There are at least 37,000 people in the United States who receive annuity payments. More than $6 million is paid every year to pay for new structured settlements. If you have won the lottery or a lawsuit, you are not alone. Most employee lawsuits result in a decision for the plaintiff of for a settlement of about $150,000. The amount paid out for medical malpractice cases was about $3.6 billion. If you find yourself in a position to have a structured settlement but think you need the money sooner, there are things you can do. You can sell your annuity payments.
5 Tips for How to Sell Structured Settlement Payments:
- Take a hard look at your finances. Decide what your near, short and long terms financial needs are. Think about what your reasons are for wanting to sell your structured settlements or lottery annuity. You should be careful to make sure that selling your annuity for immediate cash is the right thing to do for you and your family but also you will have to justify your decision to a court for them to permit the sale to go forward. Common reasons people sell are to pay for education, cover medical bills or start a business.
- Do your research and find the best company to represent you in this matter. When you go to sell your annuity, you have a lot of options in finding a company to help you with the process. Look online and in your local papers to find a company to help you. Do you know anyone who has done this? What did they think of the company that helped them?
- Find a good financial advisor that you can trust. This is not the time to go with the advice just anybody gives you. Things people tell you may make some sense at the time AND still be totally wrong. Not just wrong for you, but factually inaccurate. The question is, how do you know? As your friends and relatives who they use. Go online. Look at Yelp profiles and check Facebook groups. See if the company or person you want to talk to about your finances has any current of former customers who can speak to the issue of what great advice they received. The decision to sell your annuity payments is a big one so you want to do all of your due diligence before the sale goes through to ensure you are doing the best thing for you, your family and your situation.
- Take your sales proposal to a judge. All sales of annuity payments must be approved by a judge. Explain to the court what your reasons for wanting to sell your payments are. This is not just a formality you have to endure but a real part of the process. You will be asked by the judge about the reasons you want to sell your annuity payments. He or she will ask if you understand the gravity of this decision and what arrangements you are making for your financial future. You should not be intimidated but should prepare yourself to be able to put your best foot forward when dealing with the judge.
- Collect your cash! Once your judge has approved your sale, the company who makes the payments to you will be informed of the decision to allow you to sell your annuity payments. While you should not expect to get your payment the day the decision is announced, you will not have to wait all that long. The average time it takes to receive the cash from the sale of your annuity payments is about 45 days.
The decision to sell your annuity payments is very personal. You should really think about this a lot before you do it. You will end up getting less money for your annuity this way than if you accept the payments over a longer period of time. You will have to explain to the court why you want to do this and show them that you understand the situation completely. Every situation and person is different and you may so very well by selling your settlement, more than 90% of people who sell are happy with that decision.