A Structured Settlement is an agreement between a personal injury victim ( a Plaintiff ) and an Insurance company ( the Defendant ) to compensate the Plaintiff by the defendant with long term periodic payments instead of a single cash lump sum.

Payments can be tailored to each individual plaintiffs needs, to help meet expenses such as on-going medical and living expenses, education, children needs & support etc¡¯ The fixed annuity payments are tax-free to the claimant, a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) feature is available, that can help offset the effects of inflation over time, payments can continue as long as the claimant lives thus providing him the maximum benefits.

Structured settlements are encouraged by plaintiffs lawyers, Courts, Insurance companies and the legislators alike as they all agree it is the best solution to all parties involved especially for the claimant.

The annuity can be transformed in part or in full to a cash lump sum via private funds and should be approved by the Court. The funds are most interested to make these deals as they are very profitable to them because they take the long term tax free payments and in exchange pay the annuity holder less than the face value but in cash.

These same funds are handling Lottery winners long term payments into one single lump sum as well as all kinds services of cash against future payments.

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Amit LauferAge: 46 Location: New York, United States MBA - International Trade & Finance - Heriot-Watt University.Bsc. Computers and Information Systems - Long Island University - C.W Post Campus.Hobby: PhotographyMarried with two Children. Editor of: http://annuity-structured-settlements.blogspot.com/