SNTs and Structured Settlements

With declining annuity premium and historically low interest rates, structured settlement stakeholders should be discussing how to improve and grow their business. By substantially expanding Medicaid, Federal health care reform potentially increases the market for structured settlement annuities used to fund special needs trusts (SNTs).

Congress created special needs trusts (self-settled; pooled; and third party) as part of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993. When properly designed and administered, special needs trusts can receive settlement proceeds, including structured settlement payments, without disqualifying the trust beneficiary from SSI or Medicaid.

Whether a special needs trust is advisable in a specific case requires analysis of many factors including the extent of disability, the availability of government benefits, as well as the nature and amount of available personal and family assets. One complicating factor is shared regulatory authority. Medicaid is a joint federal state program. In addition to two federal agencies (SSA and CMS), state Medicaid agencies and state Medicaid plans also provide state-specific rules for special needs trusts. State and county Medicaid case workers interpret and apply federal and state Medicaid laws to individual cases.

The growth of special needs trusts has coincided with a corresponding increase in the number of special needs attorneys. Three national professional associations (ASNP, SNA and NAELA) now exist for special needs attorneys and several legal textbooks have been written about special needs trusts. Most of these textbooks, however, are generic and do not provide detailed state-specific analysis. One exception is a two volume treatise published in 2008 (with updates) by the California CEB titled "Special Needs Trusts: Planning, Drafting and Administration" (CEB SNT). Edited by Kevin Urbatsch, CEB SNT features 17 chapters separately written by leading California special needs attorneys plus detailed appendices with applicable legal forms plus federal and state statutes, regulations, case citations and other references.

Because California represents a large and strategically important state for both structured settlements and special needs trusts, S2KM recently reviewed CEB SNT to evaluate how this legal treatise addresses structured settlements and what opportunities it suggests for improving and growing the national structured settlement market. Most of the structured settlement discussion in CEB SNT appears under a Chapter 8 section titled "Use of Structured Settlements with First Party SNTs" authored by Donna Bradshaw and Leslie Ann Barnett.

Settlement Planning Team

For personal injury cases involving a special needs trust, Bradshaw and Barnett propose a collaborative settlement planning team consisting of a special needs attorney, a structured settlement broker, a SNT trustee, an independent financial planner and a life care planner. Neither Bradshaw and Barnett, nor other CEB SNT authors discuss this proposed planning team in detail. Arguably, such a discussion goes beyond the scope of this CEB SNT treatise.

The concept of a collaborative professional team, however, is critical for settlement planning and the future of structured settlements. Unfortunately, with only a few exceptions (most notably the ASNP 2009 and the SSP 2011 Annual Conferences both of which featured CEB SNT editor Kevin Urbatsch as a speaker), the following issues have to date received insufficient industry discussion:

• What is a settlement plan?
• Who are the necessary team members and what issues should they address?
• What is the settlement planning role, if any, for the plaintiff trial attorney? for the defense structured settlement broker?
• What work product(s) do each of the team members contribute?
• How are the various work products consolidated and by whom?
• How are conflicting recommendations reconciled and by whom?
• What does a settlement plan cost?
• How are the team members compensated and by whom?
• What disclosures should be made to the injury victim?
• What metrics are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of a settlement plan?
• How important are 468B qualified settlement funds for settlement planning?
• Who is liable, and how are damages apportioned, for settlement planning errors and omissions?

Structured Settlements

In the two volume CEB SNT treatise, structured settlements are the only SNT "funding product" that receives detailed coverage. Chapter 8 authors Bradshaw and Barnett justify devoting 12 CEB SNT subsections to "structured settlements" by stating: "special needs planners need to understand how structured settlements work with first party SNTs to best advise personal injury attorneys, persons with disabilities, and their families."

Acknowledging the need to understand how structured settlements work, however, does not mean Bradshaw and Barnett fully endorse structured settlements. To the contrary, they provide several warnings and cautionary notes:

• "Plaintiff's trial attorney may mistakenly believe (or be misled into believing) that a structured settlement annuity is the only effective tool for the major part of the settlement funds."
• "At times a structured settlement is funded for a person with a disability without consideration of the unique needs to that individual."
• "The most common issue is too much cash in the structured settlement and not enough cash outside the structure."
• "It is insufficient to retain just enough cash to purchase a home and a van; there also must be a financial plan to maintain the home and van and consider replacement costs"
• "When a settlement has been funded primarily in a structured settlement annuity, there is little protection from inflation."
• "Annuities purchased in a time of low interest rates are likely to grossly under perform when compared to a well-balanced portfolio of stocks and bonds."
• "If the SNT beneficiary has an emergency or needs cash quickly, the settlement annuity will not advance payments."
• "It is imperative that practitioners insist on a commutation rider whenever there is a possible estate tax situation."
• "Once the structure is funded, [the structured settlement broker's] job is done. It is then left to the SNT trustee and special needs practitioner to work with the structured settlement for the rest of the person with the disability's life."

Without explicitly criticizing structured settlement business standards and practices, these warnings and cautionary notes highlight structured settlement issues S2KM discussed in a recent blog series about "product suitability standards" including the need for full disclosure and informed consent.

Despite 12 CEB SNT subsections discussing structured settlements, Bradshaw and Barnett barely mention three structured settlement-related topics that are important for special needs attorneys:

• Periodic Payment of Judgments - California was the first state to make periodic payment mandatory in certain (medical malpractice) judgments "at the request of either party". Because California's medical malpractice periodic payment statute also influences settlements that include special needs trusts, California special needs attorneys should be familiar with its provisions.
• Structured Settlement Transfers - Structured settlement transfers represent a strategy option for SNT trustees and special needs attorneys to consider if and when they confront some of the potential structured settlement problems Bradshaw and Barnett identify above. California amended its state structured settlement protection statute in 2010 adding factors for the court to consider when determining whether a proposed transfer is fair, reasonable and in the payee's best interest.
• Qualified Settlement Funds (QFS) - Similar to structured settlement transfers, QSFs are controversial within the structured settlement industry. Arguably underused in single event cases, QSFs provide a valuable settlement planning tool that all special needs attorneys should understand and promote.

Conclusion

For a regressive structured settlement industry, first party special needs trusts represent a growing market segment and special needs attorneys provide expanding networks of potential professional allies. Although CEB SNT focuses on California special needs trusts, the subsections discussing structured settlements offer a useful learning resource for all structured settlement stakeholders. Bottom line: the structured settlement industry needs to expand its strategic dialogue with special needs attorneys. The objectives should include better marketing and product feedback plus improved educational programs, business models and business practices.

For additional information about special needs trusts and structured settlements, see the structured settlement wiki and Section 15.04[7] of "Structured Settlements and Periodic Payment Judgments" (S2P2J).