If you are looking into selling your structured settlement in Washington, you are probably weighing whether a lump sum makes more sense than waiting years for monthly payments. That is exactly the kind of decision we help people work through every day. We have helped customers across Washington sell their payments and walk away with more cash than they expected.
Washington requires court approval for every structured settlement transfer. A judge reviews the deal and confirms it is in your best interest before anything moves forward. CSF handles the entire court filing and approval process. You do not pay out of pocket for any of it.
Washington's structured settlement transfers are governed by RCW Chapter 19.205. All transfers must be approved by a Superior Court judge who determines the transaction is in your best interest.
Key requirement: The payee must be advised to seek independent professional advice and must either have received such advice or expressly waived it. Workers' compensation claims are covered.
Independent professional advice: Washington law requires that you be advised of your right to seek independent professional advice regarding the legal, tax, and financial implications of the transfer. You may choose to consult an advisor of your own choosing or waive this right in writing.
Washington puts the whole compliance burden on the buyer. Under RCW 19.205.060(6) the disclosure and approval conditions are the transferee's sole responsibility, and RCW 19.205.060(4) says you cannot be penalized, forfeit an application fee, or owe the buyer anything if a transfer fails to meet the Act's conditions. Washington courts have enforced that hard, awarding the annuity company its attorney fees against a buyer that did not comply even though the judge went on to deny the transfer. In King County, approvals under chapter 19.205 RCW are given a case schedule and set before the Chief Judge under Local Civil Rule 40.
The typical timeline for selling structured settlement payments in Washington is 30–45 days from the time you accept an offer to receiving your lump sum. We see most Washington customers close within that window. Here is what the process includes:
- Preparing and filing the transfer petition with the Superior Court
- Serving notice to all interested parties (the annuity issuer, your attorney, and any dependents)
- Waiting for the mandatory notice period
- Attending the court hearing (CSF handles the legal presentation)
- Receiving your funds after court approval
Need cash sooner? CSF offers cash advances of up to $1,500 upon signing your transfer agreement, before court approval. Advances can be released the same day you sign through DocuSign or a notary. Have questions? Call us at (800) 317-3769. That gets you a direct line to our team, not a call center.
When reviewing a structured settlement transfer in Washington, the judge will evaluate several factors to ensure the transaction is in your best interest:
- Financial need: Why you need the lump sum and how you plan to use it
- Alternative resources: Whether you have other income or assets available
- Dependents: Whether the transfer could negatively impact your dependents
- Terms of the deal: Whether the discount rate and net amount are fair and reasonable
- Understanding: Whether you fully understand what you're giving up and what you'll receive
This sounds more involved than it actually is. CSF prepares everything for the hearing, and most Washington court hearings take about 20 minutes. The judge may ask you a few questions directly, but our attorney handles the legal presentation.
Washington appellate courts shape how transfer applications are decided in the Superior Court. The decisions below are part of how we prepare every Washington petition, and they affect what your judge can and cannot do at your hearing.
In re Rapid Settlements, Ltd's
189 Wash. App. 584, 359 P.3d 823 · Court of Appeals of Washington, Division 3 · decided August 18, 2015
Facts
This was the last published round of a decade of litigation between a factoring company and the annuity issuer and obligor on the other side of its Washington transfer applications. The company owed attorney fee judgments from applications that had not complied with the Act. Rather than pay, it kept filing in another state in an effort to work around what the Washington court had already decided. A Washington court ordered it to stop, and it carried on anyway.
The court's holding
The Court of Appeals affirmed the contempt finding. A Washington court can enjoin parties in front of it from running vexatious litigation in another state for the purpose of evading its rulings, and breaking that injunction is punishable by civil contempt. Acting on the advice of counsel is not a defense, and an attorney's duty to advance what the company wanted did not excuse the contempt either. The court awarded the fees spent getting the case remanded from federal court as costs of the contempt proceeding under RCW 7.21.030(3), while declining to award fees for the original restraining order or for litigating against third parties who held their own security interests.
What this means if you're selling in Washington
You are unlikely to ever see a fight like this one, and that is the point. It shows what happens on the other side of the counter when a buyer treats the Act as optional. Washington judges follow through on their orders in these cases, and the protections in chapter 19.205 RCW are not just words on paper.
What it means in practice is that the paperwork matters more in Washington than in most states, because a buyer who cuts corners here ends up paying for it. We would rather spend the extra time getting a Washington petition right the first time than explain a denial to you later.
If a company is pushing you to sign quickly in Washington, slow down and get a second quote. Call us at (800) 317-3769 and we will tell you plainly whether the offer in front of you is competitive.
Your Washington disclosure statement has to cover every payment the transfer agreement touches, not only the payments you are actually selling.
Two Court of Appeals decisions from 2006 set that rule, and both came out of applications that failed. In Rapid Settlements Ltd's Application for Approval of Structured Settlement Payment Rights v. Symetra Assigned Benefits Service Co., 133 Wash. App. 350, 136 P.3d 765 (2006), the agreements did three things the disclosure statement never mentioned:
- A power of attorney over all of the payments, letting the buyer alter, edit, and change payment instructions on the payee's entire stream rather than only the portion being sold.
- A UCC financing statement over all of the payments, filed to secure the buyer's rights.
- A 10% penalty triggered by any breach of the transfer agreement.
RCW 19.205.010 defines a transfer to include any encumbrance, so the court held that all of those payments had to be listed in the disclosure, and that the penalty had to be disclosed under RCW 19.205.020(7) no matter which payments a breach happened to touch. The practical lesson is to read what the paperwork reaches, not just what you agreed to sell. If the disclosure lists only the payments you are selling while the contract hands over a power of attorney or a UCC filing on everything, that gap is exactly what this case closed.
The same decision matters if you have moved. The payees there lived in North Carolina, and the court held that another state's structured settlement act counts as an applicable statute under RCW 19.205.030(3). A buyer seeking approval in Washington for an out-of-state payee has to satisfy that state's law too.
Who pays when a buyer gets it wrong
The buyer does, and that stays true even when the judge denies the transfer.
In Rapid Settlements, Ltd. v. Symetra Life Insurance Co., 134 Wash. App. 329, 139 P.3d 411 (2006), the company argued that RCW 19.205.040(2)(b) allowed attorney fees only after an approved transfer. The court rejected that, reasoning it would drain the provision of meaning, since a compliant transfer that gets approved rarely generates fees for non-compliance in the first place. Fees are available whenever a transferee fails to follow the Act, approved or denied, and the award was not unreasonable simply because the annuity company hired out-of-state counsel.
Pair that with RCW 19.205.060(4), which says you cannot be penalized or forfeit an application fee when a transfer fails the Act's conditions, and the picture is clear. In Washington, a failed application should cost you nothing. We build Washington petitions expecting the annuity issuer and the obligor to read every line, because in this state they have every reason to. Get quotes from two or three companies before you sign, then call us at (800) 317-3769 and we will give you a number to compare against.
Structured settlement payments received for personal physical injuries are generally excluded from federal income tax under IRC Section 104(a)(2). When you sell those payments for a lump sum, the tax treatment of the proceeds may differ. For details on how the IRS treats structured settlement income, see IRS Publication 4345 (opens in a new tab). CSF recommends consulting a tax professional before selling your payments.
You do not have to sell all of your payments. Most of our Washington customers sell only what they need and keep the rest. Here are the three ways to structure a deal:
- Sell specific payments: Sell a defined number of future payments while keeping the rest
- Sell a portion of each payment: Receive a lump sum now while still getting reduced payments going forward
- Sell all payments: Convert your entire structured settlement into a single lump sum
A partial sale is the most common choice we see. It gives you the cash you need now while preserving long-term income. CSF will walk you through all three options during your free quote so you can pick the one that fits.
Before you pick one, it helps to see what the money actually looks like. We break down how much cash you can get for structured settlement payments and what moves an offer up or down.
Washington residents have a few different buyers to choose from. Most are direct funders that quote and close their own deals; a few are brokers that pass your information through to other companies. The pricing differences between buyers on the same payment stream routinely run into five figures, which is why we tell every customer to compare written quotes from at least two or three before signing. Our comparison of the top structured settlement buyers covers BBB ratings, funding speed, transparency on the discount rate, and which buyers operate as direct funders versus brokers.
Get quotes from at least two or three companies before you decide. We say that because we know what happens when people compare. They usually come back to us.
- We will not be beat on price. If you receive another offer, contact us and give us the chance to beat it. Not a penny less.
- Washington court experience: we have handled transfers in Washington and know the local process
- Cash advances available: get up to $1,500 upon signing, before court approval. Advances can be released the same day you sign
- Life contingent expertise: we specialize in buying life contingent payments that other companies will not touch
- Free, no-obligation quotes: call (800) 317-3769 or request a quote online
