Court Award

C

Cuckoo

Guest
Hi,
I wonder can anyone throw some light on this. My son was involved in a car accident when he was only 4yrs old. Following a court case he was awarded a small sum. As a minor the money was invested for him by the courts. He is now 20yrs old and would like to know how much the award (very small then anyway) is worth now. He is trying to fund a course and would like to use the money for that purpose. Can anyone tell me how he can access the funds now. Do I need to engage a solicitor for him?
 
You may not need a solicitor to obtain the funds. You say it was a small amount so it was probably the Circuit Court. If so he should be able to access the money when he turns 18. The usual drill in the Circuit Court is that he would need to present himself in the Court Office with his original birthcert and photo id (preferably passport/drivers licence) You would need to know the record number of the court case and the date if possible. They will fill out some forms with him and he is given a date to appear before the County Registrar who can order the release of the funds. Very simple procedure. If you don't know the record number this will complicate matters as of course records weren't computerised at that stage. If you don't know it they will ask you the year of the court case and present you will a huge journal of court cases for that year and you'll have to attempt to find it. All of the above refers to the Circuit Court only. If it was a High Court case I'm not 100% on the procedure but if you ring the central office of the High Court 8886000 someone there should be able to help you. hth not a clue.
 
"As a minor the money was invested for him by the courts."
I went through a similar situation when I was young. The money was not well invested , and the buying power of the money was a lot less when I collected it, than when it was originally invested. Maybe things have changed. Anyway good luck.
Rgds
Billo
 
Thanks to you both above for replying. The case was in the High court - think the solicitor involved thought he might get a nice lump sum and has it happened he got a lot more than my poor little lad. Anyway, that's another story. I'll do as you suggest and contact the number you've supplied.
Yes, Billo, I've heard that the peole charged with investing this money on behalf of minors have no savvy when it comes to investing. I don't expect my son's award will be much more now than it was when invested. I've also learnt recently that he will have to pay DIRT tax!!.
Anyway, thanks to you both for your time.
 
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