STRUCTURED SETTLEMENTS: LUMP SUM

Our licensed structured settlement broker, Keith Kleinick, can offer you information about structured settlements if you are currently receiving compensation payments for a brain injury case in New York City, (NYC), Brooklyn, Bronx, Manhattan, and the surrounding areas.

Individuals with structured settlements or lottery winnings have a strong preference to receive a lump sum instead of being paid over several years. This isn’t always a good idea. For example, an advantage of structured settlements is tax avoidance. With the appropriate setup, a structured settlement may reduce the tax obligations to the plaintiff as a result of the settlement and in some cases be tax-free.

There are other reasons to not take the Structured Settlements Lump Sum. Structured settlements can protect an individual from having all his funds spent, we all know it’s harder to spend the money when we don’t have the cash in our pocket. What do you do when you have all that cash to spend…. This seems like a controllable issue and one that most people would dismiss. But talking to some people who have taken the Structured Settlements Lump Sum gives an idea of what could happen.

William “Bud” Post

In 1988 William “Bud” Post won $16.2 million dollars in the Pennsylvania lottery. Here are some of the things he went through. His brother tried to hire a contract killer to kill him and his wife, his landlady sued William for a portion of the lottery winnings and William was convicted of assault for firing a gun at a debt collector. William “Bud” Post later declared bankruptcy
"Everybody dreams of winning money, but nobody realizes the nightmares that come out of the woodwork, or the problems," he said in 1993. When he passed away in 2006, The Washington Post headlined his obituary, “The Unhappy Lottery Winner.”

Evelyn Adams

In 1985 and in 1986 Evelyn Adams won the New Jersey Lottery! According to USA today, she gambled and gave away all her winnings. By 2001 she was living in a trailer. "I won the American dream but I lost it, too. It was a very hard fall,” she said. “Everybody wanted my money. I never learned one simple word in the English language – 'No.'”

Structured settlements lump sums aren’t for everyone. A good structured settlement can protect an individual from himself – many people are not good with money management and have trouble saying no to family or relatives who want to “share the wealth”. Even a very large lump sum can quickly be gone before you know it.