Independent Voices
Disability advocates and America’s most reputable plaintiff attorneys speak out about structured settlements:
The structured settlement has proven so effective at keeping seriously injured and disabled Americans off public assistance that [in 1997], Congress amended the tax code to allow for increased use of structured settlements in workers compensation cases. William Robinson, Esq. |  |
Structured settlements protect the needy from the greedy. They are the ultimate safeguards to guarantee the long term financial health of people harmed in accidents.
Joseph Jamail
Jamail & Kolius
Voted "Trial Lawyer of the Century"
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Many government benefits for people with disabilities can be lost if a family member receives outside income. But structured settlements are different. They provide secure income that’s not going to go away and doesn’t eliminate incentives for anyone in the family to take a job. Andrew J. Imparato |
A creative structured settlement consultant can put together a package that will give the injured person some flexibility and access to money when they need it, but also preserve that money over many years.
Fayrell Furr, Esq.
President, Southern Trial Lawyers Association (2005-2006)
Structured settlements are an effective tool to provide financial security, which most families desperately need after a serious accident or death. Nancy Starnes |
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Structured settlements have been adopted by Congress and state legislatures to assure people who need long-term medical and other support will get it.
Robert Hunter
Director of Insurance, Consumer Federation of America*
 | For years, structured settlements have offered great benefit and financial security to injury victims, surviving spouses and children involved in tort cases. Philip Corboy, Esq. |
Structured settlements provide the crucial financial protection that allows families to concentrate on rebuilding their lives.
Margaret Moses Branch, Esq.
Founding President, New Mexico Women's Bar Association
Structured settlements ensure that victims have enough funds to not only pay their bills today, but also in the future. I am one of those victims whose life needed to be put back together. Hon. James Langevin |  |
Structured settlements are a benefit that I have recommended to clients as one of the best ways to guarantee financial security and independence.
William Garner, Esq.
Board of Governors, Association of Trial Lawyers of America
 | The federal government makes a structured settlement financially appealing by exempting your payments from taxes on income, interest, dividends and capital gains. Another benefit: If your payments are made irrevocably into a special needs trust, they are not counted against Medicaid and SSI income limits. Janet Fields |
A structured settlement allows a family to focus on recovery with the knowledge that their settlement will be there to help them through the years to come. That's why I have been comfortable recommending structured settlements for more than 10 years.
Donna Davis, Esq.
Past President, Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association
Whether you’ve received a moderate injury or a severe one, your lawsuit settlement is a one-time chance to be compensated for your loss. That’s why, regardless of how serious an injury is, I urge my clients to consider a structured settlement. When you agree on a structured settlement, you can arrange regular, on-time payments. This financial security is extremely important because it lets accident victims focus on the important task of pulling their lives back together. Douglas deVries, Esq. |  |
*Title for identification only
You've heard the experts.
Now listen to what some beneficiaries say:
Shirley Adams (Yorba Linda, CA)
Mother of a child with brain damage
In 1973, Shirley Adams of Memphis, Tennessee gave birth to a daughter, Tiffany, who was born with brain damage. Ms. Adams maintained this damage was the result of medical malpractice by the hospital.
In 1980, Shirley and her husband received a settlement of $250,000. Despite the attorney’s advice to invest this money prudently, Shirley says her husband put the money into his own construction company.
By the mid-1980s, the company was bankrupt and the money to care for Tiffany was gone. In 1993, Shirley and her husband divorced. He moved to Eastern Europe and stopped paying child support.
But the story does not end there. In 1987, Tiffany’s wheelchair malfunctioned, causing it to roll forward and throwing her face first into the street.
Tiffany suffered severe facial injuries. This time, Ms. Adams insisted that the settlement from the wheelchair manufacturer be in the form of a structured settlement.
Today, Ms. Adams is convinced of the benefit structured settlements have brought to her life. “Taking care of Tiffany is a full-time job and requires constant attention, not to mention the financial need,” she says, “My structured settlement protects Tiffany from other people completely taking advantage of her for the whole amount of the settlement.”
William Wayne Jeske (Corinth, New York)
Victim in a products liability case
Excerpts from a letter from Mr. Jeske to one of the people who represented him after his 2001 accident:
“Now that the dust has somewhat settled from a long legal battle, I feel very good about the decision I made to invest in a structured settlement annuity package.
“I will admit that I was skeptical at first, but the more I considered the ‘structured settlement,’ the more it made damn good sense. At this point in time good sense was an obvious and critical ingredient to making a sound financial decision. Especially, being aware that I was under much mental, physical, emotional, and now financial pressure; I knew that I was very vulnerable to the very real world.
“In this very complicated world today it is very easy to fall prey to poor or crooked financial advisors, stock brokers, hidden laws, fluctuations in all types of financial markets and economies around the world, corporate manipulation and corruption (like Enron for example), not to mention the effects of terrorism.
“I finally reached a point where I just imagined monthly tax free payments simply sent to me for the rest of my life, guaranteed.
“At that point I realized all at once that I didn’t have to become an overnight business and financial expert with one chance to get it right with little or no experience. And not forgetting that I am personally injured, I also realized at that point that I could secure and guarantee the payments for my loved ones or family in the event something happened to me.
“And as far as investments go, I also realized that I could still invest portions of my monthly payments, in increments over time, in a much more calculated, controlled, and comfortable way. This would be the best of both worlds for us.
“I hope that this form of logic can somehow be conveyed to others that are and will be in that very difficult and financially dangerous place that I was once in.”
Remember!
Structured settlement payments are:
Free from federal & state income taxes
Tailored to your specific needs
Protection against premature dissipation
Guaranteed to arrive on time and in full
