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A
structured settlement is an arrangement
whereby the plaintiff is awarded money scheduled
to be paid by the defendent in regular intervals.
Depending on the terms of the settlement,
or annuity, these payments are usually made
monthly or annually. |
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If
the plaintiff prefers to receive the money
in one lump sum as opposed to receiving
smaller payments over a long period of time,
he may sell the structured settlement to
one of many companies that specialize in
buying structured settlements. The advantage
of selling a structured settlement is that
the seller receives a large sum of money
at once. The disadvantage is that he receives
less money overall, since the buyer pays
him a sum that is less than the combined
sum of the regular payments yielded by the
settlement. |
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The
majority of defense prepared settlement
agreements contain language errors and/or
omissions relating to plaintiff tax issues.
This comes as no surprise since plaintiffs’
post settlement tax issues are of little
consequence to the defendant. As such, defense
drafted settlement agreements should be
thoroughly critiqued in every case. |
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The
Structured Settlement Agreement and Release
document is important to plaintiff counsel,
to counsel’s client, and to the IRS. All
due diligence needs to be taken in the document’s
preparation. When you have any concerns
regarding the accepted language, it would
be prudent to obtain professional assistance.
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