Qualified Assignment With More Than One Payee Presents Privacy issues

by John Darer CLU ChFC MSSC RSP CLTC

Is it a good business practice to use a single qualified assignment for more than one payee in the same family when each is scheduled to receive separate structured settlements?  I submit to you that the answer is no.

• Sacrificing privacy for brevity is not acceptable. 
• Using the example of a single qualified assignment for 3 children and a mother, a single qualified assignment means that if one of the payees decides to sell structured settlement payment rights down the road, all of the other non-selling payees' private information is in play, including the amount and timing of future periodic payments. Why not mitigate unsolicited and unwanted phone calls now? 
• In the event of a later marriage, remarriage, or divorce, a single qualified assignment for all payees puts the privacy of the other payees in play. What business is it of Betty Sue's husband if her sister Annabelle is to receive a $500,000 lump sum in 2 years? Why not mitigate this potential recurring problem now?
  
• Boilerplate document wordings may not reflect what is actually happening. Many documents refer to a claimant in the singular, sometimes Claimant(s), but there is not a consistent distincton throughout the document. The more payees the less merry!