Bankruptcy Tutor
Hey gang,
This isn't really a BKForum type of question, but because so many of y'all seem to have so much experience and knowledge in such wide ranging topics relative to finance, I'm hoping this is a good place to ask the question.
Situation:
Last Monday, 12-Jul, I was out for a 7-mile trail run, and as I was nearing the end I was running by a home which borders the horse farm where my wife and I rent a small care-taker apartment; the home is currently having a new in-ground pool and landscaping performed, which in turn means the "invisible fence" for their dogs has been taken down. Their two dogs, 170 and 150 pounds respective, charged across their lawn and blew through where their "invisible fence" would normally have stopped them in their tracks, and confronted me out in the street. I faced off with the largest of the two who stopped in his tracks, however, the smaller one, circled around and bit me hard on the back of the right knee; the next thing I remember the owner of the dogs, which were no where in sight, was helping me get up from where I'd collapsed in the middle of the street. Being a "typical guy", I had no idea how seriously injured I was and asked her to drive me home instead of taking me to a hospital; I remember taking my running shoes off and going inside, and then the next thing I remembered was waking up in the ICU some 30 hours later.
As was related to me by the dog owners and my wife, who got home maybe 10 minutes after I did (to find a raving lunatic in her home who kind of looked like her husband), I was dropped to the street hard enough for my head to bounce off the pavement, and have since been diagnosed with a "severe category" Grade 3 concussion; my initial CT Scan was fortunately negative, however, I have yet to have a follow-up MRI, which apparently is more detailed. In addition to the concussion and badly bitten leg, requiring surgery and a few dozen staples to hold together, I also suffered some bizarre, and as yet unexplained, deep abrasions to my abdomen, the largest red, purple, and green scabbed and bruised area is easily eight inches wide and maybe a foot long. What was also related to me was just how poor of a patient I was when the paramedics first got to our home, for the ride to the hospital, and for the first hour or two while there. As the story goes, it took five burly security guards to hold me down, while they were trying to sedate me, and when that failed, they brought out the heavy artillery and hit me with a full Fentanyl drip.
Since regaining consciousness on the evening of the 13th I've had a horrible non-stop headache, severe soreness in my throat (probably because I was intubated while in the medical coma), and pain, swelling, and persistent infection in my abdomen and right leg. I got the staples out yesterday, kind of a similar procedure as removing a staple from a stack of paper, but a heck of a lot more painful, and the surgeon acknowledged there was in fact an infection in my right knee; I'll be back to see her tomorrow, and if the infection persists, she's going to order an MRI for the knee as well. The only good news is, I am able to work for at least three to four hours per day and be reasonably effective.
I told y'all the above to ask this; per our town's Animal Control department, we were strongly recommended to contact an attorney to represent us in the compensation negotiations, and while I don't really have any familiarity with such things, I'm being led to believe the settlement could be, uhhh, rather significant. One thing I related to the attorney was, my career as a Conversational AI Architect requires literally all of my critical thinking skills, and often for hours, or even days on end; if the brain trauma interferes with my ability to innovate new solutions in this space, I will probably lose my career, and I really cannot afford that only 18 months after getting my Chapter 13 discharge.
And now my question(s), finally; will any settlement money be considered taxable (the last thing I really want or need right about now)? If so, all of it, or just a portion which cannot be ascribed to current and ongoing health care?
Thanks in advance for any and all advice and experience.
This isn't really a BKForum type of question, but because so many of y'all seem to have so much experience and knowledge in such wide ranging topics relative to finance, I'm hoping this is a good place to ask the question.
Situation:
Last Monday, 12-Jul, I was out for a 7-mile trail run, and as I was nearing the end I was running by a home which borders the horse farm where my wife and I rent a small care-taker apartment; the home is currently having a new in-ground pool and landscaping performed, which in turn means the "invisible fence" for their dogs has been taken down. Their two dogs, 170 and 150 pounds respective, charged across their lawn and blew through where their "invisible fence" would normally have stopped them in their tracks, and confronted me out in the street. I faced off with the largest of the two who stopped in his tracks, however, the smaller one, circled around and bit me hard on the back of the right knee; the next thing I remember the owner of the dogs, which were no where in sight, was helping me get up from where I'd collapsed in the middle of the street. Being a "typical guy", I had no idea how seriously injured I was and asked her to drive me home instead of taking me to a hospital; I remember taking my running shoes off and going inside, and then the next thing I remembered was waking up in the ICU some 30 hours later.
As was related to me by the dog owners and my wife, who got home maybe 10 minutes after I did (to find a raving lunatic in her home who kind of looked like her husband), I was dropped to the street hard enough for my head to bounce off the pavement, and have since been diagnosed with a "severe category" Grade 3 concussion; my initial CT Scan was fortunately negative, however, I have yet to have a follow-up MRI, which apparently is more detailed. In addition to the concussion and badly bitten leg, requiring surgery and a few dozen staples to hold together, I also suffered some bizarre, and as yet unexplained, deep abrasions to my abdomen, the largest red, purple, and green scabbed and bruised area is easily eight inches wide and maybe a foot long. What was also related to me was just how poor of a patient I was when the paramedics first got to our home, for the ride to the hospital, and for the first hour or two while there. As the story goes, it took five burly security guards to hold me down, while they were trying to sedate me, and when that failed, they brought out the heavy artillery and hit me with a full Fentanyl drip.
Since regaining consciousness on the evening of the 13th I've had a horrible non-stop headache, severe soreness in my throat (probably because I was intubated while in the medical coma), and pain, swelling, and persistent infection in my abdomen and right leg. I got the staples out yesterday, kind of a similar procedure as removing a staple from a stack of paper, but a heck of a lot more painful, and the surgeon acknowledged there was in fact an infection in my right knee; I'll be back to see her tomorrow, and if the infection persists, she's going to order an MRI for the knee as well. The only good news is, I am able to work for at least three to four hours per day and be reasonably effective.
I told y'all the above to ask this; per our town's Animal Control department, we were strongly recommended to contact an attorney to represent us in the compensation negotiations, and while I don't really have any familiarity with such things, I'm being led to believe the settlement could be, uhhh, rather significant. One thing I related to the attorney was, my career as a Conversational AI Architect requires literally all of my critical thinking skills, and often for hours, or even days on end; if the brain trauma interferes with my ability to innovate new solutions in this space, I will probably lose my career, and I really cannot afford that only 18 months after getting my Chapter 13 discharge.
And now my question(s), finally; will any settlement money be considered taxable (the last thing I really want or need right about now)? If so, all of it, or just a portion which cannot be ascribed to current and ongoing health care?
Thanks in advance for any and all advice and experience.
Bankruptcy Wizard
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