Sell Your Structured Settlement for a Lump Sum

If you are receiving structured settlement payments and need cash now, you have options. You can sell structured settlement payments for a lump sum. Every state has a Structured Settlement Protection Act that requires a judge to approve the deal. The process takes 30 to 60 days from start to finish.

CSF handles everything: the court filing, the paperwork, the coordination with your annuity issuer. The amount we quote is the amount you receive. We have closed more than 4,000 structured settlement transactions. We consistently beat competing offers, and we have a track record to prove it.

What Is a Structured Settlement?

A structured settlement is a financial arrangement in which compensation from a lawsuit is paid out as a series of periodic payments over time, rather than as a single lump sum. These payments are funded through an annuity purchased from a life insurance company on behalf of the defendant.

Structured settlements most commonly arise from personal injury, workers' compensation, medical malpractice, wrongful death, and wrongful imprisonment cases. They are also frequently used for settlements involving minors. Once established, the insurance company makes payments directly to you according to the schedule outlined in the agreement.

If your case has not settled yet and you need funds now, our guide to pre-settlement funding explains how that process works and how it compares to selling structured settlement payments after a case closes.

Why People Sell Structured Settlements

If you are reading this, you have probably been thinking about selling your payments for a while. Most of our customers start where you are right now. The payment schedule that made sense years ago does not match your life today.

Medical bills are the most common reason people sell. After that, it is home purchases and paying off high-interest debt. Some customers want to fund education or invest in a business. Whatever the reason, CSF does not require you to justify your decision.

• Covering medical expenses or long-term care costs
• Purchasing a home or making a down payment
• Paying off high-interest debt like credit cards
• Funding education for yourself or your children
• Starting or investing in a business

You do not have to sell all of your payments. You can sell a specific number, payments from a defined time period, or a portion of each payment while keeping the rest. Our step-by-step guide to selling walks you through how to structure a partial sale.

How to Sell Your Structured Settlement

Selling structured settlement payments is a legal process governed by your state's Structured Settlement Protection Act (SSPA). The National Structured Settlements Trade Association (NSSTA) provides additional background on how these laws work. Every state requires court approval, and that requirement exists to protect you. Here are the steps from first call to funding.

1. Get a free quote. Call CSF or fill out the form on this page with the basics about your payments. We will have a lump-sum offer to you within 24 hours. No obligation.
2. Review and accept the offer. CSF prepares all required legal documents: the purchase agreement, the disclosure statement, and the court petition. You review and sign.
3. Notice period and court filing. CSF files the petition with the court and sends notice to all interested parties, including the annuity issuer and in some states the attorney general. The notice period runs 20 to 30 days.
4. Court hearing and approval. A judge reviews the transaction during a short hearing, usually 15 to 45 minutes. The judge confirms the sale is in your best interest and that you were not pressured. CSF handles scheduling and logistics.
5. Transfer and funding. After the judge signs the court order, funding can happen as quickly as one business day if all underwriting items are complete. Minor delays may occur if the judge takes a few days to sign the order, the clerk is slow to provide a file-stamped copy, or you still need to submit required paperwork (such as annuity contract documents). Total timeline: 30 to 60 days.

Most courts require a 20-day notice period before the hearing. CSF files for the soonest available hearing date after that notice period expires, which is why most of our transactions close in 30 to 60 days. This sounds more complicated than it actually is. Most customers do not have to do much beyond signing paperwork and showing up to the hearing. If you need cash before the court date, we offer cash advances on pending transactions. We cover the full timeline in our guide on how long it takes to sell a structured settlement.

What Is a Discount Rate?

The discount rate is the percentage used to calculate the present value of your future payments. A dollar you receive today is worth more than a dollar you receive ten years from now, and the discount rate accounts for that difference. In the structured settlement industry, rates typically range from 9% to 18%. The lower the rate, the more cash you receive.

Here is what that looks like in practice. Say you are selling $80,000 in future payments. At a 12% discount rate, you might receive around $52,000. At 16%, that same stream drops to roughly $43,000. That is a $9,000 difference based on the rate alone, which is why getting multiple quotes matters.

Have questions about what your payments are worth? Call us at (800) 317-3769. That gets you a direct line to our team, not a call center. We also have a complete guide to how discount rates work if you want to understand the math before calling.

Types of Structured Settlement Payments

The type of payments you have directly affects what a buyer can offer. There are two main categories, and many settlements include both.

Guaranteed Payments

Guaranteed payments (also called "period certain" payments) are paid for a fixed number of years regardless of whether the payee is alive. If you pass away during the guaranteed period, a designated beneficiary continues to receive the remaining payments. These are the most straightforward to sell and typically receive the strongest offers relative to their face value. We cover what happens in that scenario in our guide on structured settlements after death.

Life Contingent Payments

Life contingent payments continue only as long as the measuring life (usually the payee) is alive. When the measuring life passes away, payments stop. No residual value goes to beneficiaries. Many settlements include both a guaranteed period followed by a life contingent phase.

We see a lot of confusion around life contingent payments. Many companies will not purchase them because the buyer takes on actuarial risk. CSF specializes in these transactions. We have dealt with every major annuity issuer, including MetLife, Prudential, and New York Life, and we know how to price them competitively. Our life contingent payments guide explains the valuation in detail.

How Much Can You Get for Your Structured Settlement?

The lump sum you receive depends on several factors:

• The total face value of the payments you are selling
• The payment schedule (monthly, annual, lump-sum milestones)
• Whether your payments are guaranteed or life contingent
• The issuing insurance company and its transfer process
• Current market conditions and interest rates

Get quotes from at least two or three structured settlement companies before making a decision. We say that because we know what happens when people compare. They usually come back to us. If you already have a competing offer, share it with your CSF representative and give us the chance to beat it.

Advantages of Keeping Your Structured Settlement

Selling is not the right move for everyone, and we will never pressure you into it. Before you decide, consider what you are giving up:

• Typically tax-free income. Under IRC Section 104(a)(2), payments from personal physical injury settlements are generally tax-free, including the investment growth. Non-physical claims may be taxable. We recommend talking to a tax professional, and we go deeper into this topic in our tax implications guide.
• Beneficiary protection. If you pass away during a guaranteed payment period, your designated beneficiary continues receiving the remaining payments.
• Market-insulated. Your payments are unaffected by stock market drops or economic downturns.
• Built-in growth. Many settlements include a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) of 1 to 4% annually, so your payments increase over time.

Our team will walk you through the trade-offs so you can weigh the numbers yourself. We want to earn your business, not pressure you into a sale before you are ready.

What is a disadvantage of a structured settlement?

The main disadvantage is the lack of flexibility. Once your payment schedule is established, you cannot change it to access a larger sum when you need it, unless you sell some or all of your future payments to a licensed buyer. Fixed payments may also not keep pace with inflation over time. That said, this rigidity is also what makes structured settlements effective at providing long-term financial security. If your circumstances have changed and you need cash now, selling your payments is a legal option in all 50 states.

Why Choose CSF?

We have been doing this for more than 15 years. Most customers who come to us after shopping around tell us they wish they had called us first. Here is why:

• Transparent pricing. The amount we quote is the amount you receive. Not a penny less.
• 4,000+ transactions closed. Our team has originated and funded thousands of annuity, lottery, structured settlement, and probate advance transactions across nearly every state.
• We handle everything. Court filings, legal paperwork, scheduling, insurance company coordination. You sign the documents and show up to the hearing. That is it.
• Cash advances available. Need money before court approval? We offer advances on pending transactions, often the same day you accept an offer.
• Direct funders. We are not a broker. We fund deals directly with our own network of financial partners, which means more cash in your pocket.
• Full disclosure. Every quote includes a written disclosure statement so you understand exactly how the numbers work before you sign anything.

The fastest way to find out what your payments are worth is to call us at (800) 317-3769 or fill out the form on this page. There is no cost, no obligation, and no pressure.