So my mom got her Stage III pleural diagnosis back in August and we're starting to look at the legal side of things because she worked at a textile plant in the 70s. I relocated from California to help her and honestly I'm juggling so much right now between teaching and everything else, but I'm trying to get ahead on the financial stuff.
One thing I keep reading about is whether settlement money is actually taxable or not. Like we're looking at potentially getting some compensation but I have no idea if that means we're gonna owe taxes on it or if there's some protection there. Has anyone actually gone through this? Did you have to pay taxes on what you got?
I'm not trying to be naive about money but I also don't want to assume anything and then get blindsided later. My mom's medical bills are already climbing and the idea of losing a chunk of settlement money to taxes just... it makes me anxious honestly.
If anyone's been through this process or knows how it works I'd really appreciate hearing about it. Even just knowing what questions to ask our lawyer would help at this point.