Litigation

For a professional society that is presented by its founding President as having the "best settlement planners", there seems to been alot of fuzzy math and fuzzy facts.

"Some fifteen years ago the Internal Revenue Service created an opportunity for people like yourself, who are about to settle your personal injury lawsuit, to have a portion of the money you receive invested to produce tax free periodic payments. The interest that is earned is never taxed by the IRS because it is viewed as compensation for the injuries that you have suffered. If, however, you receive all of the money from your settlement as one lump sum in cash, and then you later invest it yourself, or with the help of someone else, the interest that you may earn can be taxed at the same rate as income that you earn from your job".   Kathleen Blevins- Settlement Professionals, Inc.  Roseville, CA  (9/26/2010)

Comments 

1. This is the year 2010. 15 years ago would be the year 1995.
2. Kathleen Blevins' website says the firm was founded in 1987. My math says that's 23 years ago. How about yours? Her bio states that she has "over 18 years of experience in the structured settelment industry.
3. If Kathleen Blevins is referring to the Periodic Settlement Act of 1982. that was er, in 1982, or, if you want to be technical it was effetive in January 1983. So 27-28 years ago.
4. The Internal Revenue Service didn't enact the Periodic Payment Settlement Act of 1982, Congress did.
5. The statement that the interest earned is never taxed is incorrect. While periodic payments that represent payment of damages for physical injury or physical sickenss are excludable from income, the present value of guaranteed payments that survive the plaintiff/payee are included in that person's estate. Estate taxes may be due if the payee dies after 2010, the total estate is in excess of a certain threshold and there has been no further legislation enacted to deal with the issue.
6. When comparing a structure to the the investment of a lump sum of cash, Blevins fails to differentiate between income tax and capital gains tax.
7. This is the third time this author has written of the inaccuracies on Kathleen Blevins website. It's a shame that Kathleen Blevins apparently doesn't give a crap about financial literacy. See Unleavened Blev-2  April 22,2010 and Unleavened Blev January 21, 2010

Other recent posts concerning factual inaccuracies and members of the Society of Settlement Planners

The Great Pretender: A Little Embellishment from SSP Founder

Plaintiff Settlement Solutions: I Hate to be the FIOS Mom, BUT...

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