Structured Settlements 4Real®Blog 2026

Structured settlements expert John Darer reviews the latest structured settlements and settlement planning information and news, and provides expert opinion and highly regarded commentary. that is spicy, Informative, irreverent and effective for over 20 years.

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The STRUCTURED SETTLEMENTS 4REAL® Blog is a highly regarded source for structured settlement news, information, and commentary, led by structured settlement and settlement planning subect mater expert John Darer CLU ChFC MSSC CeFT RSP CLTC. With two decades of operation, the blog and 4structures.com are recognized as comprehensive resources, offering detailed guides and specialized insights. Established in 2005, the blog caters to a broad audience, including legal professionals, injured individuals, families, and various stakeholders, providing reviews and opinions on settlement planning. John Darer, President of 4structures.com LLC, is a seasoned structured settlement expert with over 40 years of financial services experience and 31 years specializing in structured settlements. Based in Stamford, CT, he is a Certified Financial Transitionist and Registered Settlement Planner, holding insurance licenses in 45 states and the District of Columbia. John Darer is dedicated to transparency and advocacy, he emphasizes the importance of engaging trained and licensed professionals for settlement planning, offering valuable insights through his investigative journalism and professional commentary.

Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston to be Acquired by Lincoln Financial Group

by John Darer® CLU ChFC MSSC CeFT RSP CLTC Updated August 15, 2026

Lincoln Financial Group announced January 19, 2018 that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston from Liberty Mutual Insurance Group

Upon completion of the transaction, Lincoln Financial will retain Liberty’s Group Benefits business and reinsure Liberty’s Individual Life and Annuity business to Protective Life Insurance Company ( a subsidiary of Dai-Ichi Life Holdings)  The acquisition, which is expected to create a single, powerful Group Benefits operation with industry-leading products, services, and capabilities, is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2018, pending regulatory approvals.

What does this mean to Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston for new structured settlement business?

Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston is no longer writing structured settlement annuities on either a qualified or non qualified basis.

What does this mean to Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston annuitants?

Both Lincoln Financial (a Fortune 250 Holding Company) and Protective Life are regulated and rated A+ by A.M. Best.  By comparison Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston is rated A. In emails to its appointed agents Liberty emphasized that it will honor its commitments on in-force annuities. I have asked for further written confirmation. Protective Life was founded in 1907, with $78 billion in reported assets on its Form 10-Q for Q3 2017. Protective is owned by Dai-Ichi LIfe Holdings. founded in 1902.

Liberty Life will process current locked in business but will no longer accept premium from mid February 2018.

What does Liberty’s exit mean to the structured settlement industry and those it serves?

  • Much of the non qualified structured settlement side will be absorbed by other sources, such as Havelet, SAI and National Indemnity reinsurance (where there is an insurance company paying on behalf of Defendants) and/or other alternatives.
  • Metropolitan Tower Life Insurance Company entered the non qualified structured settlement market in 2017, and offers a domestic non qualified assignment company, based in Delaware as opposed to Barbados. 
  • The limitations for the domestic company will be that non qualified structure design must comply with IRC 72(u), the most significant of which will be payments must start within 13 months (I.e. no later than deferrals beyond a year).
  • But where Liberty would not entertain the use of its product for structured installment sales, Metropolitan Tower will. Metropolitan Tower recently announced its merger with another MetLife subsidiary General American Life, part of the “original game plan” for those who listened, that appears to further strengthen their offering.
  • The sky isn’t falling!  It surprises me that some of my industry colleagues tend to paint with a narrow tip negative brush whenever there is change in the industry.  Many of the newer entrants to our industry have no idea about companies long gone from the industry such as Commonwealth, United Pacific Life, Presidential, Manulife, Confederation Life, Peoples Security, Security Life of Denver (ING).
  • The bottom line is that you can’t avoid change but you can manage the change.
  • Pacific Life only entered the structured settlement market in 2012 and in 2017 was the second biggest in terms of production. It is ranked one of the most ethical companies in the workd by Ethisphere.

EPILOGUE: The SKY DID NOT FALL

Significant Market Expansion occurred following Liberty’s exit

  • UPDATE 2026 In the 8 years following Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston’s exit, the non qualified structured settlement market actually expanded.
  • MetLife has made a significant effort to expland (1) its footprint in non qualfied structured settlements (2) MetLife’s expansion included areas where Liberty was and capably replaced and and excels in areas that Liberty and Allstate (which exited in 2013) chose to play in.
  • In addition to MetLife, the market also has American General, US Life, Athene Annuity and Life Company, Independent Life, Puritan, there are market based solutions.
  • Domestic non qualified assignments and funding agreements to complement annuity solutions have expaned the application of non qualified assignment solutions without the need to go offshore.

What should you do if you have a structured settlement from Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston and are approached by a company offering to purchase it for cash?

  • The secondary market’s vultures circle whenever a company exits the marketplace and try to scare annuitants so that they or their Structured settlement vultures investors can make fat profits. Ignore them.
  • In 2008, they circled and swooped, scaring annuitants they could sucker from American General ( then a subsidiary of AIG, that wasn’t leaving the business).
  • American General continues to honor its commitments and those who were drawn on to the rocks by the factoring “Sirens”, lost a fortune.
  • More “carrion peckers” came out when John Hancock and Allstate stopped writing new structured settlement annuities in Q1 2013.  “Carrion Peckers”—–> “pecker heads”?

Offers to “manage your annuity”are scams

Some unlicensed factoring representatives may offer “to help you “manage your annuity”, or may give you incorrect information. The “management of your structured settelment” involves:

  • Possible Name or Change of Beneficiary
  • Possible Change of Address
  • Possible Change of Bank account for direct deposit

You can deal directly with the licensed an appointed structured settlement consultant who you worked with at the time the structured settlement was established or you can contact the insurer dirrectly.

Structured Settlement Company Customer Service Numbers 2026

Structured Settlements Customer Service | Protective Life

You do not have to give up your private information to any unlicensed, unappointed or unregulated third party

.Anytime you see or hear from one just remember that there is little regulations of sale practices in that market segment and fleecing you for cents on the dollar is a possibility..

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