Colonial pays cash for structured settlements!

Florida statues regarding Structured Settlements. This state statute overseeing the sale of structured settlement payments and the buying of annuities is not exactly the Model Act but complies with Federal Law with the addition of front end disclosure. (Colonial's interpretation) WEST'S FLORIDA STATUTES ANNOTATED TITLE XXXVII. INSURANCE CHAPTER 626. INSURANCE FIELD REPRESENTATIVES AND OPERATIONS PART XI STRUCTURED SETTLEMENTS

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(3) Conditions to transfers of structured settlement payment rights and structured settlement
agreements.--

(a) A direct or indirect transfer of structured settlement payment rights is not effective and a structured
settlement obligor or annuity issuer is not required to make a payment directly or indirectly to a transferee
of structured settlement payment rights unless the transfer is authorized in advance in a final order by a
court of competent jurisdiction which is based on the written express findings by the court that:

1. The transfer complies with this section and does not contravene other applicable law;

2. At least 10 days before the date on which the payee first incurred an obligation with respect to the
transfer, the transferee provided to the payee a disclosure statement in bold type, no smaller than 14 points
in size, which specifies:

a. The amounts and due dates of the structured settlement payments to be transferred;

b. The aggregate amount of the payments;

c. The discounted present value of the payments, together with the discount rate used in determining the
discounted present value;

d. The gross amount payable to the payee in exchange for the payments;

e. An itemized listing of all brokers' commissions, service charges, application fees, processing fees,
closing costs, filing fees, referral fees, administrative fees, legal fees, and notary fees and other
commissions, fees, costs, expenses, and charges payable by the payee or deductible from the gross amount
otherwise payable to the payee;

f. The net amount payable to the payee after deducting all commissions, fees, costs, expenses, and charges
described in sub-subparagraph e.;

g. The quotient, expressed as a percentage, obtained by dividing the net payment amount by the discounted
present value of the payments, which must be disclosed in the following statement: "The net amount that
you will receive from us in exchange for your future structured settlement payments represent ___
percent of the estimated current value of the payments based upon the discounted value using the
applicable federal rate";

h. The effective annual interest rate, which must be disclosed in the following statement: "Based on the
net amount that you will receive from us and the amounts and timing of the structured settlement
payments that you are turning over to us, you will, in effect, be paying interest to us at a rate of ___ percent
per year"; and

i. The amount of any penalty and the aggregate amount of any liquidated damages, including penalties,
payable by the payee in the event of a breach of the transfer agreement by the payee;

3. The payee has established that the transfer is in the best interests of the payee, taking into account the
welfare and support of the payee's dependents;

4. The payee has received, or waived his or her right to receive, independent professional advice regarding
the legal, tax, and financial implications of the transfer;

5. The transferee has given written notice of the transferee's name, address, and taxpayer identification
number to the annuity issuer and the structured settlement obligor and has filed a copy of the notice with
the court;

6. The transfer agreement provides that if the payee is domiciled in this state, any disputes between the
parties will be governed in accordance with the laws of this state and that the domicile state of the payee is
the proper venue to bring any cause of action arising out of a breach of the agreement; and

7. The court has determined that the net amount payable to the payee is fair, just, and reasonable under the
circumstances then existing.

(b) If a proposed transfer would contravene the terms of the structured settlement, upon the filing of a
written objection by any interested party and after considering the objection and any response to it, the
court may grant, deny, or impose conditions upon the proposed transfer which the court deems just and
proper given the facts and circumstances and in accordance with established principles of law. Any order
approving a transfer must require that the transferee indemnify the annuity issuer and the structured
settlement obligor for any liability, including reasonable costs and attorney's fees, which arises from
compliance by the issuer or obligor with the order of the court.

(c) Any provision in a transfer agreement which gives a transferee power to confess judgment against a
payee is unenforceable to the extent that the amount of the judgment would exceed the amount paid by the
transferee to the payee, less any payments received from the structured settlement obligor or payee.

(d) In negotiating a structured settlement of claims brought by or on behalf of a claimant who is
domiciled in this state, the structured settlement obligor must disclose in writing to the claimant or the
claimant's legal representative all of the following information that is not otherwise specified in the
structured settlement agreement:

1. The amounts and due dates of the periodic payments to be made under the structured settlement
agreement. In the case of payments that will be subject to periodic percentage increases, the amounts of
future payments may be disclosed by identifying the base payment amount, the amount and timing of
scheduled increases, and the manner in which increases will be compounded;

2. The amount of the premium payable to the annuity issuer;

3. The discounted present value of all periodic payments that are not life- contingent, together with the
discount rate used in determining the discounted present value;

4. The nature and amount of any costs that may be deducted from any of the periodic payments;

5. Where applicable, that any transfer of the periodic payments is prohibited by the terms of the
structured settlement and may otherwise be prohibited or restricted under applicable law; and

6. That any transfer of the periodic payments by the claimant may subject the claimant to serious adverse
tax consequences.

(4) Jurisdiction; procedure for approval of transfers.--At least 20 days before the scheduled hearing on
an application for authorizing a transfer of structured settlement payment rights under this section, the
transferee must file with the court and all interested parties a notice of the proposed transfer and the
application for its authorization. The notice must include:

(a) A copy of the transferee's application to the court;

(b) A copy of the transfer agreement;

(c) A copy of the disclosure statement required under subsection (3);

(d) Notification that an interested party may support, oppose, or otherwise respond to the transferee's
application, in person or by counsel, by submitting written comments to the court or by participating in the
hearing; and

(e) Notification of the time and place of the hearing and notification of the manner in which and the time
by which any written response to the application must be filed in order to be considered by the court. A
written response to an application must be filed within 15 days after service of the transferee's notice.

(5) Waiver prohibited; no penalties incurred.--

(a) The provisions of this section may not be waived.

(b) If a transfer of structured settlement payment rights fails to satisfy the conditions of subsection (3),
the payee who proposed the transfer does not incur any penalty, forfeit any application fee or other
payment, or otherwise incur any liability to the proposed transferee.

(6) Noncompliance.--

(a) If a transferee violates the requirements for stipulating the discount and finance charge provided for in
subsection (3), neither the transferee nor any assignee may collect from the transferred payments, or from
the payee, any amount in excess of the net advance amount, and the payee may recover from the transferee
or any assignee:

1. A refund of any excess amounts previously received by the transferee or any assignee;

2. A penalty in an amount determined by the court, but not in excess of three times the aggregate amount
of the discount and finance charge; and

3. Reasonable costs and attorney's fees.

(b) If the transferee violates the disclosure requirements in subsection (3), the transferee and any assignee
are liable to the payee for:

1. A penalty in an amount determined by the court, but not in excess of three times the amount of the
discount and finance charge; and

2. Reasonable costs and attorney's fees.

(c) A transferee or assignee is not liable for any penalty in any action brought under this section if the
transferee or assignee establishes by a preponderance of evidence that the violation was not intentional and
resulted from a bona fide error, notwithstanding the transferee's maintenance of procedures reasonably
designed to avoid such errors.

(d) Notwithstanding any other law, an action may not be brought under this section more than 1 year after
the due date of:

1. The last transferred structured settlement payment, in the case of a violation of the requirements for
stipulating the discount and finance charge provided for in subsection (3).

2. The first transferred structured settlement payment, in the case of a violation of the disclosure
requirements of subsection (3).

(e) When any interested party has reason to believe that any transferee has violated this section, any
interested party may bring a civil action for injunctive relief, penalties, and any other relief that is
appropriate to secure compliance with this section.

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