Selling a structured settlement is not something that happens over night. In fact contrary to what you may believe you can not get cash now, it takes a minimum of  90 days. why does it take so long it’s my money, you’re asking yourself. Well there are court imposed timelines, not the kind of timeline on facebook, but a time line of events that have to occur in a certain order.

Negotiating the purchase is the first thing, and you do not always the first offer. 9 times out 10 the company buying your structured settlement’s first offer is quite generous to themselves. going into the transaction with a well thought out plan of what you need the money for will often help in the negotiations.

So this is when most people think okay send me my money. This is when the timeline kicks in, most states have a 10 days waiting period before you can sign the purchase agreement and return it. once this waiting period is over the paperwork begins. This is a court transfer so there are legal documents that have to be prepared, and filed in order to get a court date. the length of time to prepare the documents depends largely on you, and your ability to communicate with the lawyer and get necessary information and documents back to them.

Once the documents are back and filed with the court there is a minimum notice period that each states has to give all interested parties a chance to respond. What interested parties, you ask. Well the original settlement attorney, original insurance carrier, and the annuity issuer. According to the courts these are all interested parties that have to be notified. Also most courts have a full schedule and you can not get a court date for 30, 60, sometimes up to 90 days out.

So you can start to see why it can not happen over night, there are a lot of factors involved. Once in this process you still have to take the transaction to an Independent professional adviser to have them sign off that this is in your best interest.  This is where your financial plan will play a big part, saying you want to throw a huge new years eve, or Christmas party probably will not fly in court. The court needs to make sure that you will not end up being a burden on the state after the transaction, and that you are using the money to better your life, and living situation.

So that is why if you are planning to sell your structured settlement payments in time for the holidays,  starting NOW would be a good idea.