Can I make a personal injury claim for a child?
Posted on 18th October 2021
Everything you need to know about making a NO WIN NO FEE child injury claim with our team of personal injury solicitors.
It’s no secret that accidents involving children are not uncommon. However, just because they might be full of energy and life, it doesn’t mean that the accident was their fault, simply because they are kids. When a child is injured in an accident that is not their fault they deserve to receive financial compensation for their injuries, in the same way that adults are.
So, can you make a personal injury claim on behalf of a child? The general answer to this question is yes. If a child under the age of 18 is injured due to someone else’s negligence, or an act of medical negligence, then an adult can make a personal injury claim on their behalf with a specialist injury solicitor.
How do I make a personal injury claim for my injured child?
When a child is under the age of 18, they are not able to pursue a personal injury claim on their own behalf, and it must be done so with an adult who is known as a litigation friend.
What is a litigation friend?
In personal injury claims, a litigation friend is someone who can make a personal injury claim on behalf of a child, and is able to instruct a solicitor and pursue the claim for their child. This process is used to make a personal injury claim of any kind for children under the age of 18.
Normally, a parent or guardian will be appointed as a litigation friend, where this is possible. A litigation friend must be independent from the accident that caused the child injury, meaning that they cannot act as a litigation friend for an injured child if they were to blame for the accident in any way.
An example of this would be if the child was injured as a passenger in a road traffic accident for which you were partly to blame for, another parent or close relative would have to act as the child’s litigation friend instead.
To learn more on the litigation friend process, see this here. Or, to speak to a specialist solicitor about making your potential child injury claim for your injured child, simply contact us online here to speak to a solicitor within one working hour.
What does a litigation friend do?
If you are acting as a litigation friend in a personal injury claim for a child, you will have a few duties.
The common duties of a litigation friend are:
to pursue the personal injury claim fairly and competently on behalf of the injured child
to act in a way which benefits the child
to ensure that you have no personal interest in the claim, or hold no fault in the claim
To learn more about the process of being a litigation friend, or to speak to a specialist injury solicitor about your potential suitability to acting as a litigation friend, contact our team online here for a free, no obligation discussion with a solicitor.
How to begin a personal injury claim for my injured child?
If your child is under the age of 18 and has been injured in an accident that wasn’t their fault, whether it was a road traffic accident or an accident on a playground, you might be wondering how to begin a personal injury claim on behalf of your child.
The first, and most important, step to making a child injury claim is to reach out to a specialist injury solicitor with a large amount of experience in child injury claims, such as MG Legal. When you get in touch with MG Legal, you will hear back from a personal injury solicitor specialising in child injury claims within one working hour.
MG Legal have over 30 years' experience in settling child injury claims, and accept all child injury claims on a NO WIN NO FEE basis. This allows all of our clients making child injury claims to do so at no financial risk, as if we do not win your claim and obtain financial compensation for your injured child, then you do not owe us a penny as our client.
To speak to a child injury solicitor on a free, no obligation basis, simply contact us online here, and hear back from a solicitor within one working hour.
What type of accidents are child injury claims commonly made for?
As we are all aware, there are a large number of ways in which children are injured, and they are often involved in a lot of accidents over the years. However, when a child is involved in an accident that is not their fault, they could be eligible for a child injury claim to be made on their behalf.
Our child injury solicitors often see child injury claims made for the following accidents:
These are just a few of the child injury claims that our team specialise in, to speak to an injury solicitor about your specific situation, and potential child injury claim, simply contact us online here.
How long do I have to make a personal injury claim for my injured child?
If you are making a personal injury claim on behalf of your injured child, you can submit a child injury claim any time until their 18th birthday, regardless of when the accident happened.
Once the child has turned 18, if a parent or guardian has not made a personal injury claim on their behalf, they then have three years in which to make a claim on their own behalf, with their 21st birthday as the final deadline.
To learn more about the time limits involved in making a child injury claim, simply contact our injury solicitors online today and hear back from us within one working hour.
Make a no-win no fee child injury claim with MG Legal:
There is a general misconception in personal injury claims, that claims made for children operate in the same way as claims made for adults. In reality, the process is much more complex, and requires the assistance of a specialist child injury solicitor.
Here at MG legal, our team of injury solicitors specialise in child injury claims, and working with our clients as they act as litigation friends for their injured children.
We accept all of our child injury claims on a no-win no fee basis, allowing you to make a claim for your child at no financial risk.
We are able to operate in this way, due to the success of our team, which is currently over 99% in all of the claims that we take on.
If you need a reliable solicitor to help with your child injury claim of any kind, then MG legal are here for you.
To learn more about how our team can help with your child injury claim, see a full overview here. Or, to speak to a solicitor today about your child injury claim, simply contact us online here, and hear back from a solicitor within one working hour.
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