Sell Structured Settlements Sell Structured Insurance Settlements
IOWA
Prior to selling structured insurance settlements in IA, one needs to be keenly aware of their rights as a structured insurance settlement recipient under the Iowa Structured Settlement Protection Act.
Receiving lump sum cash for structured settlement payments can be an exciting proposition to a structured insurance settlement recipient in Iowa. Settlement Exchange recommends that you review your structured insurance recipient and annuitant rights before contemplating the sale of structured settlement payments in Iowa or even procuring cash quotes for your structured settlement.
We firmly believe that basic education is the key to securing the best quotes for structured insurance settlements and lottery annuity payments. We always advise that one knows their rights as protected under the Iowa Structured Settlement Protection Act. We also advise that one should secure their own legal advice before attempting to get cash for structured settlement payments.
The Iowa Structured Settlement Protection Act dictates that a transferee of structured settlements must reside in the state of Iowa. An Iowa State court must also approve the selling of the structured insurance settlement and the sale of structured insurance settlements has to be in the best interest of the structured settlement recipient in all cases.
We have attached a copy of the Iowa Structured Settlement Protection Act and a direct link for your benefit.
http://coolice.legis.state.ia.us/Cool-ICE/default.asp?Category=billinfo&Service=IowaCode&input=682.1
682.1 SHORT TITLE.
This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Structured
Settlement Protection Act”.
Section History: Recent For/b>
2001 Acts, ch 85, §1, 8
682.2 DEFINITIONS.
As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
1. “Annuity issuer” means an issuer that has issued an
insurance contract used to fund periodic payments under a structured
settlement.
2. “Dependents” means a payee’s spouse and minor children and
all other family members and other persons for whom the payee is
legally obligated to provide support, including alimony.
3. “Discounted present value” means the fair present value of
future payments, as determined by discounting such payments to the
present using the most recently published applicable federal rate for
determining the present value of an annuity, as issued by the United
States internal revenue service.
4. “Gross advance amount” means the sum payable to the payee
or for the payee’s account as consideration for a transfer of
structured settlement payment rights before any reductions for
transfer expenses or other deductions to be made from such
consideration.
5. “Independent professional advice” means advice of an
attorney, certified public accountant, actuary, or other licensed
professional advisor.
6. “Interested parties” means, with respect to a structured
settlement, the payee, a beneficiary irrevocably designated under the
annuity contract to receive payments following the payee’s death, the
annuity issuer, the structured settlement obligor, and any other
party that has continuing rights or obligations under the structured
settlement.
7. “Net advance amount” means the gross advance amount less
the aggregate amount of the actual and estimated transfer expenses
required to be disclosed under section 682.3, subsection 5.
8. “Payee” means an individual who is receiving tax-free
payments under a structured settlement and proposes to make a
transfer of payment rights.
9. “Periodic payments” means both recurring payments and
scheduled future lump sum payments.
10. “Qualified assignment agreement” means an agreement
providing for a qualified assignment within the meaning of section
130 of the Internal Revenue Code.
11. “Responsible administrative authority” means, with
respect to a structured settlement, any government authority vested
by law with exclusive jurisdiction over the settled claim resolved by
the structured settlement.
12. “Settled claim” means the original tort claim or workers’
compensation claim resolved by a structured settlement.
13. “Structured settlement” means an arrangement for periodic
payment of damages for personal injuries established by settlement or
judgment in resolution of a tort claim or for periodic payments in
settlement of a workers’ compensation claim.
14. “Structured settlement agreement” means the agreement,
judgment, stipulation, or release embodying the terms of a structured
settlement.
15. “Structured settlement obligor” means, with respect to a
structured settlement, the party that has the continuing periodic
payment obligation to the payee under a structured settlement
agreement or a qualified assignment agreement.
16. “Structured settlement payment rights” means rights to
receive periodic payments under a structured settlement, whether from
the structured settlement obligor or the annuity issuer, if any of
the following exists:
a. One of the following is true:
(1) The payee is domiciled in this state.
(2) The domicile or principal place of business of a structured
settlement obligor or the annuity issuer is located in this state.
b. The structured settlement agreement was approved by a
court or responsible administrative authority in this state.
c. The structured settlement agreement is expressly governed
by the laws of this state.
17. “Terms of the structured settlement” means, with respect
to a structured settlement, the terms of the structured settlement
agreement, the annuity contract, any qualified assignment agreement,
and any order or approval of any court or responsible administrative
authority or other government authority authorizing or approving the
structured settlement.
18. “Transfer” means any sale, assignment, pledge,
hypothecation, or other alienation or encumbrance of structured
settlement payment rights made by a payee for consideration.
“Transfer” does not include the creation or perfection of a
security interest in structured settlement payment rights under a
blanket security agreement entered into with an insured depository
institution, in the absence of any action to redirect the structured
settlement payments to such insured depository institution, or an
agent or successor in interest thereof, or otherwise to enforce such
blanket security interest against the structured settlement payment
rights.
19. “Transfer agreement” means the agreement providing for
transfer of structured settlement payment rights.
20. “Transferee” means a party acquiring or proposing to
acquire structured settlement payment rights through a transfer.
21. “Transfer expenses” means all expenses of a transfer that
are required under the transfer agreement to be paid by the payee or
deducted from the gross advance amount, including, without
limitation, court filing fees, attorney fees, escrow fees, lien
recordation fees, judgment and lien search fees, finders’ fees,
commissions, and other payments to a broker or other intermediary.
“Transfer expenses” does not include preexisting obligations of
the payee payable for the payee’s account from the proceeds of a
transfer.
Section History: Recent Form
2001 Acts, ch 85, §2, 8
682.3 REQUIRED DISCLOSURES TO PAYEE.
Not less than three days prior to the date on which a payee signs
a transfer agreement, the transferee shall provide to the payee a
separate disclosure statement, in bold type no smaller than fourteen
points, setting forth all of the following:
1. The amounts and due dates of the structured settlement
payments to be transferred.
2. The aggregate amount of the structured settlement payments.
3. The discounted present value of the payments to be transferred
which shall be identified as the “calculation of current value of
the transferred structured settlement payments under federal
standards for valuing annuities”, and the amount of the applicable
federal rate used in calculating the discounted present value.
4. The gross advance amount.
5. An itemized listing of all applicable transfer expenses, other
than attorney fees and related disbursements payable in connection
with the transferee’s application for approval of the transfer, and
the transferee’s best estimate of the amount of any such fees and
disbursements.
6. The net advance amount.
7. The amount of any penalties or liquidated damages payable by
the payee in the event of any breach of the transfer agreement by the
payee.
8. A statement that the payee has the right to cancel the
transfer agreement, without penalty or further obligation, not later
than the third business day after the agreement is signed by the
payee.
Section History: Recent Form
2001 Acts, ch 85, §3, 8
Referred to in § 682.2, 682.6, 682.7
682.4 APPROVAL OF TRANSFERS OF STRUCTURED SETTLEMENT
PAYMENT RIGHTS.
1. A transfer of structured settlement payment rights shall not
be effective and a structured settlement obligor or annuity issuer
shall not be required to make any payment directly or indirectly to a
transferee of structured settlement payment rights unless the
transfer has been approved in advance in a final court order or order
of a responsible administrative authority based on express findings
by such court or responsible administrative authority regarding all
of the following:
a. The transfer is in the best interest of the payee, taking
into account the welfare and support of the payee’s dependents.
b. The payee has been advised in writing by the transferee to
seek independent professional advice regarding the transfer and has
either received such advice or knowingly waived such advice in
writing.
c. The transfer does not contravene any applicable statute or
the order of any court or other government authority.
2. If the structured settlement agreement or transfer agreement
includes a provision requiring the terms of the structured settlement
agreement or transfer agreement to remain confidential, the court or
responsible administrative authority shall conduct in camera
proceedings relating to the approval of the transfer agreement and
shall not include any financial terms from the structured settlement
agreement or the transfer agreement in the order required under
subsection 1.
Section History: Recent Form
2001 Acts, ch 85, §4, 8
Referred to in § 682.6, 682.7
682.5 EFFECTS OF TRANSFER OF STRUCTURED SETTLEMENT
PAYMENT RIGHTS.
1. The structured settlement obligor and the annuity issuer
shall, as to all parties except the transferee, be discharged and
released from any and all liability for the transferred payments.
2. The transferee shall be liable to the structured settlement
obligor and the annuity issuer for all of the following:
a. If the transfer contravenes the terms of the structured
settlement, any taxes incurred by the structured settlement obligor
and the annuity issuer as a consequence of the transfer.
b. Any other liabilities or costs, including reasonable costs
and attorney fees, arising from compliance by such parties with the
order of the court or responsible administrative authority or arising
as a consequence of the transferee’s failure to comply with this
chapter.
3. An annuity issuer and the structured settlement obligor shall
not be required to divide any periodic payment between the payee and
any transferee or assignee or between two or more transferees or
assignees.
4. Any further transfer of structured settlement payment rights
by the payee may be made only after compliance with all of the
requirements of this chapter.
Section History: Recent Form
2001 Acts, ch 85, §5, 8
682.6 PROCEDURE FOR APPROVAL OF TRANSFERS.
1. An application under this chapter for approval of a transfer
of structured settlement payment rights shall be made by the
transferee and may be brought in the county in which the payee
resides, in the county in which the structured settlement obligor or
the annuity issuer maintains its principal place of business, or in
any court or before any responsible administrative authority which
approved the structured settlement agreement.
2. Not less than twenty days prior to the scheduled hearing on
any application for approval of a transfer of structured settlement
payment rights under section 682.4, the transferee shall file with
the court or responsible administrative authority and serve on all
interested parties a notice of the proposed transfer and the
application for its authorization. All of the following shall be
included with the notice:
a. A copy of the transferee’s application.
b. A copy of the transfer agreement.
c. A copy of the disclosure statement required under section
682.3.
d. A listing of each of the payee’s dependents, together with
each dependent’s age.
e. Notification that any interested party is entitled to
support, oppose, or otherwise respond to the transferee’s
application, either in person or by counsel, by submitting written
comments to the court or responsible administrative authority, or by
participating in the hearing.
f. Notification of the time and place of the hearing and
notification of the manner in which and the time by which written
responses to the application must be filed, which shall not be less
than fifteen days after service of the transferee’s notice, in order
to be considered by the court or responsible administrative
authority.
3. If a structured settlement agreement or transfer agreement
includes a provision requiring the terms of the structured settlement
agreement or transfer agreement to remain confidential, the financial
terms of the structured settlement agreement and the transfer
agreement shall be made available to the court or responsible
administrative authority for purposes of any in camera proceedings,
but shall not be disclosed in the copies of the transfer agreement
and disclosure statement filed as a part of the public record.
Section History: Recent Form
2001 Acts, ch 85, §6, 8
682.7 GENERAL PROVISIONS — CONSTRUCTION —
PENALTIES.
1. The provisions of this chapter shall not be waived by a payee.
2. A transfer agreement entered into on or after the thirtieth
day after July 1, 2001, by a payee who resides in this state shall
provide that disputes under the transfer agreement, including any
claim that the payee has breached the agreement, shall be determined
under the laws of this state. A transfer agreement shall not
authorize the transferee or any other party to confess judgment or
consent to entry of judgment against the payee.
3. A transfer of structured settlement payment rights shall not
extend to any payments that are life-contingent unless, prior to the
date on which the payee signs the transfer agreement, the transferee
has established and has agreed to maintain procedures reasonably
satisfactory to the annuity issuer and the structured settlement
obligor for both of the following:
a. Periodically confirming the payee’s survival.
b. Giving the annuity issuer and the structured settlement
obligor prompt written notice in the event of the payee’s death.
4. A payee who proposes to make a transfer of structured
settlement payment rights shall not incur any penalty, forfeit any
application fee or other payment, or otherwise incur any liability to
the proposed transferee or any assignee based on any failure of the
transfer to satisfy the conditions of this chapter.
5. This chapter shall not be construed to authorize any transfer
of structured settlement payment rights in contravention of any law
or to imply that any transfer under a transfer agreement entered into
prior to July 1, 2001, is valid or invalid.
6. Compliance with the requirements set forth in section 682.3
and fulfillment of the conditions set forth in section 682.4 shall be
solely the responsibility of the transferee in any transfer of
structured settlement payment rights, and neither the structured
settlement obligor nor the annuity issuer shall bear any
responsibility for, or any liability arising from, noncompliance with
the requirements or failure to fulfill the conditions.
