Lawsuits can be messy, which is why many people are reluctant about suing their close relatives. Unfortunately, a relative may do something that leaves you with no option but to take legal action against him or her. If you ever find yourself in such a situation, consider these five issues before going ahead with the lawsuit:

Value of the Claim

The first thing to consider is how much the lawsuit is worth. You do this by consulting a lawyer to evaluate the strength of your case and consider the types of judgments usually awarded in such cases. The legal process may be lengthy, so you should consider not only the money you will put into it but also your time. Considering the strain it might put on your family, it might not make much sense to pursue a small claim against a relative.

Judgment Collection

It's a bad idea to sue somebody if you can't collect the judgment; it's a waste of resources.  Therefore, the first thing you should do is to determine whether you can get your money if the judge rules in your favor. This is usually not a problem if the relative's insurance covers the damage, for example, in the case of personal injury. However, if there is no insurance, then you have to seek alternative ways of judgment collection such as these two:

• Garnishing wages or bank accounts (involves going back to court)
• Seizing the defendant's assets

Therefore, it's generally a bad idea to sue unless the person has insurance, a job, money in the bank account or a piece of real estate.

Alternatives

Lawsuits aren't the only ways of getting somebody to pay for his or her liabilities. Even your lawyer may ask you if you have tried or exhausted other options of dispute resolution. Some of the alternatives you may try include talking to your relative one on one, hiring a mediator (by the way lawyers make good mediators), or engaging an arbitrator (a mutual friend can do this well). In short, only file a lawsuit if you have exhausted all these options.

These are good pieces of advice, but they aren't legal requirements. As long as it's legally permitted, you can still file a lawsuit against your relative if you think that it is the only way to get justice. Just get a good personal injury attorney and let him or her handle it just like he or she would handle any other case.