Comp Malpractice Personal Injury Employment Litigation Guardianships Structured Settlements and Special Needs Trusts, a Win-Win combination for Injury Victims. National Underwriter Magazine A special needs or supplemental needs trust is a concept that attorneys and financial advisors should always consider for an injury victim who will require long term care. For someone involved in the settlement of a physical injury claim, a structured settlement is often the best concept to meet their financial needs. It is the combination of both concepts that allows a large dollar claim to be settled on terms that satisfy all parties. In the early 1980's, Congress recognized that injured people needed special help in managing their money and allowed for structured settlement payments to be tax free to people hurt in physical injury claims.
Structured settlements protect injured people from outside influences and from themselves.
The payments can be set in a way to insure financial security. It is easy to set up a structured settlement and requires little, if any, ongoing administration. Structured settlements allow an injured person to go on with their lives and bring closure to a tragic situation. An advisor would be severely negligence if they did not consider the concept closely in any claim involving an injured person. When used to fund a special needs or supplemental needs trust, a structured settlement allows for payments to be set up in a flexible manner, for a beneficiary other than the special needs trust to be selected, and to reduce the possibility of waste, mismanagement or economic loss by the trustee.