The founder of The Legal Broadcast Network and host of Speaking of Settlements, the nation's leading talk show and discussion forum for legal, financial and settlement professionals to talk about the issues involved in managing, litigating and ultimately resolving litigation or settlements. A 30-year professional with a reputation for honest and opinionated commentary and a dedication to the cause of justice and plaintiffs access to the courts, each week his show brings the leading experts in the world of structured settlements, tax law, technology and trial practice. You can find out more about Mark Wahlstrom by going to his blog at www.thesettlementchannel.com
]]>Allstate Financial structured legal fees, a unique approach for lawyershttp://blog.legalbroadcastnetwork.com/mark-wahlstrom/2010/3/9/allstate-financial-structured-legal-fees-a-unique-approach-f.htmlThe LBN Team2010-03-09T18:03:53Z2010-03-09T18:03:53ZIn today's segment of Speaking of Settlements, Mark Wahlstrom reviews the Allstate Financial structured legal fee, or structure attorney fee, program and several of the elements that make it so unique in the structured settlement industry.
First, Allstate is the originator of the non-qualified structured settlement, which in and of itself is a very unique distinction. Non-qualified refers to the fact that it is for taxable damage cases as opposed to tax free damage cases, or those covered under IRC section 104(a)(2). Several years back Allstate pioneered the development of being able to structure, or spread out, taxable damage awards over time and while they earned interest and remain one of the leaders in this major area of litigation. The Allstate International Assignments special purpose corporation, formed to handle these unique transactions, remains one of the leaders in this area nationally.
Allstate's expertise in this area has also spilled over to the structured legal fees, where they are one of the very few life insurance companies that are willing to structure fees on both taxable and non-taxable damage cases, a fact that greatly expands the potential cases an attorney can defer and plan around. As you will see in this video, or by visiting the Allstate International Assignments web page, the underwriting restrictions are relatively modest and what you'd expect to see in these transactions, and cover a wide range of structured legal fee cases. A quick summary would include:
1. Allstate will do stand alone structured legal fees on both taxable and non-taxable cases.
2. Allstate requires a hold harmless letter and the beneficiary option selected is irrevocable under current standards, something to keep in mind.
3. Allstate will pay to the individual attorney or a partnership, but will not pay structured legal fees on referral fees for attorney's on a case.
In short, as with all structured legal attorney fees, you need to work with a trained, competent structured settlement expert that has all available markets, current underwriting requirements and is able to match up your needs and situation to the right company. However, for taxable damage cases where lawyers have here to fore not thought of structuring their fee, this program opens up some amazing options for tax deferral, retirement planning and cash flow planning for lawyers and partnerships in a wide range of cases.
To learn more about structured legal fees or to view more of this series, go to Mark Wahlstrom's web page at www.wahlstromandassociates.com.
]]>Are annuities being overhyped?http://blog.legalbroadcastnetwork.com/mark-wahlstrom/2010/2/25/are-annuities-being-overhyped.htmlThe LBN Team2010-02-25T22:10:42Z2010-02-25T22:10:42ZThis question was asked in a recent Wall Street Journal article authored by writers Anne Turgesen and Leslie Scism, with the theme being that the recent news of promotion of annuities by the Obama administration is turning into marketing bonanza for life insurance agents that could harm some investors.
While I feel the headline was a little extreme, the premise of their story is dead on. That being that a rush to move people into fixed rate, immediate income annuities at the current historically low rates is going to hurt a lot of people long term when rates and inflation inevitably rise over the next 3 to 7 years.
In this weeks edition of Speaking of Settlements, I discuss this dilemma, which is faced by structured settlement experts such as myself on a daily basis. We all know that current interest rates are historically very low and will certainly go up over the next few years, but investors, savers or injury victims need to make decisions TODAY on whether or not immediate annuity income makes sense for them right now.
This will be part of a recurring series of conversations I will be having on the ideas and strategies for those looking to use annuities to fund or finance retirement, care plans, settlement plans and other conservative income strategies using insurance company products.
]]>Structured legal fees, profile of the John Hancock programhttp://blog.legalbroadcastnetwork.com/mark-wahlstrom/2010/2/25/structured-legal-fees-profile-of-the-john-hancock-program.htmlThe LBN Team2010-02-25T22:06:54Z2010-02-25T22:06:54ZIn the first of our 10 part series on structured legal fees, I am profiling the John Hancock structured attorney fee program on today's Speaking of Settlements. As part of this series we will be providing, thanks to the assistance of the marketing staff at John Hancock structured settlements division, links to some of the information on structured legal fees and how they work.
As you will note in this series, I am attempting to outline the key elements of each companies offerings on the video so that trial lawyers, tax attorney's, CPA's and planners can know more about the amazing benefits of structured attorney fees. As this information illustrates it allows attorneys to defer income into future tax years, secure it with top rated companies, obtain competitive returns on the funds while it accumulates and pay for as long as they live, pay to their spouse or even to their partnership. John Hancock Tower, Boston, MA
It is my goal by the end of this series of programs on each of the life markets to drive home to the trial lawyer and tax professionals the importance of using this benefit for retirement and cash flow planning using structured legal fee programs.
The following material is available on these links:
If you have questions on this series and you are an attorney or tax professional, feel free to contact Mark Wahlstrom at Wahlstrom & Associates in Scottsdale, AZ.
]]>Treasury Regulation hearings next week on IRC section 104(a)(2)http://blog.legalbroadcastnetwork.com/mark-wahlstrom/2010/2/25/treasury-regulation-hearings-next-week-on-irc-section-104a2.htmlThe LBN Team2010-02-25T22:03:48Z2010-02-25T22:03:48ZIn today's edition of Speaking of Settlements I am joined by Jack Meligan, the President of SPI and former President of the SSP, to discuss the up coming hearings with Treasury on February 23rd on the clarifications regarding IRC section 104(a)(2). Mark Wahlstrom
These hearings are one of the first real reviews of the foundational tax code upon which the structured settlement industry is based, that being the exclusion from taxation of injuries caused as a result of personal physical injury. These hearings were originally scheduled to discuss expansions of that definition and modifications of the language, primarily to make clear the tax status of cases such as sexual abuse, wrongful imprisonment, illness caused by a hostile work environment, etc.
However, now an attempt is being made to raise the issue of 468B single claimant cases as part of the hearing, prompting a scramble by the various associations and interested parties to respond to the questions raised by this request.
Jack Meligan discusses his perspective on the always contentious single claimant 468B trust issue as part of this podcast, as well as raising awareness of the hearings and the issues to be discussed. Regardless of where you are on the politics and implications of this, you will want to watch the outcome of these hearings as they have a substantial impact on our profession, the definitions of what is a taxable damage situation and whether there will ever be clarity on the topic of 468B trusts.
]]>Month long series on structured legal feeshttp://blog.legalbroadcastnetwork.com/mark-wahlstrom/2010/2/25/month-long-series-on-structured-legal-fees.htmlThe LBN Team2010-02-25T21:57:06Z2010-02-25T21:57:06ZThis month on Speaking of Settlements, I will be doing a review of each of the life insurance companies that underwrite or offer structured legal fees, or structured attorney fees. The review will cover the following life insurance markets:
American General
Symetra Life
Liberty Life
New York Life
Prudential Insurance
Met Life
Pacific Life
John Hancock
Allstate Financial
As most structured settlement brokers or planners know, each company has it's own unique underwriting standards, types of business they write, beneficiary options, etc. It is important for lawyers, tax planners and others to be aware that not all legal fee structures are created equal and that the selection of working with a qualified structured settlement expert is essential.
This is a short edition of Speaking of Settlements, primarily to let people know to watch for our month long series on structured legal fees. This is crucial information heading into tax season and particularly as trial lawyers work to rebuild depleted or decimated retirement programs.
]]>Obama administration will promote the use of annuities to fund retirementshttp://blog.legalbroadcastnetwork.com/mark-wahlstrom/2010/2/1/obama-administration-will-promote-the-use-of-annuities-to-fu.htmlThe LBN Team2010-02-01T17:25:43Z2010-02-01T17:25:43ZReports in the NY Times, Wall Street Journal and Boston Globe this week drive home the message that the Obama administration has come to the conclusion that one of the easiest and most pragmatic ways to boost retirement savings and provide a more secure retirement income for American's is to encourage the use of annuities.
For those in the annuity business, particularly those who work in structured settlement annuities or work with lawyers on their pension plans, this comes as welcome news but no surprise as to the value of the annuity concept to lock in guaranteed income investors can't outlive, out spend or dissipate.
As we all know, American's have been in the thrall of the real estate and investment business for the last 25 years and believed numbers tossed around that 11% annual returns can be expected on equities long term or that no one ever lost money in real estate. As the last decade has shown, plenty of people can and do lose money in real estate and that while long term yields on equities over 50 years are quite predictable, 5 and 10 year periods can go negative much to the dismay of investors and advisers alike.
Listen in to this weeks edition of Speaking of Settlements to learn a bit more about the Putnam retirement Summit, the Obama administrations policy shift to encourage annuities and to get a handle on this sea change in how annuity contracts are perceived and used. As has been predicted by LBN commentator Mark Wahlstrom for over 18 months now; "we appear poised to enter a golden age in the use of and appreciation for annuities for the vast majority of Americans and the sooner advisers, lawyers and others get a handle on this the quicker these amazing and fundamentally sound products will gain wider use and acceptance."
]]>The FBI Broadens The Investigation of Scott Rothstein Structured Settlement Fraudhttp://blog.legalbroadcastnetwork.com/mark-wahlstrom/2009/11/14/the-fbi-broadens-the-investigation-of-scott-rothstein-struct.htmlThe LBN Team2009-11-14T10:12:16Z2009-11-14T10:12:16ZIn yet more bad news for the structured settlement profession the FBI today put out an announcement for information from the public and investors who had been burned or involved with what they are calling the Rothstein Structure Settlement Investments. (RSSI). Scott Rothstein
Great, just what we needed as a profession, more traffic and news with our trade name dragged into what looks to be a growing fraud in which the term Structured Settlements was used to lull investors into thinking this scam had the legitimacy and security offered by structured settlements.
What is also distressing is that what looked to be a $100 million scam and limited to a few cases is now being announced by the FBI as potentially exceeding $1 billion in losses and involving a network of individuals who were working with Scott Rothstein.
The Legal Broadcast Network will be following this story closely over the next few week but as a special guest we had Civil Action Attorney Jan Schlichtmann join us today to discuss from the perspective of a trial lawyer the distressing trend of lawyers being implicated in not just frauds, but in the betrayal of their clients and associates all in the name of greed. Watch today's extended interview with Jan Schlichtmann on Voices of the Law and tune in next week as we continue to bring in more commentators and news on this scam, as well as shine light on the "cash now" industry that seems to have been the model for how this program was designed.
Watch Attorney Jan Schlichtmann discuss the Scott Rothstein fraud and the issues confronting trial lawyers nationally regarding the proliferation of "cash now schemes" that are being offered to lawyers, plaintiffs and investors with little or no regulation or oversight.
]]>Rothstein Case Is Not About Structured Settlementshttp://blog.legalbroadcastnetwork.com/mark-wahlstrom/2009/11/6/rothstein-case-is-not-about-structured-settlements.htmlThe LBN Team2009-11-06T21:58:37Z2009-11-06T21:58:37Z
Structured settlement experts Mark Wahlstrom and John Darer discuss the recent headlines of Attorney Scott Rothstein who appears to be at the center of another major financial fraud.
The reason we are addressing this is that the press has unfortunately started to use the term Structured Settlements to describe the legal finance and loan operation that was being run as an apparent Ponzi scheme by Rothstein. To mix up this term with what was being done to plaintiffs and investors is a huge mistake and one that is discussed by two of the structuredsettlement professions leading commentators.
