Only Fair

My 6 yr old son was recently bitten by a dog. It was a superficial bite which left no scar or emotional damage and the dog owners offered to pay all medical bills, so I didn't pursue taking them to court. My ex-wife, however, decided that she wanted to sue them on our son's behalf. We have 50/50 shared custody and the injury occurred while my son was in my care. All of the medical bills ($300) were paid by Medicaid, so there was no out of pocket expenses. Here's my concern: Once this case is settled, what can I do to make sure that any monetary award goes to my son and not his mother, who had nothing to do with the incident in the first place? If it is put into an escrow for him, won't she still be able to spend on herself? This is the type of person who would use her children for monetary gain. She's got a history of doing things like this. Also, is there a cap on the amount you can get in a case like this? Right now she is asking for $50,000.

You can ask the court to put it into a trust--it is often done.

Any ideas on how to go about asking tthe court to put it into a trust for my son? I'm not a party to the lawsuit. She filed it alone on our son's behalf.

You or your lawyer can intervene as an interested third party