by Structured Settlement Watchdog
Texas bankruptcy attorney Carron Nicks lays out a 100% fat free structured settlement example for NOLO
“If you agree to take your award as a structured settlement, instead of receiving one large amount from the plaintiff, you will receive periodic payments over the course of a fixed number of years. For example, if you win $500,000, your structured settlement might require the defendant to pay you $50,000 every June for ten years”.
NOLO self describes as “the pioneer in legal self help” on the NOLO website, which also solicits users with “Sidestep the lawyers with do-it-yourself books, documents, and software”.
Nicks’ Structured Settlement Sophistry for NOLO Fails
- Nicks fails to differentiate between a settlement and an award. A settlement is not an award. It’s basic stuff. An award is not a settlement. The Awarded a Settlement Vortex in News Organizations, Law Firms, Finance Textbooks, Settlement Planners – Structured Settlements 4Real® Blog: Structured Settlements | Settlement Planning News and John Darer Reviews (typepad.com)
- Carron Nicks nauses it up with this doozy “if you agree to take your award (mistake) as a structured settlement, instead of receiving one large amount from the plaintiff (big mistake), you will receive periodic payments over the course of a fixed number of years”.
- Nicks uses an improbable example where the exemplar structured settlement simply parcels out principal over 10 years with no interest. As they say in Texas, “I smell what you’re steppin in”.
- A settlement is a compromise which requires a “meeting of the minds”. If you agree to a structured settlement there are many types of payments not just a fixed period of payments. And a single structured settlement annuity contract can be comprised of one or more payment streams. See Types of Structured Settlement Payments | Structured Settlement Payment Options (4structures.com)
What a structured settlement would actually pay with a $500,000 cost and a 10 year annual payout
At time of publication, a book rate MetLife structured settlement quote funded on July 1, 2024 with $500,000.00, would produce annual payments of $62,939.35 for 10 years starting July 1, 2025.
Said a different way, it would not take $500,000.00 to produce $50,000.00 annually for 10 years, if it were funded with a structured settlement annuity.
NOLA educated Carron Nicks, whose NOLO bio professes her love for “beignets, gumbo, and gallons of cafe au lait”, needs to fatten up the interest in her examples. I dare say that I recommend the Bananas Foster at Brennan’s in Houston or Commanders Palace in NOLA, or Bourbon Biscuit Bread Pudding, eaten with a demi-tasse spoon, or better yet, someone with a license, relevant credentials and appointments and software to easily obtain a structured settlement quote.