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February 22, 2021

Georgia Structured Settlement Protection Act H.B. 443.02

by Structured Settlement Watchdog

H.B. 443.02 is a new Georgia bill that seeks to amend Chapter 12 of Title 51 of the Official Code of Georgia ( the Georgia Structured Settlement Protection Act)

Georgia State House
The Georgia House of Representatives

There are some notable provisions of the act that I have highlighted for you below. It is a step forward in much needed regulation of a secondary market that has got out of hand.

51-12-74.
153 (a) A transferee or structured settlement purchase company, and an employee or
154 representative of a transferee or structured settlement purchase company, shall not engage
155 in any of the following actions:
156 (1) Pursue or complete a transfer with a payee without complying with this article;
157 (2) Refuse or fail to fund a transfer, following court approval of the transfer;
158 (3) Acquire structured settlement payment rights from the payee without complying with
159 this article and securing court approval of the transfer in accordance with this article;
160 (4) Intentionally file a structured settlement transfer proceeding in any court other than
161 the court specified in subsection (a) of Code Section 51-12-79, unless the transferee is
162 required to file in some other court by other applicable law;
163 (5) Pay a commission or finder's fee to a person or entity for facilitating or arranging a
164 structured settlement transfer with a payee, unless such person or entity is registered as
165 a structured settlement purchase company or is an employee of a registered structured
166 settlement purchase company. A structured settlement purchase company may pay to
167 third parties routine transfer expenses, such as court filing fees, escrow fees, lien
168 recordation fees, judgment and lien search fees, attorney fees, and other similar types of
169 fees relating to a transfer. A structured settlement purchase company may pay a
170 reasonable referral fee to an attorney, certified public accountant, actuary, licensed
171 insurance agent, or other licensed professional advisor in connection with a transfer;
172 (6) Intentionally advertise materially false or misleading information regarding its
173 products or services;
174 (7) Attempt to coerce, bribe, or intimidate any payee seeking to transfer structured
175 settlement payment rights;
176 (8) Attempt to defraud a payee or any party to a structured settlement transfer or any
177 interested party in a structured settlement transfer proceeding by means of forgery or
178 false identification;
179 (9) Intervene in a pending structured settlement transfer proceeding, if the transferee or
180 structured settlement purchase company is not a party to such proceeding or an interested
181 party relative to the proposed transfer which is the subject of the pending structured
182 settlement transfer proceeding. However, this shall not preclude a structured settlement
183 purchase company from intervening in a pending structured settlement transfer
184 proceeding where the payee has signed a transfer agreement with the structured
185 settlement purchase company within 60 days prior to the filing of the pending structured
186 settlement proceeding, and the structured settlement purchase company who filed the
187 pending structured settlement transfer proceeding violated any of the provisions of this
188 article in connection with the proposed transfer that is the subject of the pending
189 structured settlement transfer proceeding;
190 (10) Knowingly contact a payee who has signed a transfer agreement and is pursuing a
191 proposed transfer with another structured settlement purchase company for the purpose
192 of inducing the payee into canceling the proposed transfer or transfer agreement with the
193 other structured settlement purchase company, if a structured settlement transfer
194 proceeding has been filed by the other structured settlement purchase company and is
195 pending. However, if no hearing has been held in the pending structured settlement
196 transfer proceeding within 90 days of the filing of same, this paragraph shall not apply;
197 or
198 (11) Fail to dismiss a pending structured settlement transfer proceeding at the request of
199 the payee. A dismissal of a structured settlement proceeding under this Code section
200 shall not exempt a person who violates this Code section from any liability under this
201 article.

(d) If a court determines that a structured settlement purchase company or transferee is in
211 violation of this Code section, the court may revoke the registration of the structured
212 settlement purchase company, suspend the registration of the structured settlement
213 purchase company for a period of time to be determined at the discretion of the court, or
214 enjoin the structured settlement purchase company or transferee from filing new structured
215 settlement transfer proceedings or pursuing transfers in this state.

227 51-12-76.
228 Not less than ten days prior to the date on which a payee signs a transfer agreement, the
229 transferee shall provide to the payee a separate disclosure statement, in bold type no
230 smaller than 14 point font, setting forth the following:
231 (1) The amounts and due dates of the structured settlement payments to be transferred;
232 (2) The aggregate amount of such payments;
233 (3) The discounted present value of the payments to be transferred, which shall be
234 identified as the 'calculation of current value of the transferred structured settlement
235 payments under federal standards for valuing annuities,' and the amount of the Applicable
236 Federal Rate used in calculating such discounted present value;
237 (4) The gross advance amount;
238 (5) An itemized listing of all applicable transfer expenses, other than attorney fees and
239 related disbursements, payable in connection with the transferee's application for
240 approval of the transfer, and the transferee's best estimate of the amount of any such fees
241 and disbursements;
242 (6) The effective annual interest rate, which must be disclosed in a statement in the
243 following form: 'On the basis of the net amount that you will receive from us and the
244 amounts and timing of the structured settlement payments that you are transferring to us,
245 you will, in effect be paying interest to us at a rate of ___ percent per year.';
246 (7) The net advance amount;
247 (8) The amount of any penalties or liquidated damages payable by the payee in the event
248 of any breach of the transfer agreement by the payee;
249 (9) That the payee has the right to cancel the transfer agreement, without penalty or
250 further obligation, until the transfer is approved by the court;
251 (10) That the payee has the right to seek and receive independent professional advice
252 regarding the proposed transfer and should consider doing so before agreeing to transfer
253 any structured settlement payment rights; and
254 (11) That the payee has the right to seek out and consider additional offers for
255 transferring the structured settlement payments and should do so.
256

COMMENTS

Many positive points!

1. The Bill contains a big "up yours" to crooked two-timing notary publics who take kick backs from certain structured settlement factoring companies to divert business to them.

51-12-74. MAY NOT (e) Pay a commission or finder's fee to a person or entity for facilitating or arranging a
structured settlement transfer with a payee, unless such person or entity is registered as
a structured settlement purchase company or is an employee of a registered structured
settlement purchase company.

A structured settlement purchase company may pay a
reasonable referral fee to an attorney, certified public accountant, actuary, licensed
insurance agent, or other licensed professional advisor in connection with a transfer;

2. Giving the Georgia regulator the ability to revoke, suspend or enjoin the the settlement purchaser is a welcome addition. For an industry operating in excess of 20 years, it is It is ridiculous that this authority was not there to begin with.

3. Encouraging shopping around and removing penalties for shopping around or even withdrawing prior to the approval of the transfer is fair to the consumer.

4. Acknowledging and addressing abhorrent business practices by banning:

51-12-74(6)Intentionally advertising materially false or misleading information regarding its
products or services;
51-12-74(7) Attempts to coerce, bribe, or intimidate any payee seeking to transfer structured
settlement payment rights;
51-12-74(8) Attempts to defraud a payee or any party to a structured settlement transfer or any
interested party in a structured settlement transfer proceeding by means of forgery or
false identification;

HB 443.02 was introduced by Representatives Rob Leverett (R-33rd) and Mitch Scoggins (R-14th), a retired probate judge.

 

 

Posted at 03:08 PM in Athens GA Structured Settlements, Atlanta Structured Settlements, Augusta Structured Settlements, Cobb County Structured Settlements, Columbus GA Structured Settlements, GA Structured Settlement Protection Act, Georgia Structured Settlements, Savannah GA Structured Settlements |

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