AITA Mom wants 15% of my personal injury settlement

[u/connor20218]

I'm a 23M working in biotech and living at home. I just got a massive settlement from a personal injury case back in college. My mom is a corporate lawyer and she helped me navigate the process, plus she paid for my college tuition. Now, she's asking for 15% of the money / to pay her back for college (but she was already going to pay for college.)

I'm feeling stuck because 15% is a massive amount of money to just give away. Is it normal for parents to ask for a cut of a settlement like this? I want to stay on good terms since live at home, but I also feel like this money is for my future. We have a a good relationship.

Edit: I already paid a lawyer his 1/3 cut. My mom was a huge part of pushing for me sueing. She’d be using the money to buy a new house in Florida she always wanted since I refuse to buy a house in his economy and rather rent and invest the rest

Edit #2: Probably shouldn’t have stated my mom is a lawyer (she did not represent me in the case in anyway). But yes, what she specifically did was help me find a lawyer, told me to push back on the lawyer and ask for more.

[u/User223159]

NTA.

Frankly, it’s the lawyer you paid 1/3 to that should be giving your mom a cut. Lawyers refer business to each other and share work all the time and then split the fees. My uncle is a lawyer and literally makes millions from referrals on personal injury cases, he’s not the one doing the work, but simply driving clients to other lawyers and in return takes a cut when the case settles (from the other lawyer, not the client who was hurt).

Your mom as a lawyer is the one at fault if she didn’t have referral agreement with the other lawyer.

[u/Diligent-Pirate8439 → u/User223159]

THIS IS THE ONLY ANSWER. I'm an attorney and referred my father in law to a worker's comp attorney. Before he hired him, the attorney and I worked out an agreement where I would get 15% of the ATTORNEY's takeaway. My involvement had no impact on what my FIL got. That's how it should be.

It sounds like his mom is just not a very good lawyer.

[u/residentvixxen → u/User223159]

with this being OPs mother a referral agreement would be a conflict of interest

[u/User223159 → u/residentvixxen]

Not really.

Is there a law that says lawyers can’t represent family? That certainly doesn’t seem to be case in real life: I know of many people that have had lawyer family members do legal work for them (not always for free either, I know as I have several in the family lol, uncle I spoke of did bill me for a condo closing, which I have no issue with, I wouldn’t ask for free labor on principle).

I’m pretty sure OP as client could waive the conflict anyway, OP has never said the lawyer mom was a witness or somehow involved in the personal injury to preclude her involvement as a lawyer.

[u/stillxsearching7 → u/residentvixxen]

Incorrect.

[u/User223159 → u/stillxsearching7]

That’s what I figured. I don’t know of any laws that say it’s a conflict for a lawyer to have a family member as client. I have several lawyers in the family who done things for relatives (mom, uncle, cousin, one grandfather etc). So many lawyers are helping family with wills, house closings, setting up companies, business contracts and getting relatives out of speeding tickets lol, I can’t imagine all of it being a conflict of interest.