In this weeks interview I was joined by Chris Foregger of Capital First Trust Company to examine how to protect the income, lump sums and design of a structured settlement program for vulnerable plaintiffs POST settlement. This is one of the most contentious areas in all of settlement planning and structured settlements, as the structured settlement profession loves to attack settlement purchasers as predatory, while almost totally ignoring the fact that by failing to use an on going trust management program the profession has failed to protect the people for whom the stucture was originally designed.
As the Freddie Gray case and other factoring stories of the last year illustrated, there is a gaping hole in the planning profession that is being ignored at the time of settlement. That hole is the lack of on going protection of the structured settlement and income stream for minors and other's who might become incompetent to make rationale decisions about selling their income stream at a future date. So much of the factoring abuses that the structured settlement profession rails against could actually be prevented if structured settlement professionals took the time to educate trial lawyers on the necessity of using asset protection trusts for vulnerable victims.
Not every client is vulnerable at the time of settlement. However, many deteriorate and can reasonably be assumed to be vulnerable in the future due to medical conditions, brain injury or other mitigating factors. In this interview I discuss with Chris Foregger of Capital First Trust Company how to effectively and efficiently utilize an asset protection trust to maintain the on going integrity of a structured settlement program, while not taking away the right of the claimant to sell future payments if it is in their best interest to do so.
You can learn more about First Capital Trust Company by visiting their web site at www.firstcapitaltrust.com and also more about Wahlstrom & Associates by clicking the link.