How long do I keep personal injury paperwork?

by Amy
(Indiana)

Just a quick question: How long should I keep personal injury paperwork after a settlement?

Visitor Question:

Disclaimer: Information provided in our response is NOT formal legal advice. It is generic legal information based on the very limited information you provided. Under no circumstances should the information in our response, or anywhere else on this site be relied upon when making decisions about your case. You should always get a formal case review from a licensed attorney.

ANSWER for "How long do I keep personal injury paperwork?":

This is technically a tax question. Your personal injury award, though un-taxed, may need to be claimed on your tax return. As a general rule, you want to keep tax documents for seven years after filing the return if, for some reason, you need to recall that information.

While it is probably only necessary to keep the documents for 2 years, I would err on the side of caution and keep it longer. You just never know when you will need to refer to those documents and it's better to have them then to put them through the shredder.

Best of luck.

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