Structured Settlements for Personal Injury Compensation

In this article, we wanted to talk about specifics of structured settlements for personal injury compensation.  Legal agreements can also be made for lottery or big casino winnings but the focus in this case will be for people injured at the hands of another party who was negligent or acting in a misconducting way.  For starters, this type of settlement is a financial arrangement in which you would receive a series of scheduled payments until the entire amount of settlement had been depleted.  With this, payments would be made monthly in a predetermined amount for years or th

In this article, we wanted to talk about specifics of structured settlements for personal injury compensation.  Legal agreements can also be made for lottery or big casino winnings but the focus in this case will be for people injured at the hands of another party who was negligent or acting in a misconducting way.  For starters, this type of settlement is a financial arrangement in which you would receive a series of scheduled payments until the entire amount of settlement had been depleted.  With this, payments would be made monthly in a predetermined amount for years or throughout your lifetime.

Personal Injury Compensation Options

Structured settlements for personal injury compensation are the result of the responsible party and yourself coming to terms without the court.  The process would begin as a lawsuit but to avoid a long, drawn out court proceeding, excessive expense, and possibly a jury trial, an agreement would be made.  At that point, you would have one of two options for receiving the money awarded.  First, you could go with a lump sum payout, meaning the entire amount agreed would be paid in one payment.  Second, you could agree to the scheduled payments, as mentioned.

Although there are different ways in which structured settlements for personal injury compensation could occur, it is common for the responsible party’s insurance company to spearhead the process.  For this, the insurance company would be doing its job in settling a claim while keeping it out of court.  Depending on the situation, judges will often order the party that caused your injury to pay in the form of scheduled payments, especially if the court finds that paying the lump sum would cause undue financial hardship, whether an individual or company.

Moving on to structured settlements for personal injury compensation for payments, this would guarantee you have a steady income spread out over years.  If the settlement were large and depending on other factors such as your life expectancy, the payments could be paid for the rest of your life.  Keep in mind that from a tax standpoint, these payments are viewed differently by the IRS over other income.  For instance, while you would be taxed on conventional income, the money received as a part of the settlement is tax exempt.

While most people choose to have the entire amount of award rolled into the structured settlement, you do have the right to negotiate having the settlement consist of some scheduled money and some direct payment or lump sum.  Working with a qualified attorney is essential when going through this process to ensure all aspects have been addressed.  Since there are many factors that have to be considered when dealing with structured settlements, having solid legal counsel would certainly improve the odds of the outcome being what you need but also what you want.

Another thing to consider specific to structured settlements for personal injury compensation is that in many instances, you can assign a beneficiary.  Now, the way that person would be paid the money varies but in many cases, after your passing the scheduled payments would continue being paid until such time the entire award had been paid off.  With a number of variations, we strongly recommend you seek out a good attorney so you get the settlement compensation deserved but also someone who will walk you through each step so you become educated along the way.