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.
recent posts
- Daily Rates Are Often an Important Cost Driver of Structured Settlements
- 🔥Founder and Former CEO of 777 Partners, Joshua Wander, Pleads Guilty⚖️ to $500 Million Fraud Scheme — DOJ Confirms Double‑Pledging, Misappropriation of Structured‑Settlement Funds, and Falsified Bank Statements
- The Steering Problem Needs a Wake‑Up Call
- Companies Still Using the Incorrect Term “Secondary Market Annuity”
- Canonical: Non‑Qualified Assignment (NQA)
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Category: Settlement Planning Issues
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An New York attorney for a New York firm that is a heavy promoter of Firmwide QSFs has made quite the gaffe in an article promoting firmwide QSFs. “Payoff/1099 to Defendant”? Oh dear. Firmwide QSFs were debunked in two legal memoranda.
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Milestone Consulting email blast to trial lawyers states “Eliminate annuities from your client portfolios and settlement plans”. Like a number of things written and posted by Milestone Consulting and its CEO these days, the devil is in the details.
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The S&P 500 does not back any structured settlement or periodic payments. “Backed” and “based” are two different things. “Based on an objective formula based on the performance of the S&P 500” does not equal “backed by the S&P 500”.
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If Harvey Weinstein, accused by numerous women of sexual harassment (and in a few cases, assault, ends up negotiating settlements with his accusers, many settlements will be taxable. After paying legal fees and federal and state income taxes, it could leave a third or less to the victim depending on their attorney’s contingency fee agreement.
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Medicare Set Aside arrangements are intended to not only protect Medicare’s interest, a requirement of the Medicare Secondary Payer Act (MSP), but to also protect the settling injured worker (or plaintiff if Liability MSA) from the loss of Medicare benefits.
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Investors in structured settlement derivatives can now buy Vacated Court Order Insurance via an insurance product placed through certain underwriters at Lloyds of London, that provides some protection against the transaction risk of overturning approved structured settlement transfer orders
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It’s notable that the annuity agent on the Shaw case was Merrill Lynch Settlement Services, Inc. which appears to have utilized a cheap annuity from Executive Life, ignoring some unavoidable facts, apparently including Merrill Lynch internal guidelines.
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ABLE accounts, under IRC 529A and State law, are designed to encourage and facilitate the ability of those with significant disabilities to live and work independently, without losing the benefits of SSI or Medicaid.
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A structured settlement commutation rider is a provision in a structured settlement that provides for a conversion of some or all of the future structured settlement payments to a lump sum timed to a specific event and in accordance with a formula specified in the contract.
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Care must be taken in the settlement planning process to consider how various settlement options impact the ability to pay for college and to address these issues before settlement documents are signed.. Can structured settlements help pay for college?