engaged and motivated team working cooperatively helps deliver strong representation, with the goal of achieving the best possible result for every client.
Dallas roots, military service & publication
Born and raised in Dallas, Aaron enlisted in the United States Marine Corps after high school and later received an Honorable Discharge. He completed his university and law degrees after his military service and became a lifelong Sooners football fan in law school.
Publication: “Litigating Dog Bite Cases,” Texas Dog Law Seminar, Dallas, 2009.
Professional affiliations & recognition
Professional affiliations and recognition listed in Aaron’s biography:
- State Bar of Texas
- American Bar Association
- Association of Trial Lawyers of America (now American Association for Justice)
- Texas Trial Lawyers Association
- Dallas Trial Lawyers Association
- Dallas Bar Association
- Tarrant County Bar Association
- Million Dollar Advocates Forum
- The National Trial Lawyers – Top 100 Trial Lawyers
Trial experience & approach
Aaron earned numerous jury verdicts at boutique personal injury litigation firms. According to his biography, he spent a year as the top-earning litigation attorney at a firm that frequently appeared in verdict searches as having one of the highest numbers of trial wins in Texas. At another Dallas personal injury firm, he moved from managing pre-litigation attorney to managing litigation attorney over seven years as the firm grew into one of Dallas's largest personal injury firms.
His biography describes a reputation as one of America's most aggressive trial lawyers, with noteworthy recoveries from judges and juries and substantial pretrial settlements. Most of those settlements included confidentiality agreements requested by the defense. Aaron has said the recoveries were justified by the injuries and losses involved, which no amount of money could make someone choose to experience.
His approach combines passion, preparation, persistence and courtroom imagination. He believes a well-supported, engaged and motivated team working cooperatively helps deliver strong representation, with the goal of achieving the best possible result for every client.
Dallas roots, military service & publication
Born and raised in Dallas, Aaron enlisted in the United States Marine Corps after high school and later received an Honorable Discharge. He completed his university and law degrees after his military service and became a lifelong Sooners football fan in law school.
Publication: “Litigating Dog Bite Cases,” Texas Dog Law Seminar, Dallas, 2009.
Professional affiliations & recognition
Professional affiliations and recognition listed in Aaron’s biography:
- State Bar of Texas
- American Bar Association
- Association of Trial Lawyers of America (now American Association for Justice)
- Texas Trial Lawyers Association
- Dallas Trial Lawyers Association
- Dallas Bar Association
- Tarrant County Bar Association
- Million Dollar Advocates Forum
- The National Trial Lawyers – Top 100 Trial Lawyers