If you’ve filed a claim for Personal Injury, or you are thinking of making a claim, you may be wondering if you’ll have to pay GST on your settlement. This is a great question, and it’s one with a simple answer (which we love!). As a client, you’ll never pay GST on your settlement. Period. The funds you receive are tax free and you do not pay GST or income tax on the money that you receive. That being said, you do pay GST on our fee, which is considered a service in Canada. For all Personal Injury claims, we work on a contingency fee basis here at Litco Law and our fees are based on a percentage of the settlement.
What Are Contingency Fees?
All our Calgary Personal Injury Lawyers work on a contingency fee basis. Very simply, this means we don’t get paid until you get paid. In other words, the lawyer’s fees are “contingent” or dependent on us successfully recovering money for you by resolving your claim, either through a negotiated settlement or in a court of law. Nearly all injury claims in Alberta are resolved without ever having to go to court.
We’ll Cover Your Disbursements
All legal actions cost money, and not just lawyers’ fees. There are always expenses associated with Personal Injury claims, called disbursements. Disbursements for injury claims run from hundreds to thousands of dollars depending on the severity and complexity of your case. They include fees for things like:
- Accessing medical reports;
- Gathering expert witness assessments and reports;
- Accessing police reports for a motor vehicle accident;
- Requesting charts from doctors and other medical providers; and
- A land titles search for slip and fall accidents.
Here at Litco Law, we’ll always cover your disbursements, which means that we pay for those expenses while your claim is ongoing. An experienced Alberta Personal Injury lawyer will most likely be able to recover all the disbursements from the insurance company of the person(s) you made the claim against, so you won’t have to pay out of your own pocket.
Changing the way the world thinks about lawyers since 1976.
Many people, when they think of lawyers, think of expensive legal fees, high costs, and big bills. At Litco Law, we do law differently. We believe in free consultations [link to FLA] and being generous with our time and knowledge. The meter isn’t running. The clock isn’t ticking. We’re transparent about our pricing, so there are never any surprises or hidden fees. Have questions about filing a claim? Give us a call or email, send us a message in the chat, or fill out our contact form, and we’ll reach out to you!
