Summit Home • About Us • Services • Life Markets • Information • FAQs • Resources • Contact

The SPT defined:

• The Settlement Preservation Trust is an irrevocable grantor trust designed to protect the settlement proceeds from wasteful dissipation while making funds available to the plaintiff in amounts and at times real financial needs arise.
• The Settlement Preservation Trust is designed to do virtually everything an annuity structure does plus more. What the SPT does more is it brings flexibility and liquidity to the structure process.
• The Settlement Preservation Trust is constructed to be sufficiently adaptable in order to accommodate virtually any important change in the plaintiff's future financial profile.

What the SPT does best is adapt:

• More than 73% of all plaintiffs will experience a major change in their financial profile sometime following the settlement of their personal injury claim or suit. Financial flexibility and controlled liquidity is essential when a change occurs.
• The Settlement Preservation Trust provides several options by which money can be distributed to the plaintiff. The specific combination of options decided in each case is the combination of flexibility and liquidity that best serves the plaintiff's interests.

Who are the Plaintiffs best served by the SPT:

• The Settlement Preservation Trust best serves those plaintiffs who have future needs and/or wants that are 1) uncertain, 2) unpredictable, 3) subject to change, 4) event contingent, or 5) indeterminable as to timing and amount.

How it works:

There are five ways in which money can be distributed to the plaintiff. In each case, a decision is made as to which option or combination of options best serve the plaintiff given the plaintiff's financial profile. A sixth choice is also available in that payments from the Settlement Preservation Trust can be either taxable or tax-free payments, again, depending upon the plaintiff's financial profile.

The following are the payment options available to the plaintiff when the Settlement Preservation Trust is the settlement vehicle of choice:

• Adjustable Periodic Payments or Locked-in Periodic Payments
• Unplanned Major Needs (medical, education, taxes, other)
• Monetary Reserve for contingent events
• Controlled discretionary distributions
• Emergency funds

Features, Benefits and Advantages:

In addition to adding flexibility and liquidity to the process that creates spendthrift protection, there is a partial list of other benefits and advantages provided only by the Settlement Preservation Trust.

• Periodic payments from the SPT cannot be encumbered or sold to settlement discounters
• The SPT can accommodate the process that preserves S.S.I. and Medicaid eligibility
• The SPT is interest-rate advantaged. As interest rates rise, all additional income accrues to the benefit of the plaintiff
• Payments may be changed from tax-free payments to taxable payments or vice versa in order to accommodate changes in the plaintiff's tax profile
• Periodic payments to the plaintiff can be increased during periods of unemployment or other short-term reversals
• Annuity funded structure payments can be blended with the SPT to create a better balanced settlement for the plaintiff
• Annual trust fees for the SPT are at least 50% less than traditional trust fees
• There is no charge for preparing the SPT trust document
• Installing the trust and depositing funds into the trust does not require the approval or the cooperation of the defense
• The SPT does not create the "estate tax illiquidity problem" that is inherent in other settlement vehicles
• Each SPT trust account is insured for up to $50,000,000

See Table: Trusts, Single Purpose Trusts, Funds, Structures, Other