The payments you are receiving for your structured settlement may not be enough to
make ends meet in these times when most people are experiencing financial
difficulties. It would be a big help to be able to have a lump sum of money
rather than have to wait each month for a smaller sum that does not cover all
of the bills. Selling a structured settlement just might be what you need to
do to navigate over the financial hurdles that are currently in your path.

Because the structured settlement may have been set up due to a court
proceeding, people who are receiving annuity payments first question is often
the legality of selling their structured settlements. The structured settlement
could have been ordered by a judge to satisfy the personal injury judgment of
someone injured in an accident, for example. If this is the case for you and
you would like to receive the whole lump sum, it does not hurt to ask this
question.

There have been times when annuitants have taken this matter to court in order
to seek permission to sell their structured settlements, and they have
prevailed in court. It may be the case that your contract states that you do
not have the right to sell your structured settlement to anyone, but both the
federal government as well as the states’ governments has created legislation
that allows for the selling of structured settlements. The federal government
enacted its law in 2002 to state that any contract regarding a structured
settlement cannot prohibit the re-assignment of the structured settlement. This
means that it is legal, as far as the federal government is concerned, to seek
to re-assign the payments from an annuity.

The states also have written laws on this issue; these particular laws have
concentrated on the regulation of the process by which re-assigning an annuity
will take place. Different states will have different rules. For example, one
state may make it mandatory that annuitants take this matter into court in
order to receive permission for the action. Annuitants who feel unsure about
the laws of their state can make an appointment with an attorney to make sure
everything can be done legally.

During the process of selling a structured settlement, the company which
purchases it must follow a few rules to keep the entire process legal. They
must give the seller a few considerations, and the first is that the annuitant
must be completely aware of the terms of the sale. Second, after the contract
has been signed, annuitants are to be given a set number of days in which they
can change their minds and revoke the sale. The company must also put in
writing that it has been suggested to annuitants that they seek the advice of
an attorney.

After all the above has been completed, both parties must see a judge. The
judge’s duty will be to ensure that the sale of the structured settlement will
not be detrimental to the annuitant. When this matter has been decided in the
annuitant’s favor, the sale can go through and the annuitant will be free of
the structured settlement legally.