Understanding Children Litigation Friends

A common question for us at The Injury Lawyers relates to the process for children bringing claims for compensation.  What can you do if your child has been injured in an accident? How can your child make a claim for compensation? After all, they may be 3 years old and would obviously be unable to make a claim themselves!  If it was you who had been injured, then you would be able to give an injury lawyer a call and get the ball rolling on your potential claim for compensation.  However, if it is your child that has been injured, they can still make a claim for compensation – they just need a litigation friend to represent them.

What is a litigation friend?

A litigation friend is a responsible adult, most likely to be a child’s parent or guardian, but could at the same time be a family friend or care worker, or any other trustworthy adult with the child’s best interests at heart, who will act for and on behalf of the injured child.

As I’m sure you are aware, a person under the age of 18 is classed as a minor and cannot bring a claim for compensation alone.  There are two options.  They can make a claim for compensation once they turn 18 within three years after this date, i.e. by their 21^st birthday (this is the common limitation date for them to bring a claim), or a litigation friend can make the claim for compensation on their behalf.  I would suggest that the problem with waiting until the injured child is 21 is that a potential near 21 years will have passed since the accident, and any records of these may no longer exist.  If you were to make the claim for compensation now, at least the injuries and accident are fresh in your mind.

Having a litigation friend for your child’s claim does not delay the compensation process.  The only real difference is that you will have to complete a Certificate of Suitability of Litigation Friend which can be done in a matter of minutes.  As long as the litigation friend is on hand to answer any questions that the child’s injury lawyers may ask, then the process should run as smoothly as it would have done if it was your own claim for compensation.

If you want any further advice about potential claims for compensation for your child, why not give our expert injury lawyers a call today on 0800 634 75 75 who will be on hand and more than happy to provide you with some free legal advice.