Attendance at Mediation allows our consultants to design future periodic payment streams on-site and convert a lump sum offer into meaningful monthly income streams the injured party can understand and appreciate. It provides the consultant an opportunity to learn about the individual needs and future plans of every injury victim and their family. 

When personal injury victims receive a large sum of money from their settlement, they face new financial responsibilities and multiple confusing investment options.  Aggressive or spontaneous investments can lead to financial disaster and regrets for them in the future. 

Settlement Funding assists personal injury victims navigate these new financial hurdles with a comprehensive financial analysis to find the right allocation of a cash payment for their immediate needs and a customized tax-exempt structured settlement that fits them and the goals they want to achieve.

Structured Settlements are used to fund Medicare Set-Aside arrangements. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), allows for a Medicare Set-Aside to be funded over time using structured settlement payments versus a lump sum payment.  This funding alternative is advantageous not only to the injured worker, but to the employer or its workers compensation carrier funding the settlement.  Funding the MSA over the injured workers’ life expectancy reduces the amount of cash to the MSA.  Therefore, it allows the injured worker to have more money available for other uses.  It is also less expensive for the employer or workers’ compensation carrier since the structured settlement reduces the amount of funds required to meet the MSA allocation. 

MEDICAID

Since Medicaid and Social Security Income are needs-based programs, a injured victim’s eligibility could very well be nullified upon receiving a cash lump sum payment from a personal physical injury or sickness settlement. Even periodic payments from a Structured Settlement would be considered income for government assistance qualification purposes. In these instances, the best approach lies in having a Structured Settlement fund a Special Needs Trust. The assets in a Special Needs Trust are not counted as income when qualifying for needs-based programs, as the payee in the Structured Settlement is the trust. A Special Needs Trust normally requires the approval of the Court and the distributions from the Trust can be used for the most common day to day needs.

New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Article 50-A and 50-B entail the calculation of future damages in a verdict and the requirement for the use of periodic judgment annuities.  

Due to their injuries or comorbidities, an injured victim may have less than a normal life expectancy.   In this regard, the life insurance companies may provide an impaired risk rating.  The impaired rating works to the advantage of the injured victim because it provides a greater lifetime structured settlement benefits or a lower premium.

If a life care plan has been prepared for the injury victim, Settlement Funding Associates uses this assessment to calculate the present value and deliver tax exempt structured settlement payments to address those needs.