As a personal injury lawyer, I sometimes run into issues in practice that I actually have a hard time explaining to my clients. One example is how to deal with a grief compensation to personal injury victims receiving welfare benefits.
Maximum amount of savings (equity) assistance recipient
An assistance benefit amounts to €1,026 net per month. An assistance recipient may have a limited amount of savings. For a single person this is a maximum of € 6,120. If an assistance recipient has more money in their account, the assistance benefit can be stopped or (in some cases) reclaimed. The underlying idea is that an assistance benefit is a last resort.
Compensation for damages
I am assisting a victim who developed severe psychological symptoms as a result of a series of incidents that will mark him for the rest of his life. In his situation, punitive damages of about €50,000 are appropriate. He is on welfare benefits. If client receives compensation for damages of €50,000, his savings will be (well) above the maximum amount.
Varying policies municipalities
The law gives municipalities leeway not to include a grievance payment with savings. How the 355 municipalities in the Netherlands deal with this is unclear. Few municipalities have made their policy on this point public. What is known is:
- That the municipality of Amsterdam does not count compensation for damages up to €45,378;
- That the municipality of The Hague determines the amount of compensation for immaterial damages to count on an individual basis;
- That the municipality of Utrecht uses the rule of thumb that the first €5,000 does not count, that in the case of a higher compensation for damages 60% is not counted and 40% is;
- that a few smaller municipalities, such as Urk and Rijssen-Holten, do not count 1/3 of the grievance payment and 2/3 do.
So my client would be best off living in Amsterdam. As an Amsterdam resident, he would be able (with no other equity) to use most of his compensation for damages for what it is intended, but as an Urken resident, €33,333 would be counted as equity. In the latter case, he would be well above the asset limit. The welfare benefit will then be stopped or reclaimed for about two years. If the social assistance benefit is stopped, he will have to use the sorrow payment to pay for his groceries and fixed expenses. That is not what the hardship payment is for.
Exemption by law
The legislature has provided an exemption by law for some victims. When an assistance victim receives compensation under this regulation, it does not affect the assistance benefit:
- compensation to victims of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church;
- payments to asbestos victims;
- relief for victims of the Bijlmer disaster;
- benefits to DES daughters.
Proposal
A grief compensation has a highly personal character and is intended to alleviate the victim's suffering. I cannot explain to my client why a municipality would be entitled to part of his compensation for damages. Nor can I explain why a victim of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church would be entitled to his compensation without it affecting his social security benefit, but my client is not. Nor can the differences between municipalities be explained.
As far as I am concerned, by law, grievance payments should be exempted for all welfare recipients.
If you have questions about this blog, please contact the author, Mildred Brun.