by John Darer CLU ChFC MSSC CeFT RSP CLTC
Licensed Life Insurance Agent Hersch Stern is a very bright guy, long time licensed insurance agent and a 
general agent for many life insurance companies in Englishtown New Jersey.
Immediateannuities.com makes an inaccurate claim about structured settlement transfers
“Secondary Market Annuities (SMAs) are policies being transferred by an annuitant pursuant to state transfer laws. Annuities listed are subject to prior purchase, prior sale, or withdrawal by seller. Interest, payments, and prices are calculated using industry standards.” — ImmediateAnnuities(dot)com
Where ImmediateAnnuities.com is inaccurate about Structured Settlement Receivables
- Referring to assigned structured settlement payment rights as an annuity or annuities is inaccurate.
- Structured settlement payment rights are not immediate annuities.
- A structured settlement factoring transaction does not involve any transfer of annuity policies.
- A structured settlement transfer does not involve the transfer of annuity policies.
- A structured settlement transfer does not involve the transfer of an immediate annuity policy.
- The “annuities listed” as Secondary Market Annuities are not annuities. This isn’t semantics. They are receivables.
- New Jersey is one of the 40 states that have adopted the 2017 Revisions to the Life & Health Guaranty Associations Model Act (#520). There is an express exclusion for anyone “who acquires rights to receive payments through a structured settlement factoring transaction as defined in section 5891 of the federal Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C. § 5891(c)(3)(A), regardless of whether the transaction occurred before or after that section became effective.”
Why?
Investors are buying receivables, not annuity policies. In a structured settlement transfer, the policy doesn’t transfer.
Update March 7, 2026
Nothing has changed. Same inccuracy exists on Immediateannuities.com
“Important note about this table: Secondary Market Annuities (SMAs) are policies (NO) being transferred by an annuitant pursuant to state transfer laws. Annuities (NO) listed are subject to prior purchase, prior sale, or withdrawal by seller. Interest, payments, and prices are calculated using industry standards. All information in this list is subject to change and is not guaranteed. In case of a discrepancy, information in the final closing documents will govern.”
New Jersey Structured Settlement Protection Act
N.J.S.§ 2A:16-63
N.J.S. § 2A:16-64 Definitions
“Transfer” means any sale, assignment, pledge, hypothecation or other alienation or encumbrance of structured settlement payment rights made by a payee for consideration; except that the term “transfer” does not include the creation or perfection of a security interest in structured settlement payment rights under a blanket security agreement entered into with an insured depository institution, in the absence of any action to redirect the structured settlement payments to the insured depository institution, or an agent or successor in interest thereof, or otherwise to enforce the blanket security interest against the structured settlement payment rights.
“Transfer agreement” means the agreement providing for a transfer of structured settlement payment rights.
“Transferee” means a party acquiring or proposing to acquire structured settlement payment rights through a transfer.
Res Ipsa Loquitur.
Question: Do Secondary Market Annuities involve policy transfers
Answer: No. Secondary Market Annuities do not involve policy transfers. The underlying annuity contract remains owned by the original owner or beneficiary. What changes hands are structured settlement receivables — the right to receive certain payments, not the annuity policy itself.
Answer: ImmediateAnnuities.com incorrectly states that SMAs are “policies being transferred.” That is inaccurate. A structured settlement transfer does not transfer an annuity policy. It transfers payment rights, and New Jersey law (and 40+ states adopting the 2017 NAIC revisions) explicitly distinguishes the two.
Only structured settlement payment rights — a receivable stream. The annuity contract stays with the original owner, and the insurer continues to make payments to the new payee as directed by court order. No policy, no ownership rights, and no contractual control transfer to the investor.
No. Structured settlement receivables are not annuities. They are assignments of future payment rights. Calling them “annuities” or “policies” is misleading and creates false expectations about guaranty association coverage and contractual rights.
Yes. New Jersey’s Structured Settlement Protection Act clearly defines what is transferred in a structured settlement factoring transaction: payment rights, not annuity contracts. The statute regulates the sale or assignment of those payment rights and does not treat the purchaser as acquiring ownership of the underlying annuity policy.
Because investors are buying structured settlement receivables — not annuity contracts. They do not receive policyholder protections, policy ownership rights, or contractual control. Mislabeling receivables as “policies” can mislead investors about risk, coverage, and legal standing.