by John Darer® CLU ChFC MSSC RSP CLTC
Selling structured settlements is one of things I do in my practice. I sell structured settlements, but I do not have my own structured settlements to sell. Thinking about that, if I had a structured settlement, I certainly wouldn't sell the structured settlement. Who do I sell structured settlements to? The people or entities I sell structured settlements to include plaintiffs, attorneys, insurance and reinsurance companies, corporations, government entities. These are the people or entities which benefit when I sell structured settlements to them. I sell structured settlements just about every day and I have had experience selling structured settlements for many years.
To sell structured settlements you need to have a wide range of education and practical experience. First of all, you need an insurance license to sell structured settlements. Generally each state in the United States requires that you have an insurance license to sell or give advice about an insurance product. A structured settlement may be funded with an annuity, which is an insurance product, or it may be funded with obligations of the United States government. I am very careful to get an insurance license in the states where I want to sell structured settlements or give advice or even review or give a recommendation about an annuity policy which as i stated is a form of insurance. In some cases there may be the need to sell variable structured settlements. Then you need a variable annuity authority on your insurance license as well as a securities license in order to sell that type of structured settlement or give advice or make a recommendation about any product.
To sell structured settlements isn't just the a matter of selling. To sell structured settlements you must also be structured settlement counselor. When you sell structured settlements you may also have to act as a structured settlement broker, structured settlement consultant or settlement planning consultant. I love selling structured settlements. Why do I love selling structured settlements? Because when I sell a structured settlement I am doing something good for the person or entity that I am selling a structured settlement to and they appreciate it. I sell a structured settlement as part of an overall settlement plan. There's an old saying that "people don't plan to fail, they fail to plan". With a good settlement plan there should be no need to "transfer your periodic payment rights" in the structured settlement also known as structured settlement factoring transaction. Some people confuse the term for what I do, which is to "sell structured settlements", with structured settlement factoring transactions, which is when you "transfer your periodic payment rights". Its right there in the Internal Revenue Code if you care to, click on those links. I mean it's there in black and white.
Thus, if you have a structured settlement it doesn't mean that you can sell a structured settlement. Only people that have the required insurance or securities licenses can sell structured settlements. If you have a structured settlement you do not own the annuity, you only have Structured settlement payment rights which means rights to receive payments under a structured settlement. This is what you can sell, if a judge approves the sale as being in your best interest and the best interest of your dependents. In case you don't believe me its in IRC 5891(c)(9). It makes sense that you can't sell something that you don't own and in general the structured settlement annuity is owned by the assignment company that took over the obligation to pay you from the Defendant, the Defendant's insurer or if applicable, the trustee of a Qualified Settlement Fund, when you signed the settlement papers when the structured settlement was created.
If you have any questions about what it really means to sell structured settlements or perhaps you have the ambition to sell structured settlements please contact me.
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