National Perspectives: The Dynamics of Factoring Structured Settlement Payments in Different Jurisdictions
If you have a structured settlement, you might have wondered about your options for freeing some of the cash tied up in your future payments. You have options, but in the same way your state’s laws and court processes governed the establishment of your settlement, it impacts how you can go about selling some or all of your payments.
Liquidating future payments, also called factoring, varies depending on the state in which you live. Fortunately, our team of experts can help you understand your options.
How structured settlement factoring varies across states
Every state has its own Structured Settlement Protection Act, or SSPA, for short. To give you an idea of the structure of this piece of legislation, the National Council of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) has a model state structured settlement protection act you can review.
Because each state has its own legislation governing structured settlements, each jurisdiction has nuances that shape your options for selling some or all of your payments.
Take California, for example. In the Golden State, if the settlement was created within the five years prior, you’re required to notify the settling attorney of your original settlement that you’ve entered into a contract to sell payments. This measure is intended to protect you by having a legal professional intervene if you’re falling prey to a predatory company trying to profit off you.
To provide more examples, all states have a minimum age requirement. Some states also have rules around Independent Professional Advice.
All told, all structured settlements are monitored and approved in their own state court systems. And that shapes your options for selling your payments, and the process you’ll use if you choose to move forward.
Compliant and customized settlements
Here at Strategic Capital, we want to ensure that each of our customers gets the accurate, helpful guidance that they deserve from our team, but we also want to ensure that any action they take complies with their state’s SSPA. To do that, we’ve partnered with a national network of law firms.
The attorneys at each of these firms specialize in their local SSPA. That means you get our team’s expertise — we have years of experience helping people determine when it makes good financial sense to sell — paired with guidance on the legislation in place in your specific jurisdiction.
What’s more, the law firms with which we partner process and file the appropriate paperwork anytime one of our customers decides to sell payments. This helps to smooth the process, making it as easy as possible to move you toward the outcome you want.
We constantly review each law firm we work with to ensure they’re still up to our standards and still helping us to best serve our customers. We also communicate closely with the firms to stay abreast of any changes in SSPAs or other adjustments that could affect you.
Ultimately, if you want to know what the process would look like to sell structured settlement payments in your state, we’re here to help. To connect with our team of structured settlement specialists, contact us today.
