What Should I Do If My Child Was Hurt in a Car Accident?

If your child was hurt in a car accident, get them evaluated by a doctor the same day, even if they seem fine. Then start a file: the crash report, every medical record, and photographs of the vehicle, the car seat, and any visible injury. Do that before you give the other driver’s insurer any account of the crash.

At Mokaram Injury Lawyers, we handle Houston car accident claims for families across Texas. A hurt child in the back seat is one of the calls we take most often. Reach us at 281-222-2222 or contact us online, any hour.

What to Do in the First 48 Hours After Your Child’s Crash

The first 48 hours decide how well your child’s injury is documented, so work through four steps before you speak to any insurer:

•     Get your child seen the same day: Follow every referral, because gaps in treatment become the insurer’s argument that the injury was minor.
•     Confirm police were notified: Under Section 550.026 of the Texas Transportation Code, a driver in a crash that injures someone must notify police immediately, by the quickest means available. That report is what your claim leans on.
•     Photograph the car seat before anyone touches it: The seat as installed, the harness, the buckle. Then keep the seat.
•     Say no to a recorded statement and to a blanket medical release: Neither is required now, and a release hands over unrelated records.

Who Files the Claim When the Injured Person Is a Child?

A child cannot bring their own lawsuit in Texas, so a parent brings it for them, using the parent’s legal right to represent the child in legal action. That right comes from Section 151.001 of the Texas Family Code, which also covers decisions of substantial legal significance for the child.

In a filed suit, the parent appears as a next friend, the adult who stands in for a child who cannot sue alone. Under Section 142.001 of the Texas Property Code, a court can direct how a child’s recovery is invested rather than releasing it to an adult, so the money is generally not spendable cash on settlement day. That’s one more thing a straightforward adult claim doesn’t have to deal with.

What a Parent Can Recover for an Injured Child

Two sets of losses come out of one crash: your child’s and your own.

• Your child’s losses: Pain and suffering, physical impairment, disfigurement, and care they will still need years from now.
• Your losses: The bills you must pay, time away from work for treatment, and costs such as equipment or home changes.

A serious pediatric injury is valued over a lifetime, not a billing cycle. To see what’s involved, we can walk you through how a Texas car accident claim works.

How Long Do You Have to File, and Why There Are Two Deadlines

Your family is working against two different clocks. Your own claim for your child’s medical bills expires two years after the crash. Your child’s personal claim is paused until they turn 18, and then it runs for two more years.

The two-year period comes from Section 16.003(a) of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, which requires a personal injury suit within two years of the day the claim accrues. Section 16.001 of the same code treats anyone younger than 18 as under a legal disability, a status that stops the clock.

That pause belongs to your child’s own claim, not to yours. Texas law gives you, the parent, your own separate right to recover a child’s medical expenses, and Texas courts have held that this parental claim is not tolled by the child’s minority, so it must still be brought within the standard two-year window even while your child’s own claim has years left on its clock. Families who assume they have until their child turns 20 to act on everything can let the bill-paying claim expire without realizing it.

Will My Child’s Car Seat or Seat Belt Affect the Claim?

Yes. Texas assigns each party a percentage of responsibility, and the other driver’s insurer will look at how your child was restrained and argue that some of that percentage belongs to your family.

Texas law requires a child younger than eight to ride in a child passenger safety seat, used as the manufacturer instructs, unless the child is taller than four feet nine inches, and requires a safety belt for any passenger younger than 17 in a belt-equipped seat.

Those duties reach past a traffic ticket. Under Section 33.001 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, a claimant recovers nothing once their share of responsibility passes 50%, so answer the restraint question with documents: the seat itself, photographs of it as installed, and the manufacturer’s manual, given to your attorney rather than the adjuster.

Questions Houston Parents Ask After a Child’s Crash

Should I Let My Child Talk to the Insurance Adjuster?

No. A child should never be interviewed by an insurance adjuster. As the parent, you can decline on their behalf, under that same parental authority.

A young child’s account of speed, seating, or pain is unreliable, and an adjuster can still quote it a year later. Give the adjuster your attorney’s name and ask for questions in writing.

What if My Child Was Hurt While Riding With a Relative or a Friend’s Parent?

Your child’s claim is against whoever was at fault, which can include the driver your child was riding with. Pursuing it does not require you to accuse anyone of anything beyond what the crash facts already show.

Fault is divided as percentages under Texas’s shared-fault rules, and more than one driver can carry a share. Typically, any recovery comes from that driver’s insurance policy rather than directly from a relative’s own pocket, though the details depend on the facts of the case.

What Does It Cost to Have a Lawyer Handle My Child’s Claim?

We handle injury claims on a contingency basis, which means there is no fee unless we win the case. Case expenses such as filing fees, expert costs, and medical record fees are generally advanced by our firm and repaid from your settlement or award.

We take the calls, the paperwork, and the medical coordination while your family recovers, with live support around the clock and the same attention we’d want for our own kids.

Talk to a Houston Car Accident Lawyer About Your Child’s Claim

If your child was hurt in a crash in Houston or anywhere in Texas, Mokaram Injury Lawyers can take the claim off your hands while you focus on your child’s recovery. Our founder, Ali Mokaram, has been admitted to the State Bar of Texas since November 1995 and is recognized by The National Trial Lawyers Top 100. We recently achieved a $3 million result in a car accident case.

Whatever you decide, hold on to two dates: two years from the crash for your claim, and your child’s 18th birthday for theirs. Call us at 281-222-2222 or reach out online to tell us what happened.