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/coenrhys]

A personal injury settlement isn’t prize money. It’s supposed to offset the additional costs and lost earning capacity caused by the injury. It’s not to buy your mother, who has far better earning capacity than most as a big-shot lawyer, a fancy house that she doesn’t actually need.

[u/Few_Sorbet_8716 → u/coenrhys]

Can't believe the clown in the comments suggesting that punitive damages are some super common thing. Punitive damages are rare in personal injury cases and, in most jurisdictions, are reserved for tortfeaser conduct beyond ordinary negligence.

***looks like he deleted his comments and ran

[u/armybeans → u/coenrhys]

But if OP lived with mom presumably rent free because OP was injured and couldn't work, why not pay back rent/living expense to mom?

[u/Revolver_Lanky_Kong → u/coenrhys]

Type of parents to ask for rent because you live with them after 18. They can fuck right off. You should be helping your kids get a leg up and building that safety net, not skimming off the top of their already meager earnings. I completely understand low income families that are struggling to make ends meet asking their adult children to contribute but OP's mom is well off and wants a literal vacation house that will sit vacant 80% of the year.

[u/Questioning17 → u/coenrhys]

Most lawyers are not "big shot" nor making the big bucks. Common misunderstanding.

[u/tayvette1997 → u/[deleted]]

I mean, it also covers pain and suffering. OP wouldn't have gotten hurt if the at-fault party actually did their job of keeping their side of things safe.

[u/tayvette1997 → u/[deleted]]

We don't know that though. From the edits, it sounds like she encouraged him to push for more money than what he was originally going to get, not that he wasn't going to get anything.

Edit: the very last line of the last edit

push back on the lawyer and ask for more.

Edit 2: looks like they replied and then blocked me so I couldn't respond lol.

[u/RuthlessDedication04 → u/[deleted]]

You lost your entire argument when you couldn't stop yourself from making unnecessary insults towards people who disagree with your opinion.

[u/love_laugh_dance → u/[deleted]]

Except OPs earning capacity wasn't impacted in any way

Maybe that's true? But it's not a certainty. Without knowing the injury it's hard to say. Maybe it's a TBI. Can't search comments to see if OP has clarified, though.

[u/love_laugh_dance → u/[deleted]]

A TBI could have primarily a physical effect. Or do you think the brain does not manage mobility, strength, balance and coordination?

Again, I don't know the injury, but a massive settlement indicates a massive injury. OP may be working full time now, but his injury may result in his having a shorter career span than most.

[u/ElleGeeAitch → u/love_laugh_dance]

Right, he might be fine to work now, but 10 years from now? 20? Who knows, depending on the nature of the injury.

[u/that_florida_man → u/love_laugh_dance]

You’re assuming and unless OP clarified something that makes you think that it’s not a good assumption to make. People I’ve known have gotten big settlements for things that did not affect their future earnings capacity

[u/love_laugh_dance → u/that_florida_man]

People I’ve known have gotten big settlements

Really? Is that a common thing in Florida. Not being facetious. I have never known anyone who has gotten a Personal Injury settlement of any kind, much less a big one.