Frequently Asked Questions

In most cases, you will have up to three years from the date of the injury or the date a medical professional diagnosed your injuries. This time limit is set by the Limitation Act 1980.

However, there are a number of notable exceptions, including:

The three-year time limit does not apply if the injured person is mentally incapacitated. The time limit will be extended indefinitely until the person regains mental capacity, or it is decided that someone will claim on their behalf.

If claiming for a brain injury on behalf of a child, they can start the claim at any point until their 21st birthday. Prior to them turning 18 they will need a ‘litigation friend’ who is over 18 to act on their behalf.

If your brain injury was caused as a result of an assault, you will have two years from the date of the assault to start your claim.

The legal process for claiming compensation for brain injuries is extremely complex. We recommend starting your claim as soon as possible so that we have the best opportunity to compile as much evidence as possible while the details of the case are still fresh in everyone’s minds and documentation is still available.

Typically, the process for a brain injury claim involves up to 7 steps. These usually include;

• The assessment of your case
• The gathering of evidence and establishing liability
• Access to our rehabilitation and support service, where needed
• Appointments with specialist medical experts
• The presentation of the claim to the other party
• Negotiation and settlement
• Court proceedings (on the rare occasion, an agreement can not be made outside of court).

If you decide you’d like us to represent you, we will walk you through the process of making a no win no fee claim, clearly explaining the fees and how you’re protected from any financial loss if your claim is unsuccessful.

Based on the information you can provide, we will instruct an independent medical expert to assess the level of injuries sustained and how they may impact your life. It is at this point we can help set up specialist treatment and rehabilitation, ensuring you’re in the best possible care.

Our solicitors will compile your case based on the information provided, the medical report and other documentation and represent your legal rights against the other party until a compensation amount is agreed upon.

Please rest assured that our expert brain injury solicitors will leave no stone unturned to achieve the settlement you deserve. Be assured our solicitors have an extensive history of securing the very highest levels of compensation our clients are legally entitled to.

The time frames can vary; this will depend upon what is in your and your loved ones’ best interests.

Importantly you are in control. However, part of our promise to you is to aim to settle your claim much quicker than industry averages.

How do we do this?

We are the only firm in the UK that specialise exclusively in Brain Injury. Our legal experts have substantially lower individual caseloads than most other firms; this means our lawyers get to spend more time on your claim each month.

Our aim is to settle claims on average closer to 2 to 2.5 years as opposed to an average of 5 years. This is a very broad-brush average as the length will depend upon the evidence, you, and your individual case.

Our promise to you is that we will always act in your best interests. For example, the injuries suffered may be so severe that experts may need to re-examine you or your loved one before making a final prognosis. As such, the time taken is guided by your recovery and the evidence.

Every one of our solicitors is a specialist in brain injury, it’s all we do.

Coulthursts is the only law firm in the UK that works exclusively on brain injury claims. Every solicitor on our team has a minimum of ten years’ experience in this area of law, meaning they are classified as Grade A legal experts.

Most of our solicitors have more than 25 years of specialist experience.

We focus exclusively on brain injury cases, and our solicitors also carry significantly lower individual caseloads than solicitors at general personal injury firms. This means they have the time to truly understand you, your family and the impact the injury has had.

As a result your claim receives the regular attention it deserves, and careful progression throughout the process – not just at key milestones.

Yes – this is one of the things that sets us apart.

We offer a unique Rehabilitation and Support Service, separate from our legal work.

We can fund and arrange early access to private treatment, physiotherapy, neuropsychological support, case management and other rehabilitation services as part of the claims process.

We believe that supporting your recovery is just as important as pursuing your compensation – and in many cases, early rehabilitation also strengthens the evidence in your claim.

Absolutely – psychological impacts are a recognised and important part of a brain injury claim.

Brain injuries frequently cause significant psychological and psychiatric effects, including depression, anxiety, PTSD, personality changes, emotional dysregulation and cognitive impairment. These can be just as – or more – life-limiting than physical symptoms.

A comprehensive claim will address all aspects of how the injury has affected your life, including mental health, relationships, employment and day-to-day functioning. We work with leading neuropsychological and psychiatric experts to ensure these impacts are properly documented and valued.

Yes, we will instruct medical experts as near as possible to your home or place of residence.

However, we wish to obtain the best expert reports to deal with your injuries and assess the future impact of your injuries as well as detailing all the issues you currently experience.

Sometimes, the best person is not the closest. Given the severity of the injuries many of our clients have, there are usually multiple appointments with various experts, depending on your injuries.

But please be assured that we will endeavour to make these appointments as easy as possible for you or your loved one.

Yes, absolutely. This is one of the key areas that makes us different from other law firms.

We can provide access to our specialist rehabilitation and support service, which works alongside our expert legal representation. While many law firms follow the Rehabilitation Code of Practice, which encourages collaboration between claimant lawyers, insurers, and medical professionals, we go a step further.

Although we do work within the principles of the Rehabilitation Code and the Serious Injury Guide, we are not restricted by them. Unlike other firms, we don’t have to wait for interim payments or get delayed by legal processes. Importantly, no solicitor can guarantee an interim payment, so if you are told otherwise, it’s worth questioning that advice.

What sets us apart is that we can pay for and arrange early rehabilitation and treatment upfront, before any interim payments are made.

Our rehabilitation support is always tailored to the individual and their family’s unique needs. This may include, but is not restricted to:

Inpatient care and community rehabilitation
Discharge planning and care packages (from immediate support to long-term care)
Brain injury education
Family support and therapy

Our goal is to ensure that you receive the right rehabilitation and support from day one, giving you the best possible chance of a full and lasting recovery.

It is very unlikely that your claim will go to court.

Most claims never go to court (trial), where the person claiming must give evidence. If possible, it is in all parties’ interests to negotiate a settlement. This can have the benefits of reducing the length of time of the whole process, as well as reducing the costs and the risks of going to court.

We will always advise you to ensure your interests are served and that we obtain the best possible settlement for you. If this cannot initially be obtained by negotiation then even if court proceedings are issued, negotiation and settlement can still occur at any time.

Yes, you can, and the time limits to making a claim are different for children.

A child cannot pursue a claim on their own until they turn 18.

Until then, a parent or guardian can act as their ‘litigation friend’ and bring the claim on their behalf.

Importantly, the three-year limitation period does not begin until the child’s 18th birthday – meaning they have until their 21st Birthday to issue proceedings.

This does not mean the claim should be delayed: early investigation, evidence gathering and rehabilitation support are all in the child’s best interests.

Possibly, yes. Even if you believe you were partly responsible for the accident, you may still be able to recover compensation.

In law this is called contributory negligence. It means responsibility for the injury may be shared between the parties.

Where this happens, compensation is usually reduced by a percentage to reflect that shared responsibility, rather than being refused entirely.

We’d always encourage you to speak to us before assuming you don’t have a claim. Cases are rarely as straightforward as they first appear, and the picture can change significantly once a specialist investigates.

Yes, you have the legal right to choose and change your legal representation at any time.

If you are currently represented by another solicitor but feel they don’t have the specialist expertise your case requires, or are unhappy with the service you’re receiving, please contact us for a free and confidential review.

We have taken over claims for clients who started their claims with both non-specialist and well-known, prestigious firms.

The firm may be well-known, but do they have the expertise to handle your claim? There are a number of reasons why you may feel dissatisfied with the service provided by your current solicitor.

Such instances may include:

• Loss of trust
• Lack of communication
• Feeling that the solicitor does not seem to understand or has a lack of experience in brain and head injuries.
• Feeling the person dealing with your case is not senior enough for the complexity of the case.
• Feeling that they are providing poor advice.
• Not feeling like you are a priority.
• Feeling that your case is lost amongst the vast number of cases, your current solicitor has.
• Promises made about rehabilitation, but not delivered.
• Never seeing your solicitor in person.
• Feeling that they don’t listen to or understand your concerns and the effect of your injury.
• Feeling that there is no plan of action.
• Feeling that you are not supported or understood.

If you find that your solicitor is not meeting your expectations, you have complete freedom to instruct another solicitor.

We regularly act for clients who have transferred to us from other firms, and we handle the transition process for you. You are not obliged to use any insurer’s panel solicitor, and changing representation does not compromise your claim.

Brain injury cases are too important to be handled by anyone other than a genuine specialist. If you have any concerns about your current representation, we’d encourage you to talk to us.

In many cases, yes, through interim payments.

We will fight to get you an interim payment. This is an advance on your compensation as these cases can take time to settle.

If the person or organisation responsible for the accident admits fault, it is possible to obtain interim payments to assist so you are not waiting for all your money until the claim is concluded. The amounts will vary on a case-by-case basis. You may have a few interim payments over the lifetime of the claim, to pay for treatment or to reimburse you for lost earnings, or indeed just a general interim payment to be offset against the final claim.

However, no solicitor can guarantee an interim payment. If you have been led to believe this is the case by other solicitors, then I would question the advice given to you. Contact us for more information about interim payments and what can and cannot be done and how we can help.

Ask us about how we can help maximise the chance of you getting an interim payment and the possibility of emergency payments.

It will cost you nothing to contact us and arrange the initial free review of your claim or for any initial advice.

If you choose to instruct us, even though we are specialists we are committed to offering a “no win no fee” service.

This gives you the peace of mind you deserve.

Do not worry:

If you do not win your case and do not receive compensation you do not pay anything. Please contact us to explain how we do this and arrange protection for you with legal expense insurance.

If you win your claim the ‘loser’ pays most of the legal costs. There are no upfront fees charged to you. All you will have to pay is a small contribution.

Please feel free to contact us so we can explain how we “cap” this small contribution.

Not if you take the right steps to protect them.

We can help by arranging a free review with an Independent Financial Advisor to provide you with the best advice to ensure your (means-tested) benefits are not affected, and your interests are protected.

For example, a Personal Injury Trust Fund can be set up and your settlement money placed in this account.

The significant benefit of this is that your compensation and income received into the trust fund are ignored when calculating your entitlement to benefits.

This should also be considered if you are not in receipt of benefits at the time of settlement but may need to apply in the future.

Usually, payments are made within 21 days to Coulthursts. We will then transfer your settlement money to your bank account.