Many may not know, but about a year ago my family and I were in an auto accident. Now I am not an ambulance chaser, and understand that accidents happen. None of us were severely injured, but our chiropractor told us in no uncertain terms that we needed to find a good attorney. This was a foreign concept for me because I felt that I was being mean and hurtful to the person who hit us, still I trust my chiropractor and felt that I at least owed it to myself and my family to make sure we were protected in the future.

We found a good one in our area by actually talking to our banker. His father is an attorney and gave us a list who we went to visit. There are a couple of things to keep in mind if you do go to an attorney.

1. Make sure you like the person. The first person we talked to was a good friend of our banker's father, but we didn't like them. If you don't like them or don't have a good feeling, RUN! There are A LOT of attorneys all over the place who will take your case. This does NOT mean that you want to take a charity case. You want someone who is established, and that you know will represent you well.

2. This brings us to point number two. Make sure the attorney you pick has a track record. The office is a point of reference. If they can't afford a decent office they probably aren't going to be the best option. I am not being mean, and they may be a very nice person, but lets face it, we go to attorney's to know the law and help us get whatever we are entitled to (or out of whatever we need to get out of).

3. NEVER pay for an accident attorney upfront. They get paid AFTER they get you whatever they get you. Granted they often take one third of the settlement, but the way I see it if I went and tried to do it myself I would spend hours on the phone and would come out with my car repaired, and maybe 2-5k if I was REALLY lucky. So to my way of thinking if they got the car repaired, and more than 2k left in my pocket I made out.

Once we had an attorney we found out that the person who hit us did not have insurance. I thought that this meant that we would be going after that person for something they probably didn't have in the first place. Boy was I wrong!

See we found that we DID have un-insured motorist coverage. This means that the attorney dealt with OUR insurance company to settle the claim. I was not going after anyone! I was getting back what I had put into insurance all these years. That made me feel really good to be honest. I did not want a case where I went after someone and ran them into the ground for nothing, as I said I am not an ambulance chaser, but I have no problem getting back what I have put into insurance all these years.

The final outcome for us was that we got more than we could have ever imagined (even after the split), and it didn't go after anyone else. Attorneys know what they are doing and I am a firm believer of using resources and just as I would never do my own taxes, I also would not consider taking on an insurance company myself either. I leave important things for people who know what they are doing, and it was by far one of the best decisions of my life!