Settlement Calculator

Start from the gross settlement. Take off the attorney fee (a percentage under a contingency agreement, or a flat amount), then repay the case costs the case ran up, then pay the medical liens, any other liens, and any amount your health plan claims back. What is left is the net to the client. The calculator above runs that order for the offer and the counter-offer at the same time.

It depends on the fee agreement. Many agreements take the percentage from the gross settlement. Others take it from what is left after case costs are repaid, which leaves the client more. Switch "Fee taken from" between the two and the calculator shows the difference in dollars. Read the fee section of your own agreement to know which applies.

Usually, if a provider, government program or health plan has a valid lien or reimbursement right, it is paid from the settlement before the client is paid. Lien and reimbursement amounts are often negotiable, so get each payoff figure in writing and enter the payoff, not the billed amount. Whether a particular lien is valid, and in what amount, depends on the plan, the program and your state.

Work backward from the number you need. Enter the amount you need to net and the calculator gives the break-even counter: the smallest settlement that leaves you that much after every deduction. A counter below that figure cannot get you there however the deductions fall. The counter itself is your decision, and it should be one you can support with your losses.

The claim or reference number, a reference to their offer and its date, a short statement of what happened, the losses behind your figure, your counter-offer, and a date to respond by. Keep it factual. Do not tell the other side your fee, costs, liens or the net you need: those are your numbers. The letter builder above fills these parts from what you enter and leaves a blank for anything you have not given.

On this letter it is a label that tells the reader the letter is a settlement proposal. Whether a settlement letter can later be used in court, and for what, depends on the rules of the forum, not on the label, so do not rely on the heading alone to protect what you write.

Fourteen to thirty days is common for a settlement letter. Pick the number of days and the calculator prints the respond-by date, moving it to the next Monday if it lands on a weekend. If a statute of limitations, a policy deadline or a court date is close, the response date has to sit well inside it.

No. Whether any part of a settlement is taxable depends on what it pays for, so taxes are left out. If that matters to your decision, ask a tax professional before you accept.

Yes. The calculator, the side-by-side comparison, the break-even counter and the letter are all free. We ask for your email once before showing the results and the letter, and you can keep using the tool after that.