South Carolina Code 15-50-110. Registration applications; bond
(A) Each initial or renewal application must contain a sworn certification by an owner, officer, director, or manager of the applicant, if the applicant is not a natural person, or by the applicant, if the applicant is a natural person, certifying that:
Terms Used In South Carolina Code 15-50-110
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- Payee: means an individual who is receiving tax-free payments under a structured settlement and who proposes to make a transfer of payment rights under the settlement. See South Carolina Code 15-50-20
- Secretary: means the Secretary of State. See South Carolina Code 15-50-20
- Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
- Structured settlement: means an arrangement for periodic payment of damages for personal injuries or sickness established by settlement or judgment in resolution of a tort claim. See South Carolina Code 15-50-20
- Structured settlement purchase company: means a person who acts as a transferee in the State and who is registered with the Secretary pursuant to § 15-50-80 through § 15-50-150. See South Carolina Code 15-50-20
- Transfer: means the sale, assignment, pledge, hypothecation, or other alienation or encumbrance of structured settlement payment rights made by a payee for consideration; except that the term "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 an action to redirect the structured settlement payments to the insured depository institution, or an agent or successor in interest of it, or otherwise to enforce the blanket security interest against the structured settlement payment rights. See South Carolina Code 15-50-20
(1) the applicant has secured a surety bond payable to the State or has posted a cash bond in the amount of fifty thousand dollars. The bond must be in a form satisfactory to the Secretary and must run to the State for the benefit of any payee claimant to secure the faithful performance of the obligation of the structured settlement purchase company under the law; and
(2) the applicant must comply with this chapter when acting as a structured settlement purchase company and filing structured settlement transfer proceedings.
(B) The surety bond or cash bond is payable to the State of South Carolina.
(C) The surety bond or cash bond is effective concurrently with the applicant’s registration with the Secretary and remains in effect for not less than three years after expiration or termination of that registration. The bond must be renewed each year when the registration of the applicant is renewed.
(D) The applicant must submit to the Secretary a copy of the surety bond or cash bond with its initial or renewal application.
(E) The surety bond or cash bond is intended to ensure that the structured settlement purchase company will comply with the provisions of this chapter relative to the payee and perform its obligations to the payee under this chapter, and to provide a source for recovery for the payee should a payee recover a judgment against a structured settlement purchase company for a violation of this chapter.
(F) An applicant must remit to the Secretary a fee of one thousand two hundred and fifty dollars for an initial registration and two hundred dollars for a renewed registration. This fee must be retained by the Secretary to offset the costs of processing and maintaining the registration of structured settlement purchase companies required by the chapter.