Last week, our attorneys blogged about how often car accident victims get the No-Fault attendant care and replacement services benefits confused with each other – and how often insurance company claims adjusters only inform their own customers about replacement services, failing to inform them about attendant care benefits entirely.
As I’ve said before, these benefits seem similar but are very different: Attendant care refers to in-home nursing services and replacement services refers to help around the house.
Today we’re going to review replacement services.
The replacement services provision of the Michigan No-Fault Law will pay up to $20 a day for any household services an accident victim previously did but cannot do now because of serious injuries and now must hire someone else to perform.
In other words, your No-Fault insurance company will pay a daily rate for someone to help you around the house after you have been injured in an auto accident and can no longer due those chores and tasks on your own.
Replacement services can be performed by family members and can include:
- Housekeeping,
- Lawn and garden maintenance,
- Car maintenance, meal preparation,
- Baby-sitting/child care.
Auto accident victims can receive replacement services for up to three years from the date of the crash.
How to get replacement services, and your other No-Fault insurance benefits
To receive your replacement services benefits (and the other No-Fault benefits, including attendant care, wage loss and medical expenses), an accident victim must immediately file a No-Fault application for benefits with your auto insurance company.
This application MUST be filed within ONE YEAR from the date of the accident, or an accident victim will forever lose entitlement to these No-Fault benefits.
Additionally, if there are any items of reimbursable expense that are not paid by the auto insurance company, an accident victim must file a lawsuit for that particular item within one year from the date that expense was incurred. If such a lawsuit is not filed within that time period, you will lose all of your rights to reimbursement.
– Steve Gursten is head of Michigan Auto Law. He is past co-chair of the Michigan Association for Justice Automobile Accident No‐Fault Committee. He frequently writes and speaks about Michigan No-Fault law, and is available for comment. Steve also wrote the free book, Guide to Michigan No-Fault Law.
Michigan Auto Law is the largest law firm exclusively handling car accident, truck accident and motorcycle accident cases throughout the entire state. We have offices in Farmington Hills, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and Sterling Heights. Call (248) 353-7575 to speak with one of our lawyers.
