Structured Settlements Are Like Ants

by Jason M Rigler

Ants are powerful creatures. The powerful ant legs are able to lift 20 times their body weight, and run the equivalent of a man running as fast as a racehorse. Structured Settlements are strong agreements that turn an agreement to pay a plaintiff into an ironclad guaranteed structured award.

Ants have powerful armor on their bodies, called an exoskeleton. Structured settlements have several layers of protection. Attorneys work to preserve fairness and best interest of affected parties. Insurance companies protect the investment and insure payments are made. State and federal laws protect all parties with aggressive qualifications for the creation and distribution of structured settlements.

Ant colonies have a distinct odor that is unique to the members of that group. Structured settlements are individually and distinctly arranged to meet the personal needs of the award recipient. The payments from a settlement annuity are structured to address financial needs over time.

People generally consider ants as pests and do whatever they can to get rid of them. It’s easy enough to put sugar outside your door and keep them outside where they belong. Annuitants also get tired of receiving payments spread out over time. There are federal and state approved programs that allow for the acceleration of the settlement payments.

Jason Rigler "Settlement Advocate" and consultant for Prosperity Partners Customer Service Department.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jason_M_Rigler

Unstructured Settlement

by Jason Rigler

Unstructuring a settlement has its pros and "cons"

Me?Lisa Delaney, 43, is brain-injured as a result of a 1984 medical error that caused a stroke during surgery. The hospital agreed to settle via a structured settlement, as overseen by a county conservatorship.

Delaney soon married Terry, who took over the conservatorship of the settlement and proceeded to make loans against the settlement, which equaled about $350,000. It wasn?t long before all the money was gone. According to the civil complaint filed by Me?Lisa, Terry had used the loan money to purchase "controlled substances, illegal drugs, jewelry, liquor and other non-business items." Of course Delaney is suing for 10 million in punitive damages.

A lot of time energy, and effort was put into structuring a settlement in the best interest of Me?Lisa and it was too easily undone. Should we consider making settlements ?unstructurable?? There is some concern that ?factoring? or ?cash out? companies take advantage of customers, taking a large portion of the settlement in exchange for a significantly smaller lump sum.

In Me?Lisa?s case it makes sense to put in place more safeguards to protect her rights and interests in her settlement, specifically because she is brain injured. We should look to protect minors, senior citizens, and mentally impaired or injured settlement winners. Everyone else has access to resources and information to help them make the best choices and should be entitled to choose whatever they wish. I personally know of cases where cashing out was life saving, dream fulfilling, and absolutely a positive choice. I am also personally aware of situations where customers have cashed out their settlements and it was absolutely a bad decision. Unstructuring a settlement seems to be a great American Freedom, but it doesn?t have to be as morally insipid as what happened in the Delaney case.

Jason Rigler
"Settlement Advocate" and consultant for Prosperity Partners Customer Service Department.

Article Source: http://www.info-hog.com

Investing in Structured Settlements

by Lance Winslow

Often some derelict will be awarded some huge amount of money from a noble company due to a run away jury in a Kangaroo Court. Since many times the company paying the money out agrees on a structured over time settlement, the plaintiff of course is a lowly human and has lots of desires for riches and he has little if any cranial capacity to understand the enormous gift the courts have grated him as our nation turns in to a socialist quagmire of re-distributing wealth to those who do not deserve it. Yes a few have been damaged and do deserve something, but usually not. If you disagree with that, you are wrong and I am right.

Now then, since these folks who are future Darwin Award Winners and probably free T-Shirt Jerry Springer guest stars have these huge structured settlements you can make some money by buying these structured settlements from them. For instance if a man receives a 10 million dollar settlement over ten year, he will receive 1 million per year. But he may want all the money now instead so he can go buy stuff? So you may be able to give him 6 million in cash now and you get the 10 million over ten years. This means you get a 40% return guaranteed over the next ten years. Now then such an investment is not as good as others in that your annual rate of return is only 4% and many of us know that in the stock market over time we have seen 7.7% annual returns. But it is something to think about. Now then, what if some one receives 1.2 million over 5 years and you give them 500,000 in advance? Now things are looking a lot better aren’t they? Any way think on this.

"Lance Winslow" - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/