Settlement recipients and their advisers

Structured settlement funding

A structured settlement pays over time. Structured settlement funding is any arrangement that turns some of those future payments into money now, and it is regulated for the recipient’s protection.

Start a request Request a portfolio assessment

Who this is for

Recipients of structured settlement payments, and the advisers who help them

Your job is to decide whether to give up future payments for money now, and to understand what is being given up. The decision is yours and your adviser’s. What this page explains is how the arrangement works and what a capital provider looks at.

Who it is for
What it is
Where Criterica fits
What a provider reads
Read next
Questions

Figure 1How a time-to-resolution band is drawn. The shaded band is the range in which comparable cases reached resolution, which is when a settlement and any structure are agreed. The tail to the right is the slower cases, kept visible.Illustrative

What structured settlement funding is

A structured settlement is a settlement paid as a series of future payments. Structured settlement funding, sometimes called a structured settlement advance, is an arrangement in which a recipient receives a lump sum now in exchange for some or all of those future payments.

In most states a transfer of structured settlement payments needs court approval under a state protection statute. That review exists to confirm the transfer is in the recipient’s best interest.

Where Criterica Capital fits

Criterica Capital does not buy structured settlement payments. Where a recipient has a pending claim, or holds receivables connected to a case, Criterica prepares a request from court records and private settlement data for independent capital providers, each of which decides on its own. A recipient whose need is a transfer of payments is pointed to the court-supervised process in their state.

What a capital provider reads

A provider that buys payments reads the payment schedule, the insurer or annuity issuer behind it, the settlement documents and the terms of the court order. A provider that funds a pending case reads the case, its stage and the pace of comparable cases in the same court.

How to read this

This page explains the arrangement and does not advise on a particular transfer. A recipient should take independent legal and financial advice, and the court reviews any transfer.

Questions readers ask

What is structured settlement funding?

An arrangement in which a recipient of structured settlement payments receives a lump sum now in exchange for some or all of the future payments.

Does a transfer need court approval?

In most states a transfer of structured settlement payments needs court approval under a state protection statute, which confirms the transfer is in the recipient’s best interest.

Does Criterica Capital buy structured settlement payments?

No. Criterica prepares requests from court records and private settlement data for independent capital providers, each of which decides on its own.

Next step

Find out whether your case can be helped now.

Send a short request with your attorney's details. It is prepared from court records and private settlement data. Independent funders each decide on their own.

See if you can get help