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General Does Anyone Else Understand??

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Apparently Alex's Dr at the moment is a psychologist and before he can return to work he has to get permission from a psychiatrist; MCRS has only sent us to the psychologist though. So at the moment, returning to work is not an imminent prospect but the solicitor mentioned something about mind frames and he said that Alex has to believe that one day he will return to working... I think it was just stress!

We are still waiting for the letter from MCRS stating the ins and outs of this payout, but after talking to the solicitor we are definitely going to ask for more.

Thank you heaps for saying I am doing a good job; it's nice to hear it from someone who doesn't 'have' to say it.

Tammy
 
Ah. Yes I can see where the solicitor mentioning mind frames in such a manner might cause upset for Alex. At least, to use my Evie as an example, she would certainly take such comments seriously and possibly the wrong way. I could easily see her thinking the solicitor was either a) putting pressure on her to go back to work or, b) saying she could go back to work immediately if only she would think in a different way. Therefore she would conclude it is all her fault she is not working, she was a "loser", and she would be catastrophizing about the future, stressed and irritable as a result.

I am very serious when I say I believe you are doing a good job Tammy. It is very refreshing to see, as for whatever reason, so many carers do not do the necessary work to educate themselves and help their loved ones. Truly I wish you and Alex all the best!
 
Yep, that is generally the way Tam... the payout whilst a lumpsum is typically not fitting to possible lifetime age. If Alex where 50 for example, they may only offer him a few thousand ie. 5 years worth, even though he will likely live beyond 65. Be careful with lumpsum offers, they are not in your favour.
 
Hi all,
well we are still waiting for the letter from MCRS to explain the payout better; due to Alex talking to them by himself I am unsure exactly what is involved, but this letter should clear a few things up.

As I said, we will not be accepting any payment that will be 'unfair' to us and our future. I guess I will just have to keep waiting for this letter... if it ever comes.

Thanks Kathy for explaining how Evie may perceive such comments. I know that Alex believes that I am 'pressuring' him whenever I speak to him about working in the future. Sometimes he even gets angry about it! But honestly I am not trying to pressure him, I just don't want him to feel as though he is less of a man because he cannot work right now. I do agree with his solicitor though that he does have to believe he will one day work again or he will be stuck in a rut he simply cannot work his way out of.

Thanks again everyone for the support and the encouragement.
Tammy
 
ok, well we finally got the long awaited letter from MCRS and I am a little disappointed and still very confused! The letter says that they will pay us very close to 64000 but that 23810 goes straight to tax! this payout will in no way affect Alex's comsuper payments and if he started work the day after he accepted it, he still would not owe them anything. However, as I am receiving centrelink benefits, his income estimate would become 99810. Which means that my payments, which at present are 415 per fortnight, will go down to 165 per fortnight. I tried to find information about whether we would be able to claim the majority of this money back on tax but no one can tell me anything unless I pay them between 80 and 250 an hour to tell me!

If there is anyone on the forum who has accepted a payout such as this one, or knows of some one who has, can you please let me know what happened to the tax side of things. I was told that because it is a lump sum it is taxed at a different rate on the tax return than when MCRS calculates it... We are still thinking about accepting this money as Alex still has quite a few debts to clear and I have a personal loan that I would love to finally be free of. It would also help with the cost of miving when our lease expires on the 26th January, and we would save the rest for when he gets the compensation payout so that we could use it as a deposit for a house! Can anyone here tell me what they would do in this situation? or tell me whether I will get any of this tax back, because if I won't get any back then I dont think it would be right to accept this payment because in effect we would recieve just under 39000. PLease let me know what you would do? As I have no idea what to do with this situation!
Thanks
Tammy:wall:
 
I am not able to advise you Tammy, however I am "bumping" this thread (a term I just learned from Evie!) in the hopes that it will get read by someone else and commented on. I am sorry though things are not working out as well as you hoped.
 
Tam, you need to be very very careful with centrelink and payouts, because as an example, someone recently got a much smaller payout and centerlink claimed back the entire years worth of payment because they fell over the threshold. You will find that centrelink actually claim back the entire year to 01 July if you do anything that changes the fact within that financial year. This person just got a very nasty bill of many thousands to backpay because of a much smaller payout.
 
hi all sorry it has been a while. My computer completey crashed and it took way too long to get it fixed...
Thanks for the comments about centrelink Anthony. I have rang them and asked what would happen if Alex did accept the payout and they said it would take his yearly income up to almost $100 000, and that would affect my payments- they will go from $425 per fortnight to $170 per fortnight. But on the first of July I would be able to tell them his estimated earnings for the 08-09 financial year and my payments would return to he previous amount plus a bit due to the CPI.
We did send the letter of acceptace through to MCRS, however the day they received it they also received the letter from our solicitor about the compensation claim. Alex's case manager then decided to send Alex to a new psyche to determine his invalidity rate and so forth. Our solicitor tells us that this is because of the compo claim and if this psyche says it is under ten per cent they don't have to pay us anything at all. Alex was furious! However, he did see his new psyche and apparently had to fill out a whole heap of forms and stuff and at present we are waiting for the medico- legal report. SO once again we are just waiting to see what happens!!! Alex is having a hard time with it all, he has been quite depressed as he thinks that this set back means he is not supporting his family- and no matter how much I tell him that isnt the case he deosn't believe me. I will keep you all informed though.
Tammy
 
Lovely to have you back Tammy. Hang in there, you are doing very well all things considering. Do take care.
 
Yes Tammy if he is depressed because he is a feeling a failure because of the money situation keep an eye on that. You need to reassure him that you will get through it ok.
Hubby crashed badly last year when the realization hit him that he was not the supporter of the family if you know what I mean?
 
Can well understand feeling like a failure. Big part of a man's ego is supporting the family. That one would be quite the blow even without PTSD. Hang in there.

Jim.
 
Thanks everyone for responding... I keep telling him that they will pay us eventually and it's not like we are completely broke or anything- we have more than enough money to survive. He was so looking forward to paying off all of our debts and things that this set back has gotten to him. He is coming around though. I tell him that the boys and I still love him so everything will be fine. He has another psyche appt (with his usual psyche) on Thursday and apparently they will actually start the EMDR thing. THey didn't start it last fortnight as Alex had his other appt that morning and the psyche didn't want to push him. I think he is actually looking forward to seeing his psyche this week as he has a fair bit to discuss with him. Now that our computer is fixed, he is spending a lot of time playing games and so forth which is a blessing because otherwise he is in my hair all the time, and it has stopped him thinking about the pay out as often. He has met up with a few of his old school friends recently so he is spending time going fishing with the boys and so on, and even though he never catches anything, he finds it relaxing- so now he has some one to go with, he is a lot better emotionally. Alll in all though we are going very well. Tahnks again for all of your support...
Tammy
 
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