Structured settlement firms fall into four distinct groups: life insurance companies that issue the annuities funding the payments, assignment companies that legally assume the obligation to pay, settlement consultants and brokers who design the payment plan, and factoring companies that buy future payments from recipients for a discounted lump sum. Each type sits at a different point in the life of a settlement, and understanding who does what matters whether you’re negotiating a settlement, evaluating an offer, or considering selling payments you already receive.
Life Insurance Companies That Issue the Annuities
Annuity issuers are the financial backbone of the industry. They take a single premium at the time of settlement and, in exchange, guarantee a schedule of future payments that can run for decades. Because those obligations may stretch 30 or 40 years into the future, the insurer’s financial strength matters more here than in almost any other consumer product.
The major issuers include Berkshire Hathaway Life Insurance Company of Nebraska (AM Best A++, S&P AA+), New York Life (A++, AA+), MetLife (A+, AA-), Pacific Life (A+, AA-), Prudential (A+, AA-), and Corebridge Financial’s American General subsidiary (AM Best A, S&P A+).1Atlas Settlement Group. Annuity Companies Ratings Independent Life Insurance Company, Symetra, United of Omaha, and USAA Life are also active.2AnnuityFreedom.net. Structured Settlement Annuity Companies
Corebridge Financial, which became a standalone public company in September 2022 after separating from AIG, claims to have written more structured settlement premium than any other company and currently serves more than 60,000 annuitants annually.3Corebridge Financial. Structured Settlements MetLife points to a 40-year track record in the space.4MetLife. Structured Settlements In the second half of 2025, Athene — a subsidiary of Apollo Global Management that manages $300 billion in gross invested assets — entered the market as Athene Annuity and Life Company of Iowa, offering qualified and non-qualified products.54structures.com. Plenty to Look Forward to in Structured Settlements Athene already holds the top position in retail fixed annuities and pension risk transfer, and industry observers expect its entry to bring meaningful new competition.6NSSTA. Athene Joins Structured Settlements
Product design has been moving too. Independent Life, a Dallas-based firm that focuses exclusively on structured settlements, launched the iStructure Select annuity in 2025. It lets claimants tie payment adjustments to up to three market indexes, including the S&P 500 (capped at 10 percent growth), the Nasdaq-100 Volatility Control 12% Index, and the Franklin BofA World Index.7Independent Life. iStructure Select Pacific Life offers an index-linked payment adjustment rider tied to the S&P 500, with a next-generation version anticipated in early 2026.84structures.com. What Are Structured Settlement Annuities
Assignment Companies
Assignment companies are the least visible link in the chain but the reason the whole structure works. When a defendant funds a settlement, it doesn’t buy the annuity itself. It pays a lump sum to an assignment company, which assumes the legal obligation to make the future payments and buys an annuity from a life insurer to back them.9Society of Actuaries. Structured Settlements Research Report
The plaintiff does not own the annuity. The assignment company does, and it pays the plaintiff as the designated payee.10Annuity.org. Structured Settlements Once the assignment is complete, the defendant closes its books on the claim and the plaintiff gets a guaranteed income stream that can be shaped around medical costs, living expenses, or other long-term needs.11NSSTA. Structured Settlements and Qualified Assignments
The mechanism is enabled by Internal Revenue Code Section 130. Under Section 130, the assignment company’s receipt of the defendant’s lump sum is excluded from its own gross income, provided the annuity it buys matches the timing and amounts of the claimant’s payment schedule and is purchased within 60 days of the assignment.12Cornell Law Institute. 26 U.S. Code Section 130 Without that carve-out, the assignment company would owe tax on the entire premium, and the arrangement would collapse. Most major life insurers operate an affiliated assignment company for this purpose.
Settlement Consultants and Brokers
Settlement consultants are the intermediaries who design the actual payment plan and select the annuity. They work with plaintiffs, defense attorneys, and insurance claims professionals to build a schedule that matches the injured person’s projected needs — ongoing medical care, education, income replacement, or a lump sum at a future date. They also help preserve eligibility for Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income, handle Medicare Set-Aside allocations, and draft release language to protect the right to structure funds.13Sage Settlements. Why Do Plaintiff Attorneys Need Their Own Settlement Consultant
The largest firm in this space is Ringler Associates, which employs over 250 professionals across more than 70 offices nationwide.14Ringler Associates. What Does a Settlement Consultant Do Arcadia Settlements Group, with more than 160 professionals across 50 offices, has settled over 325,000 claims involving more than $40 billion in structured settlement funding.15Arcadia Settlements Group. MSA Defense Fact Sheet For cases involving the federal government, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Division maintains its own list of approved brokers and regulates their qualifications under 28 CFR 50.24.16U.S. Department of Justice. Structured Settlement Brokers
How Consultants Get Paid
Consultants typically charge no upfront fee to the plaintiff or the plaintiff’s attorney. They earn commissions from the life insurance company that issues the annuity, generally around 3 to 4 percent of the annuity premium.17U.S. Government Accountability Office. GAO Report on Structured Settlement Brokers When a plaintiff retains an independent consultant, that consultant typically splits the commission with the defense-side broker.18Kiplinger. Annuity Sales Incentives Taint Accident Settlements
That model has drawn criticism. Life insurance companies have offered luxury incentive trips to consultants who steer business their way, including trips to the Maldives and Bora Bora. Reporting found that Pacific Life’s structured annuity sales surged from $770 million to nearly $1.2 billion after it introduced a Bora Bora incentive trip in 2015.18Kiplinger. Annuity Sales Incentives Taint Accident Settlements Unlike lawyers, structured settlement consultants are not held to a fiduciary standard. The National Structured Settlements Trade Association’s Code of Ethics states that services should not be “compromised for personal gain or advantage,” but the association’s executive director has acknowledged the code was not meant to establish a fiduciary duty.
A GAO review found that between 1997 and 1999, 70 percent of the DOJ’s 242 structured settlement cases went to just four brokerage firms, with one firm alone handling 30 percent. The GAO recommended that attorneys document their reasons for selecting brokers; the DOJ declined, arguing the paperwork burden outweighed the benefits.17U.S. Government Accountability Office. GAO Report on Structured Settlement Brokers
Factoring Companies
Factoring companies operate on the secondary market. They buy some or all of a recipient’s future payment rights in exchange for an immediate lump sum, always at a significant discount. The factoring company profits by paying less than the present value of the payments and then either holding the stream or reselling it to investors.
J.G. Wentworth, known for its “It’s my money, and I need it now!” advertising, has long dominated the sector. As of 2015, it was estimated to control 65 to 72 percent of U.S. structured settlement purchases.19Columbia Law Review. Enforcing and Reforming Structured Settlement Protection Acts The company went through a pre-packaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2017, emerging in January 2018 after lenders extinguished approximately $449.5 million in term loan debt in exchange for equity in the reorganized company, and secured a new $70 million revolving credit facility.20Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. J.G. Wentworth Emerges From Bankruptcy Peachtree Settlement Funding, legally Settlement Funding, LLC, is another prominent player.21FindLaw. Settlement Funding v. Rapid Settlements
Court Approval and Legal Limits
Every U.S. state and the District of Columbia has enacted a Structured Settlement Protection Act, with Illinois being the first in 1998 and New Hampshire the last in 2021. These laws require a judge to approve any transfer of payment rights, finding that the transaction is in the payee’s best interest and considering the welfare of any dependents. Common provisions include mandatory disclosure of the effective discount rate, cooling-off periods, and requirements that the payee be advised to seek independent professional counsel.22Annuity.org. Structured Settlement Protection Acts
On the federal side, 26 U.S.C. § 5891 imposes a 40 percent excise tax on anyone who acquires structured settlement payment rights without a court order meeting the statutory requirements.23Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S.C. Section 5891
Enforcement has been uneven. Industry experts estimate that judges approve at least 95 percent of transfer petitions, and many state laws allow factoring companies to refile rejected petitions in different courts without disclosing prior denials.19Columbia Law Review. Enforcing and Reforming Structured Settlement Protection Acts By 2015, an estimated 84,000 tort victims had sold roughly $13 billion in future payments for $5 billion in immediate cash — recipients collectively received about 38 cents on the dollar.
The most prominent enforcement action against a factoring firm involved Access Funding, LLC, a Maryland-based company that targeted victims of childhood lead poisoning. Between 2013 and 2015, Access Funding acquired 163 structured settlements from 100 victims, obtaining $33.8 million in future payment rights for just $7.7 million, roughly 23 cents on the dollar.24Maryland Court of Appeals. Access Funding v. Linton The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau obtained stipulated judgments banning key individuals from the structured settlement industry and requiring disgorgement and civil penalties.25CFPB. Access Funding Enforcement Action On the state side, Charles E. Smith was found guilty of a theft scheme exceeding $100,000, and Anuj Sud was convicted of theft scheme and conspiracy. Maryland now requires all factoring companies to register with the Attorney General’s office and post a $100,000 surety bond.26Office of the Attorney General of Maryland. Structured Settlement Transferee Registration
How the Firms Fit Together in a Single Case
A typical case runs like this. During settlement negotiations, a settlement consultant retained by the plaintiff or the defense proposes a periodic payment plan. The defendant or its liability insurer funds the plan by paying a lump sum to an assignment company, which becomes legally responsible for the future payments. The assignment company uses that lump sum to purchase an annuity from a life insurance company; the annuity payments match the schedule owed to the plaintiff. The plaintiff receives those payments over time as the designated payee.9Society of Actuaries. Structured Settlements Research Report
Once payments begin, the plaintiff cannot accelerate, defer, or change the amounts.27Nevada Bar. Tips for Structured Settlements If the recipient later needs a lump sum, that’s where factoring companies enter. They negotiate to buy the future payments at a discount, seek court approval under the applicable state Structured Settlement Protection Act, and, if approved, the assignment company redirects payments to the factoring firm.
Vetting a Firm Before You Sign
The single most important check on the annuity side is the issuer’s financial strength. Look for AM Best and S&P ratings, and remember that the payment stream may last 30 years or more. Every state also maintains a guaranty association that steps in if a life insurer becomes insolvent, either by continuing annuity payments, transferring the contract, or paying benefits directly up to state-specific limits. Most states provide at least $250,000 in coverage per owner per insurer, and some set higher limits for structured settlements specifically; North Carolina caps structured settlement annuity coverage at $1 million. As of mid-2026, the National Organization of Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Associations reports having protected more than 3.29 million policyholders, guaranteed $30.44 billion in coverage benefits, and made more than $10 billion in direct payments. In over 40 years, guaranty associations have never failed to pay a covered claim.28NOLHGA. How You Are Protected
On the consultant side, ask who pays the commission and whether the consultant will be splitting it with a broker on the other side. Ask whether the consultant is representing you or the defendant, and whether they receive incentive compensation from any particular insurer. Because consultants aren’t fiduciaries, the answers matter.
On the factoring side, the court approval process is the main protection, but it isn’t automatic. Compare the lump sum offered against the total value of the payments you’d be surrendering — the industry-wide 38 cents on the dollar figure is a useful benchmark. Read the effective discount rate the state law requires to be disclosed. And if a factoring company has already had a petition denied on your payments, know that in many states it can refile in another court without telling that court about the earlier denial.
Trade Associations to Recognize
Two rival trade associations represent opposite sides of the market. The National Structured Settlements Trade Association (NSSTA), founded in 1985, represents nearly 1,200 consultants, attorneys, insurance companies, and other professionals involved in creating structured settlements. NSSTA developed the model legislation for state Structured Settlement Protection Acts, and it actively opposes what it calls “predatory settlement factoring.”29NSSTA. National Structured Settlements Trade Association The National Association of Settlement Purchasers (NASP), founded in 1996, represents factoring companies and other participants in the secondary market, with a stated mission of keeping that market “fair, competitive, and transparent.”30NASP. National Association of Settlement Purchasers Knowing which association a firm belongs to tells you which side of the market it works on.