Every year, thousands of New Jersey drivers settle car accident claims — and a surprising number of them are caught off guard by what happens between “we settled” and the check actually arriving. Not because anything went wrong, but because nobody explained the process ahead of time.
Here are three of the most common misunderstandings, and what’s actually true.
Myth #1: “The settlement amount is the amount I get to keep”
This is the biggest one. A settlement number — say, $150,000 — represents what the insurance company agreed to pay for the claim. It isn’t the amount that lands in your bank account.
Before a check reaches you, a few standard items get handled: your attorney’s fee, case costs, and any liens from insurers who covered your medical bills along the way (more on that below). None of this is unusual or a sign something went wrong — it’s simply how a settlement gets finalized. The full breakdown of what typically comes out of a settlement, and why is worth reading before you’re ever in the middle of the process.
Myth #2: “If I skip hiring a lawyer, I avoid the fees and liens”
This one sounds logical, but it doesn’t hold up. If your own auto insurance paid your initial medical bills under New Jersey’s no-fault PIP coverage, that insurer generally has a right to be reimbursed once your case settles — whether or not you have a lawyer. Same goes for health insurance liens.
Handling a claim yourself doesn’t make these obligations disappear. It just means there’s no one negotiating them down on your behalf. That negotiation — pushing a $18,000 lien down to $11,000, for example — is where an attorney’s experience often makes the biggest financial difference in a case, sometimes more than the settlement number itself.
Myth #3: “All car accident lawyers charge the same fee”
Not true, and it matters more than most people realize. The industry standard contingency fee in New Jersey hovers around 33⅓% of the settlement. Some firms — including The Law Office of Raffi T. Khorozian, which operates on a 25% fee — charge less, which can mean thousands of dollars staying with the client instead of going to legal fees. On a $150,000 settlement, that difference alone is $12,500.
Before signing with any firm, it’s worth understanding what fees and costs actually look like when hiring a car accident lawyer in New Jersey — the differences between firms are bigger than most people expect.
What this means if you’re early in the process
If you were just in an accident and haven’t filed a claim yet, understanding these three points now can save a lot of confusion later. Start with the basics — what to do in the immediate aftermath of a car accident in New Jersey — and keep good records of every medical bill and insurance letter from day one. It makes everything downstream, including lien negotiation, faster and cleaner.
A settlement is never just one number. Knowing what happens after “we settled” is often the difference between being surprised by the process and feeling in control of it.
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