If your child was injured in a West Palm Beach car accident, you can file a lawsuit on your child’s behalf to recover compensation for their injuries. Florida law allows parents and legal guardians to bring personal injury claims for minor children.
These claims pursue compensation for medical expenses, pain and suffering, future care needs, and other damages resulting from the accident, and special rules apply to settlement approval and protection of children’s financial interests throughout the legal process.
A West Palm Beach car accident lawyer experienced in handling cases involving injured children can help you get settlements that adequately address long-term needs that may not be apparent immediately after the accident.
Legal Standing to File Claims on Behalf of Minor Children
Parents and legal guardians hold legal authority to make decisions for minor children, including filing personal injury lawsuits after car accidents. Florida law recognizes that children under 18 lack the legal capacity to file lawsuits, sign settlement agreements, or make binding legal decisions on their own behalf, requiring adult representatives to act in their interests.
Both parents typically share equal authority to pursue claims for injured children, and either parent can initiate a lawsuit without requiring consent from the other parent if they share parental rights. When parents are divorced or separated, custody arrangements may affect who has authority to make legal decisions for the child.
Legal guardians appointed by courts hold the same authority as parents to file claims for children in their care. Guardianship documentation establishes the guardian’s legal standing to act on behalf of the child in all matters, including personal injury litigation.
Types of Damages Available in Child Injury Cases
Child injury claims pursue the same categories of damages as adult claims, but calculating appropriate compensation requires considering how injuries impact children differently than adults. Children face longer lifetimes living with permanent injuries, potentially requiring decades of ongoing medical treatment and care that must be factored into settlement negotiations.
Medical Expenses and Future Care Costs
Medical treatment costs form the foundation of economic damages in child injury cases. These expenses include emergency transportation, hospital stays, surgery, rehabilitation, therapy, medications, medical equipment, and follow-up care. Serious injuries often require treatment extending years beyond the accident.
Calculating these future costs requires expert testimony from medical professionals, life care planners, and economists who can project expenses over the child’s entire remaining lifespan.
Impact on Development and Future Opportunities
Injuries sustained in childhood can affect development, education, and future earning capacity in ways not immediately apparent. Traumatic brain injuries may impact learning abilities that don’t manifest until children reach higher grade levels. Physical disabilities may limit career options decades in the future.
Pain and suffering damages account for physical discomfort, emotional trauma, and reduced quality of life that children experience. Young accident victims may develop anxiety about riding in vehicles, experience nightmares about the crash, or struggle with PTSD symptoms that affect their daily lives and development. These non-economic damages deserve compensation.
Court Approval Requirements for Minor Settlements
Florida law requires court approval for all settlements involving minor children, regardless of the settlement amount. This mandatory oversight protects children from settlements that may seem adequate to parents but fail to properly compensate long-term needs or future complications from injuries.
The settlement approval process requires filing a petition with the court explaining the accident circumstances, the child’s injuries, the proposed settlement amount, and how the settlement adequately compensates all damages.
Judges review settlements independently and may reject proposals they consider insufficient, even when parents and insurance companies have agreed. Insufficient settlements get rejected with guidance about what additional information or increased amounts would satisfy the court.
Structured Settlements and Protected Accounts for Children
Florida law provides special protections for settlement funds awarded to minor children, ensuring money remains available for the child’s benefit rather than being spent prematurely. Courts typically require placing settlement proceeds into restricted accounts or structured settlements that prevent access until the child reaches adulthood.
Restricted bank accounts require court approval for any withdrawals, protecting funds from being spent on expenses unrelated to the child’s accident injuries or care needs. Parents cannot access these funds freely, even for legitimate child-rearing expenses, unless they petition the court and demonstrate that the spending serves the child’s interests.
Structured settlements provide another option for protecting children’s compensation. These arrangements convert lump sum settlements into guaranteed periodic payments that may stretch over many years or the child’s lifetime.
Balancing Immediate Needs with Future Protection
Courts balance protecting settlement funds with recognizing that injured children have legitimate immediate needs. Some portion of settlements may be allocated for current medical expenses, modifications to the family home for accessibility, or specialized equipment the child needs now. The remainder gets protected through restricted accounts or structured settlements.
Parents can petition courts for access to restricted funds when legitimate injury-related expenses arise. Courts evaluate these requests individually, approving withdrawals that clearly benefit the child’s recovery or accommodation of their injuries while denying requests that appear to help parents or siblings rather than the injured child specifically.
The Statute of Limitations for West Palm Beach Car Accidents Involving Children
Florida’s statute of limitations for personal injury claims applies differently to minor children than to adults. While adult claims must be filed within two years of the accident date, children’s claims receive an extended time that doesn’t begin running until they turn 18 years old in most circumstances.
This extended statute of limitations means children injured in car accidents have until their 20th birthday to file personal injury lawsuits—two years after reaching the age of majority. However, this extension applies only to the child’s own claims, not to parents’ derivative claims for medical expenses they paid or other damages they suffered as a result of their child’s injuries.
Parents should still pursue claims promptly despite the extended statute of limitations for several important reasons. Insurance companies take fresh claims more seriously than stale claims filed years after accidents.
Get Help Suing On Behalf of Your Child After a West Palm Beach Car Accident
Hiring legal representation protects injured children’s rights by thoroughly investigating accidents, retaining appropriate experts to project long-term impacts, negotiating with insurance companies who may minimize children’s suffering, and presenting compelling evidence to courts during settlement approval hearings.
Contact a West Palm Beach car accident lawyer today if your child was injured in a car crash. Our attorneys understand the unique aspects of minor injury claims, the court approval process for settlements, and how to structure compensation to protect your child’s interests for years to come.
We handle all aspects of your child’s claim on a contingency fee basis—you pay nothing unless we recover compensation for your child. Get compensation after a West Palm Beach car accident that harmed your child by calling us now.
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