Structured Settlement

A structured settlement annuity is a contract issued by an insurance company to fund the payment of damages for personal injury over a period of time. It is sometimes referred to as an insurance settlement. It guarantees you or, in the event of your death, your beneficiary a tax-free payment or a series of payments over a fixed period of time. Most structured settlements are the result of a lawsuit- they are payments resulting from court action.

Yes. You can sell your structured settlement or insurance settlement payments. Most states have a Structured Settlement Protection Act. These laws allow you to sell your payments if the following requirements are met:

You must be given full disclosure about the financial terms of your sale.

You have a “cooling-off period” after you sign documents to change your mind and cancel the sale.

You must be advised in writing to seek independent professional advice regarding your sale.

In some states, you can choose to waive this advice. A hearing is held where a judge considers your case and decides whether to approve the sale. The judge will examine your financial situation, what you want to do with the money, and whether it is in your best interests to sell payments. The judge must issue a court order approving the sale.

What If Your Settlement Agreement or Annuity Policy Contains Anti-sale or anti-assignment Language?

Anti-assignment or anti-sale language does not prevent you from selling your payments. Some settlement agreement or annuity policies contain anti-sale or anti-assignment wording such as: “none of the periodic payments may be accelerated, deferred, increased or decreased and may not be anticipated, sold, assigned or encumbered.” Since you must get a court order approving the sale of your payments, a judge will review and evaluate your case. Judges have the power to approve the sale, even if there is language in your settlement agreement or structured settlement annuity policy that attempts to prevent you from selling your payments.

Can You Sell Just Some of Your Structured Settlement Payments or Do You Have to Sell Them All?

You can sell some or all of your payments. You can create more than one case file online with different payment combinations and get more than one price quote so as to customize a transaction that best meets your financial needs. If you only sell some of your payments your insurance company will continue to pay you the payments you keep as and when those payments are due.

Do You Have to Pay Tax on the Money You Receive on the Sale of Your Structured Settlement Payments?

The money you receive from selling your structured settlement payments will have the same tax treatment as the payments you receive from your structured settlement annuity. If you currently receive your payments tax-free the money you receive from selling your payments will be tax-free. In most cases, your structured settlement annuity payments are tax-free because your annuity was set up to qualify for tax-free treatment under section 130 of the Internal Revenue Code. The U.S. Federal Government has taken several steps to ensure that payments received for damages from personal injuries will be tax-free. Section 104(a)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code confirms that damages received for personal injury or sickness are not considered income and are not subject to tax. In 2002 federal legislation was passed to protect payees should they decide to sell their structured settlement payments. As a result, Section 5891 was added to the Internal Revenue Code. Section 5891 requires that the sale of structured settlement payments must be approved by a court in accordance with the relevant State statute. Provided the sale is conducted in accordance with Federal and State laws there are no taxes payable. Please note that this information is provided as a courtesy only and does not constitute legal advice. You should seek legal or other professional advice to address your specific circumstances.

At SELLMYSTRUSTUREDSETTLEMENT.ORG we understand that your financial goals depend on completing your sale transaction and getting paid in the fastest time permitted by law.

Once you have accepted an offer and confirm that you want to proceed with the sale we start the sale process as follows:

First Contact: Within 2 hours of contacting us you will receive our guaranteed price quote. At that time our customer service expert will inform you of the transfer and sale process.

Legal Documents: Within 24 hours- you will receive your legal documents from us by FedEx in as little as 1 hour if you choose to receive them by email or fax.

Court Process: Within 30 days- We will complete the mandatory court process as soon as legally permitted. This could mean as little as 30 days depending on the State. Immediate Access to your Money- you get paid your money by direct wire transfer of immediately available funds into a bank account of your choice immediately upon completion of the legal process.