Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 2243 – Transfer of structured settlement payment rights
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1. Application. This section applies to any transfer of structured settlement payment rights under a transfer agreement entered into on or after the effective date of this section. This section may not be construed to imply that any transfer under a transfer agreement reached prior to the effective date of this section is effective.
[PL 1999, c. 268, §2 (NEW).]
Terms Used In Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 2243
- Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
- Annuity issuer: means an insurer that has issued an insurance contract used to fund periodic payments under a structured settlement. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 2241
- Applicable law: means :
A. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 2241Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries. 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. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 2241 Discounted present value: means the fair present value of future payments as determined by discounting such payments to the present using the applicable federal rate for determining the present value of an annuity most recently published by the United States Internal Revenue Service. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 2241 Federal hardship standard: means a federal standard applicable to transfers of structured settlement payment rights based on findings of a court or responsible administrative authority regarding the payee's needs, as contained in the United States Internal Revenue Code or in a United States Treasury regulation adopted pursuant to the code. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 2241 in writing: include printing and other modes of making legible words. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72 Independent professional advice: means advice of an attorney, certified public accountant, actuary or other licensed professional advisor:
A. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 2241Interested parties: means the payee, any beneficiary designated under the annuity contract to receive payments following the payee's death and any other party that has continuing rights or obligations under the contract. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 2241 Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases. 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 damage payments under a structured settlement and proposes to make a transfer of payment rights under that settlement. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 2241 Responsible administrative authority: means any government authority vested by law with exclusive jurisdiction over the settled claim resolved by a structured settlement. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 2241 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 established by settlement or judgment in resolution of a tort claim or for periodic payments in settlement of a workers' compensation claim. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 2241 Structured settlement obligor: means the party that has the continuing periodic payment obligation to the payee under a structured settlement agreement or a qualified assignment agreement. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 2241 Structured settlement payment rights: means rights to receive periodic payments, including lump sum payments, under a structured settlement, whether from the settlement obligor or the annuity issuer, when:
A. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 2241Transfer: means any sale, assignment, pledge, hypothecation or other form of alienation or encumbrance made by a payee for consideration. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 2241 Transfer agreement: means the agreement providing for transfer of structured settlement payment rights from a payee to a transferee. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 2241 Transferee: means a person that becomes entitled to receive structured settlement payment rights as a result of a transfer agreement. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 2241
2. Requirements for transfer. A direct or indirect transfer of structured settlement payment rights is not effective and a structured settlement obligor or annuity issuer is not required to make any payment directly or indirectly to any transferee of structured settlement payment rights unless the transfer has been authorized in advance in a final order of a court of competent jurisdiction or a responsible administrative authority, based on express findings by that court or responsible administrative authority that:
A. The transfer complies with the requirements of this chapter and does not contravene other applicable law; [PL 1999, c. 268, §2 (NEW).]
B. Not less than 10 days prior to the date on which the payee first incurred any obligation with respect to the transfer, the transferee provided to the payee a disclosure statement in bold type, no smaller than 14 points, setting forth:
(1) The amounts and due dates of the structured settlement payments to be transferred;
(2) The aggregate amount of those payments;
(3) The discounted present value of those payments together with the discount rate used in determining that discounted present value;
(4) The gross amount payable to the payee in exchange for the payments;
(5) An itemized listing of all brokers’ commissions, service charges, application fees, processing fees, closing costs, filing fees, administrative fees, legal fees, notary fees and other commissions, fees, costs, expenses and charges payable by the payee or deductible from the gross amount otherwise payable to the payee;
(6) The net amount payable to the payee after deduction of all commissions, fees, costs, expenses and charges described in subparagraph (5);
(7) The quotient, expressed as a percentage, obtained by dividing the net payment amount by the discounted present value of the payments; and
(8) The amount of any penalty and the aggregate amount of any liquidated damages, inclusive of penalties, payable by the payee in the event of any breach of the transfer agreement by the payee; [PL 1999, c. 268, §2 (NEW).]
C. The payee has established that the transfer is necessary to enable the payee, the payee’s dependents or both to avoid imminent financial hardship, and the transfer is not expected to subject the payee, the payee’s dependents or both to undue financial hardship in the future, except that if a federal hardship standard was in effect at the time the payee and the transferee entered into the transfer agreement, in lieu of the foregoing finding the court or responsible administrative authority must make an express finding that the transfer qualifies under that federal hardship standard; [PL 1999, c. 268, §2 (NEW).]
D. The payee has received independent professional advice regarding the legal, tax and financial implications of the transfer; [PL 1999, c. 268, §2 (NEW).]
E. If the transfer would contravene the terms of the structured settlement:
(1) The transfer has been expressly approved in writing by:
(a) Each interested party; and
(b) Any court or government authority, other than the court or responsible administrative authority from which authorization of the transfer is sought under this chapter, that previously approved the structured settlement; and
(2) Signed originals of all approvals required under subparagraph (1) have been filed with the court or responsible administrative authority from which authorization of the transfer is sought under this chapter and originals or copies have been furnished to all interested parties; [PL 1999, c. 268, §2 (NEW).]
F. If the transfer would contravene the terms of the structured settlement, the transfer agreement does not have adverse tax consequences to the structured settlement obligor or annuity issuer. The structured settlement obligor or annuity issuer must demonstrate to the court or responsible administrative authority that the transfer agreement, if approved, will have adverse tax consequences; and [PL 1999, c. 268, §2 (NEW).]
G. The transferee has given written notice of the transferee’s name, address and taxpayer identification number to the annuity issuer and the structured settlement obligor and has filed a copy of that notice with the court or responsible administrative authority. [PL 1999, c. 268, §2 (NEW).]
[PL 1999, c. 268, §2 (NEW).]
SECTION HISTORY
PL 1999, c. 268, §2 (NEW).