In the following article attorney Robert W. Wood wrote an informative and detailed account of a recent IRS ruling involving wrongful life damages and wrongful birth damages. Mr. Wood practices law with Wood LLP (www.WoodLLP.com) and is the author of Taxation of Damage Awards and Settlement Payments and other books available at www.TaxInstitute.com. In this
Bringing two parties to the mediation table in a personal injury case is often a substantial feat. It shows a willingness to negotiate and even to compromise on both sides. Much discussion and agreement needs to happen before reaching the “demands and offers” and eventual settlement phase. Knowing in advance how much an injured client
When most people think of structured settlements, they think of physically injured individuals, limited or unable to work, who must make their settlement last for years or even a lifetime. While this is true with most structured settlements, there are scenarios where a structured settlement may make sense for non-physically injured individuals - and for the defense. Even when cases do not qualify for tax-exempt status, the tax-deferred and financial planning aspects of the settlements could still make them worthwhile.
Successfully negotiating a monetary settlement in an on-the-job injury, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wage and hour or other employment-related claim is the responsibility of all parties — both defense and plaintiff. If the litigation involves a physical injury, the settlement must insure that the injured worker can pay for day-to-day living expenses until able to return to work — or, when life-changing damages occur — to enable injured parties and their families to have enough funds to last a lifetime.
What happens when a young person, say in their early 20s, suddenly receives more money than they could ever imagine? Most likely, they'll spend it until there is nothing left. That's what happened to former NFL player Clinton Portis.
It's time to welcome incoming 2016 CAALA officers and congratulate the annual CAALA award recipients. All will be honored during CAALA’s 67th Annual Installation and Awards Dinner Dance on January 16.
Some injured parties may be hesitant to agree to a long-term structured settlement because of the current relatively low yields of the structure’s underlying investments. They may worry that by locking in yields of around 2.63 percent for 10, 20, 30 years or longer, they will not be able to take advantage of higher interest rates in the future.
Structured settlements as we know them today came about in 1982 when the U.S. Congress passed The Periodic Payment Settlement Act of 1982 (Public Law 97-473). The act enables injury victims to obtain customized structured cash payments plans through insurance annuities that assure them guaranteed, tax-free income over time.
While I don’t usually ever recommend selling structured settlement annuity payments, there may be very rare cases where there is no other choice. The factoring horror stories mention in the WSJ article took place in Virginia and Florida.
In March 2014--a little over a year ago--a demographic milestone was reached in California. For the first time, Latinos made up California's largest racial/ethnic group--nudging out the white non-Hispanic population 39 percent to 38.8 percent. According to the Pew Research Center, 33 percent of Hispanics in the U.S. say they do not speak English well.
