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Why Structures Work

As 2006 came to a close, I found myself meeting with the families of several injured claimants. What they had in common was that a family member had been severely injured due to another’s negligence and it was time to bring the matter to a close. That’s where the similarities ended. Some had highly competent legal representation while others were unrepresented. Though they all enjoyed a reasonably high level of financial sophistication, their financial circumstances varied greatly.

They knew enough to ask questions – or better still, were smart enough to know that they didn’t know everything. Our meeting places ranged from board rooms to law offices to kitchen tables. After introductions were made and the details of each case discussed, it came time to delve into what it was that everyone wanted out of their cases. Not surprisingly, everyone’s needs were different and here is where we found the true value of a structured settlement.

One case involved a single young man, now a C6 quadriplegic. This case involved many players: in addition to his own attorney, we had multiple co-defendants, their attorneys and structured settlement brokers working for both sides. After some push and pull, we were able to stay focused on the idea of designing a settlement package that guaranteed his needs would be properly funded for life while optimizing the fine details of his plan. As his was a catastrophic injury, we utilized a formal life care plan as the basis for our settlement design. As a result, this young man now knows that his future financial needs are covered and the defense knows their money has been expressly and specifically dedicated to his care.

Another case involved the death of a family’s primary breadwinner, leaving behind his spouse and two infant children. The decedent’s employer wanted to be sure that his employee’s family was properly provided for. In working directly with the surviving wife and her financial advisor (her brother-in-law), I was explaining how structures can be used to establish education funds for the children only to find out that the employer’s CEO had already set up education funds for the children out of his own pocket.
With that burden lifted, we concentrated on providing a stable monthly income for the family and a retirement fund for the worker’s widow. After several meetings and answering many questions posed by her financial advisor, we settled on a plan that guarantees substantial tax-free monthly income to the mom with minimum guaranteed payments directed to the children should anything happen to the mom (families in wrongful death cases are obviously more acquainted with the notion of sudden loss). This gave the mother the opportunity to continue to raise her children just as she had prior to the accident, but with an extra level of protection for the children should anything untoward happen to their mother.

Yet another case involved an impaired child. As tragically as the case began, after meeting with the family and the infant (a rambunctious 7-year-old), it became obvious that the family had the cost of extraordinary medical care covered and that the child would be a good candidate for higher education. What they were most concerned about was their ability to provide the best possible education for their son. They had researched and considered the merits of private versus public school and were interested in how to best finance a private education. We dug in and identified the tuition costs of the kinds of private primary schools they were interested in, as well as the expected costs of top flight colleges. After exploring the various educational funding methods available in the open market, they found the benefits of structuring superior and elected to fund his education via their settlement.

And finally on the evening of December 28th, I met with the parents of a young girl who had the misfortune of climbing into the wrong car. As a result of a serious crash, she suffered a fractured pelvis along with a closed head injury and multiple soft tissue injuries. Luckily, their daughter was expected to recover but her parents worried about their daughter gaining sudden access to a large sum of money on her 18th birthday. They were also concerned how the settlement might impact their daughter’s eligibility for financial aid. After a long discussion about their options, needs, and concerns, they elected to set up a plan that gives their daughter enough money to purchase and operate a reliable car (nothing fancy – or fast) and establish a sizable education fund all without creating a cent of reportable income.

Working on cases like these reconfirms my ardent conviction that there is no better way to resolve an injury claim than through the use of a structured settlement. Whether we are working from a formal life care plan or building the framework of an education fund for the victim of a dog bite, the economic and practical benefits of a structured settlement endure. It’s simple: no matter what the circumstances of a given case or the life experience of the claimant, nothing can compete with the benefits of a structured settlement.

Would you like to see why this settlement technique works? Call Frank C. Kilcoyne, CSSC at 800-544-5533. I am here to help.