Blog

Anti-Assignment Language

Almost all structured settlements are completed on a basis that qualifies future payments for tax-free treatment under I.R.C. § 104(a) and 130. One of the requirements for a “qualified assignment” under IRC 130 is that “periodic payments cannot be accelerated, deferred, increased, or decreased by the recipient of such payments.” In addition to this statutory language,...

Structured Settlements and Periodic Payment Judgments Release 70

Since it was first published in 1986, “Structured Settlements and Periodic Payment Judgments” , has provided structured settlement stakeholders with an authoritative reference guide, consisting of 16 chapters with extensive footnotes and Appendix documents, to help them understand historical development as well as current issues and fashion settlements and judgments utilizing periodic payments. Personal Injury Settlement Planning...

The Patel Memo – Twenty Years Later

Daniel Anders, President of the National MSP Network (NMSP) sent a newsletter last week alerting this writer and other NMSP members of an historic settlement planning anniversary. On July 23, 2001, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released, under the name of Parashar B. Patel, Deputy Director, Purchasing Policy Group for CMS, what...

Expanding ABLE Through Collaboration

Last week, the National Association of State Treasurers (NAST) sponsored its 2021 Treasury Management Training Symposium, which occurred virtually and featured a panel titled “Expanding ABLE Through Different Types of Collaboration.” Moderated by Amy Corbin, Executive Director for the ABLE Authority which oversees Indiana’s state ABLE plan, the panelists included: Mary Rubenis, Associate Director responsible for...

CMS WCMSA Reference Guide Version 3.3

When the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published the most recent Version 3.3 of its Workers Compensation Medicare Set-Aside Arrangement (WCMSA) Reference Guide on April 19, 2021, no one within the structured settlement or settlement planning marketplaces appears to have noticed a development that could impact structured settlements annuities. Enacted in 1980, the Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP)...

Book Review: Investing is Your Superpower

“We can’t become what we need to by remaining what we are.” – Oprah Winfrey In her new book titled “Investing is Your Superpower,” written primarily for the types of female professionals who have organized the National Structured Settlement Trade Association’s Women’s Caucus and the American Association of Settlement Consultants’ Alliance for Women, Shinobu Hindert prefaces her concluding chapter...

A Review of the NSSTA 2021 Annual Conference

NSSTA President Michael Goodman opened the 2021 National Structured Settlement Trade Association Conference, hosted virtually May 5-7 by Goodman, NSSTA Executive Director Eric Vaughn and Director Ravi Vaswani, by announcing he plans to ask NSSTA’s new Board of Directors to review and re-write the NSSTA Mission Statement as part of a strategic review of “what we are and what we will be.”...