What is Structured Personal Injury Settlement?

In a personal injury settlement case, the party that wins or settles the case has the liberty to take the winning amount as a lump sum or in a series of payments made in instalment over a period of time. This is known as a structured settlement. However, choosing lump-sum payment or structured settlement depends on various factors like your tax liability, your plans on spending money and if you need any assistance in managing such a huge sum.

Given the complicated process, it is better to work with a solicitor. Professional help will ensure the entire process goes smoothly. Before hiring a solicitor, you must be aware of the process of the structured settlement. So here's how the structured settlement works.


 
Structured Personal Injury Settlement Process

When a party chooses to take the amount in structured settlement mode rather than a huge amount at once, he is entitled to receive periodic fixed payments for a specified number of years. For instance, if the winning amount is $500,000, then the defendant will pay you $50000 for ten years in June.

You have the option to design your structured settlement at your convenience. So here are a few options for it.

Large initial payment

This method works best for those who have been unemployed for quite a long time and have their bills mounted. In such cases, you can design your structured settlement to offer you a large initial payment so that you have enough to pay your overdue bills, purchase needed items and pay off the mortgage. At the same time, the subsequent smaller payments will act as the substitute for the lost income.

Additional amount for extraordinary expenses

This settlement is designed specifically to receive yearly income with some additional amount that will help cover extra expenses.

Payment increase after few years

One can choose to get their structured settlements over the years which starts relatively low and gradually increases over the years.

Payment decrease overtime

There is also an option where one can choose to start with a higher payment amount and then decrease it over time. It can be highly beneficial if you expect to have better income in the coming years.

Delayed settlement payments

In certain cases, you can choose to delay the entire payment amount until the retirement age.

Structured settlement as an annuity

Lastly, the defendant can purchase an annuity from a reliable insurance company to carry out the periodic payouts. By doing this, the defendant removes the application from his books. All the responsibility of paying the amount is now on the company who is an expert in managing periodic payments.

Some experts consider this method the most secured option as placing the annuity on an insurance company offers stability. This is better than relying on the stability and financial health of the defendant party.

Structured settlement or lump sum payment- What to choose?

When choosing between structured payment and lump sum payment, one can expect to have long-term personal and tax consequences. Thus, to get the best, it is essential to work with a good personal injury solicitor who can guide you rightly at every step. After understanding your situation and considering the other factors, the professional will help you decide the best payment mode.

Get the right advice from a professional

Having a solicitor will help get opinions and negotiate the settlement terms. Whether you choose a lump sum or structured payment, it is worth consulting a tax professional financial planner or accountant to understand how the payments' structure will maximise the benefits based on your circumstances and financial goals. Alternatively, you can get in touch with a good personal settlement attorney to make the entire process easy for you. Sinnott Solicitors is one such organisation that can help you thoroughly throughout the process. The organisation has a team of specialised personal injury solicitors who will help get the best out of the deal. They are known to deliver the most efficient legal services at a fair price.

So, if you wish to get help from the best professionals, visit https://sinnott.ie/.


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