Monday, December 10, 2007

Adoption Grants Can Aid in Financing Your Adoption

Adoption Grants Can Aid in Financing Your Adoption [adoption accident dollar]

Adoption Grants may be a resource worth looking into for financial assistance in helping defer expensive adoption costs. They can help when you have tried every possible infertility treatment with no positive results and now you have decided to adopt but your monetary resources are depleted. In general, adoptive families do not have to pay back any funds that are received from a grant program. Prospective parents applying to a particular grant program must usually meet certain criteria established by that association.

Although each organization has its own grant requirements, there are some common stipulations that many programs might consider when reviewing a grant request. Often when an application is submitted, grant programs may check to make sure that you really need financial aid. They may determine whether or not you have first exhausted your own assets. Next they might try to ascertain if you are earnest in your desire to go ahead and complete the adoption process. Some require that the home study has been approved at the outset before they will consider issuing the grant. [adoption accident dollar]

Every organization handles awarding of adoption grants in their own way. Some have a set amount per child. Others consider the special needs of the adoption, such as a medical problem, age of the child or if a sibling is also being adopted. Some hold special dollar matching campaigns. This is where you may be asked to send out a special mailing soliciting your family, friends, fellow employees, or church members to contribute to your adoption fund and the organization will then match these contributions dollar for dollar up to a specific amount. Still others allot grant money to individual children in need of adoption to raise interest in adopting these particular children.

You may feel awkward at having to make a request for financial assistance. However, understand that there is no reason to feel any embarrassment at having to ask for aid from groups willing to help alleviate the burden of adoption costs. Even though you are doing this to relieve some of the costs for yourself, you are ultimately attempting to do something wonderful for a child in need. This is the most important thing to realize! [adoption accident dollar]

Consult your church to see if they may have an adoption grant or know of a trustworthy organization that does. Also, you can locate many good grant programs by doing a simple search on the Internet. However, realize that there are many adoption scams out there, so make sure you do thorough research on any organization you may choose to apply to for a grant. When looking for adoption grants remember to leave no stone unturned. It can mean all the difference between empty arms or holding a child more precious than gold.

by Wilfred Luecht

Understanding Your Auto Insurance

Understanding Your Auto Insurance [insurance auto accident]

Reading auto insurance policies can be like trying to decipher advanced calculus. It’s really not
that difficult if you understand a few basic terms. Collision, Comprehensive, Bodily Injury Liability and Property Injury Liability are main terms you need to fully understand.

You’ll appreciate Collision Coverage in the event you need repairs or replacements if your vehicle collides with another vehicle or property. The higher the deductible you elect, the lower your premiums will cost you. If you’re at fault for something, well of course it would still be an accident, as I doubt you’d plan to run into that guard rail, but how much would you be able to afford to pay out of pocket for repairs? $250? $500? $1,000? Just like medical insurance, you’d have to pay that deductible amount first and then the insurance company would pay for the remaining charges for the repair.

Another term to become intimately familiar with is Comprehensive Coverage. This is the coverage that pays for damage caused from falling objects, fire, certain natural disasters, theft and vandalism. Deductibles work the same way as with Collision; the more out of pocket costs to you, the less your insurance premium.

In addition to knowing how much Collision and Comprehensive coverage you have, you’ll want to know about your liability coverage. Let’s say you rear-end another driver. Or your foot slips off the brake onto the gas pedal and you plow down a mailbox. Your liability coverage will kick in and pay for the damages that you caused with your insured vehicle. You liability coverage will, or could, include bodily injury (people) and property damage. [insurance auto accident]

You don’t want to go without Bodily Injury Coverage. If you were at fault in an accident and others involved needed to go to the hospital and/or lost wages from missing work, those costs would come out of your pocket if you are not insured with Bodily Injury Coverage. It doesn’t take a genius to know how quickly those amounts can add up. This type of coverage can also help you in the event the other party takes legal action against you. Many states require you to carry Bodily Injury Coverage.

The other part of liability includes Property Damage coverage. Can you imagine how much it might cost should you accidentally drive into the side of someone’s home? You wouldn’t want to be caught without property damage insurance should you need to pay for repairs to another vehicle, building or anything else you might hit. As with Bodily Injury coverage, Property Damage coverage also helps protect you in the event of a related lawsuit. [insurance auto accident]

Every policy will have its limits and various degrees of coverage. It’s important that you understand the basics of what you are paying for and why it is necessary. No one plans for an accident, be prepared!

by Laurie Ayers

It’s Not Your Fault No-Fault Insurance

It’s Not Your Fault No-Fault Insurance [dollar insurance accident]

If you’re fortunate, or depending on how you look at it, unfortunate to live in one of the twelve states that are under a non-fault auto insurance system, you can cause an accident, yet your insurance company won’t pay for the other parties’ damages.

If you live in a No-fault state (DC, FL, HI, KS, KY, MA, MI, MN, NJ, NY, ND, PA, UT) that means you live in a state that both requires drivers to carry insurance for their own protection and places limitations on their ability to sue other drivers for damages. Your auto insurance company will pay for your damages (up to your policy limits), regardless of who was at fault for the accident. Any other drivers involved will be covered by their auto insurance policies. Since all are required to carry insurance, in theory, there should be no uninsured motorists in those states. Stop laughing; the term “in theory” was used!

These states opted for the no fault insurance system because it guarantees every driver immediate medical treatment in the event of an accident. Further, it's intended to reduce the legal and administrative fees associated with insurance claims. Again, in theory, this should equate to lower premiums. Unfortunately, often times the liability issues that still remain will actually drive premium costs up. [dollar insurance accident]

However, because no state is pure no fault, drivers can always be held financially responsible for the cost of injuries they cause in certain circumstances – that’s the loop hole. Some states allow injured parties to sue if their injuries meet certain standard for severity, while others allow it when total costs reach a certain dollar level.

Below is a classic case of a no-fault situation. Neighbor lived in a four-plex apartment building. It had a 4-stall garage along with a 4-stall wide driveway. Because the driveway was so wide it was second nature for the tenants to pull out of their parking spots and turn around in the driveway instead of backing into the street.

One Sunday afternoon, one of the tenants decided to go visit a friend. She got into her car and began backing out of the driveway in her normal manner. When all of a sudden she felt a bump and heard a scream. At first she thought she ran over her cat who would occasionally escape. She opened her car door and found half of a body. Scared half out of her mind, she shut the car off and ran into the house and immediately called 911.

The driver was too scared to go outside at that point. As far as she knew, the half body, belonging to one of her neighbors, was still under the car and the driver was certain the injuries were serious. Her left rear wheel had crossed her body from her thigh on one side on the diagonal to above her pelvic region. The driver later learned that some strong man from across the street came over and picked up the car so she could get out from underneath.

The neighbor announced that she was feeling fine and didn’t want to go to the hospital. But the police and ambulance didn’t feel the same way so they took her the four blocks to the hospital. Turns out the neighbor was sunbathing behind her car and somehow the driver didn’t see her when she walked to her car. She ended up with no broken bones, no internal injuries; just a tire track from her right thigh across to her left stomach. [dollar insurance accident]

The driver felt absolutely terrible, accepted full responsibility, wanted to do everything and more to make it up to her. The next day, the driver phoned the insurance company to explain to them what had happened. They asked her two questions. #1 Does she drive? (yes) and #2 Does she own a car? (yes). The insurance company informed the driver that due to No Fault insurance the neighbor’s own car insurance would have to cover the medical costs. The driver was clearly at fault, yet the driver’s insurance wouldn’t cover the damages even though it was her fault.

The driver went as far as to tell the neighbor to sue her since it was her fault and she felt totally responsible. The neighbor merely responded, “It was just an accident.” The lesson here - next time lay on the grass, instead of the drive way to sunbathe and risk the doggy doo.

Interesting No-Fault system, wouldn’t you say?

by Laurie Ayers

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

My first post

This is my first post for Dollar Cover Accident!