While you may have as much as two years to start your injury claim, or even longer if you identify an exception to the statute of limitations, do not wait until those limits approach before you move forward. In most cases, get in touch with an attorney and start moving forward with your claim soon after the accident. Once a lawyer begins the claim process, it will toll, or pause, the statute of limitations. You will, therefore, have plenty of time to heal from your injuries or investigate the claim without worrying that you will miss that vital window. Talking to a lawyer soon after your accident, and beginning your claim, can have several critical advantages. Witness memory often fades quickly, especially following a traumatic incident. Even watching someone else suffer serious injury can feel very traumatic to many people, including witnesses who might have seen your accident. Even if the witness did not feel traumatized by the incident, the witness might have a hard time remembering exactly what occurred during the accident. As time passes, memory often proves even more difficult to call up, and the witness might have difficulty laying out the things he noticed leading up to your accident. When you start the claim process soon after the accident, on the other hand, you may feel much more confident in the witnesses’ testimony, and you may have more accurate information to put into your claim. Your lawyer may have an easier time collecting evidence soon after the accident. It does not take long for the evidence from a severe accident to disappear. If your accident occurred at a place of business, for example, the business might quickly clear away the aftermath of the accident and any evidence related to it. Sometimes, corporations or businesses might try to deliberately obscure evidence related to the accident to reduce future liability charges. In other cases, evidence might naturally disappear over time. Video footage often gets deleted after a relatively short period. Actual evidence from the accident might disappear quickly, especially if the property owner deliberately cleans up the area. The sooner a lawyer starts looking, the easier it can prove to collect that essential evidence. A lawyer can start working on your behalf immediately after the accident. Frequently, you will need a lawyer to start working on your behalf as soon after the accident as possible. You may find yourself facing several potential difficulties during the claim process. Sometimes, especially in cases where the liable party accepts liability for the accident, you may hear from the insurance company very soon after the accident. The insurance company may even make what seems like a decent settlement offer shortly after the accident. As your medical bills keep piling up and your other expenses continue, you may like the idea of accepting a fast settlement offer, making it easier for you to pay those immediate bills. That offer, however, may not reflect the compensation you deserve. The insurance company may also try to talk you into accepting at least partial liability for the accident. For example, the insurance company might try to trick you into saying that you contributed to the accident or brushing off the contributions of the party covered by the insurance company. As a result, you might not recover the compensation you deserve after your accident. By working with a lawyer soon after your accident, on the other hand, you may feel much more confident about overall outcomes. A lawyer can fight to get the compensation you deserve, provide you with more insight into how much compensation you should reasonably expect, and support you as you progress with your claim, including interacting with the insurance company on your behalf.