What Is A Structured Settlement
By Amit Laufer, Thu Dec 8th

A Structured Settlement is an agreement between a personalinjury victim ( a Plaintiff ) and an Insurance company ( theDefendant ) to compensate the Plaintiff by the defendant withlong term periodic payments instead of a single cash lump sum.

Payments can be tailored to each individual plaintiffs needs, tohelp meet expenses such as on-going medical and living expenses,education, children needs & support etc’ The fixed annuitypayments are tax-free to the claimant, a cost-of-livingadjustment (COLA) feature is available, that can help offset theeffects of inflation over time, payments can continue as long asthe claimant lives thus providing him the maximum benefits.

Structured settlements are encouraged by plaintiffs lawyers,Courts, Insurance companies and the legislators alike as theyall agree it is the best solution to all parties involvedespecially for the claimant.

The annuity can be transformed in part or in full to a cash lumpsum via private funds and should be approved by the Court. Thefunds are most interested to make these deals as they are veryprofitable to them because they take the long term tax freepayments and in exchange pay the annuity holder less than theface value but in cash.

These same funds are handling Lottery winners long term paymentsinto one single lump sum as well as all kinds services of cashagainst future payments.

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About the author:About Me Name: Amit Laufer Age: 46 Location: New York, UnitedStates MBA - International Trade & Finance - Heriot-WattUniversity. Bsc. Computers and Information Systems - Long IslandUniversity - C.W Post Campus. Hobby: Photography. Married withtwo Children.