People often ask why in the world someone would want to sell their structured settlement payments anyway. It’s a fair question, but the fact is that things change in everyone’s life. You may have serious medical expenses or some other financial emergency that requires you to get a right amount of money. It could be to save a home from foreclosure or one of many different situations.
Regardless of the reason, here we give you a look at what your rights are each time you are going to sell any part of a structured settlement or annuity.
1. You must receive a disclosure statement that describes all terms related to the sale of your entire or part of your annuity. Make sure you look at this and understand what it means. If for some reason you do not understand something, ask the company about it.
2. You must be given a specific number of days as a reflection period. That can look like a pain, yet it is to your benefit. What happens if you accept a settlement offer and then suddenly change your mind or your circumstances change? That gives you the opportunity to get away from the sale and keep your agreement.
3. You must pass your hearing before a judge who will consider your possible sale. While this can look scary at first, it’s a matter of formality for the most part. Unless you want the cash from your annuity or structured agreement to go out and buy frivolous items like a trip around the world or some additional cars and the judge will approve the transaction.
With the above facts in mind, imagine that a person is injured in an accident. He goes for a personal injury lawsuit and wins the case. The result would be a structured solution, an agreement whereby the person agrees to accept payments for a period in exchange for the release of liability for their claim. Structured settlements work the same way as bank certificates of annuities.
Many states have laws to help people sell their structured agreements safely. The structured settlements are sold as follows. The interested party, who wants to sell his structured settlement, sends the document containing the name of the insurance company and the settlement payment plan to the buyers of the agreement. According to this data, the latter gives a free estimate. If the person is interested, send a copy of their structured settlement policy and the settlement agreement. Then the two parties, the seller and the buyer of the contract, draw up a contract. This agreement, together with the request for the sale of the structured deal, is submitted to the court for approval. The court reviews the application to confirm if it is in the best interest of the applicant. The buyer of the agreement does all the processing. On average, the judicial process takes around 2 to 3 months, depending on the current state laws. By federal and state transfer laws, only personal injury agreements may qualify as structured agreements.
It is essential to ensure that the insurance company and the agreement purchasing companies are licensed and that all transactions the court order approves. Selling structured contracts can help meet the main financial needs. Again, many circumstances require someone to market structured settlement payments, however, here are the top reasons why people sell their structured settlement payments: Top Reasons Why People Sell Their Structured Settlement Payments
• Protect your home from bank sizing
• Spend the cash on medical expenses
• Spend money on legal costs
• Paying delinquent bills
While these types of costs represent the most common reasons concerning the sale, it is essential that the owner of the annuity represents compelling reasons behind the purchase of structured payments of the actual pension for an offer to be approved. Approved, yes, for each structured settlement transaction, the owner of the annuity must follow particular rules to obtain approval of the agreement. What it transformed was that a judge should approve each deal in each state in which the owner resides of the annuity. The judge will have to determine how the sale of the structured settlement payments is within the highest interest of the owner of the annuity. That was a welcome change, as it ensured that the owner of the annuity was not taken advantage of by the weak companies.