SECTIONS 10134-10139.5 - California Statutes

INSURANCE CODE

SECTION 10134-10139.5

10134. For the purposes of this article, the following terms have
the following meanings:
(a) "Buyer's first right of refusal" means any provision in the
transfer agreement or related documents that obligate the payee to
give to the buyer the first choice or option to purchase any
remaining structured settlement rights belonging to the payee.
(b) "Dependents" include the payee's spouse and minor children and
all other family members and other persons for whom the payee is
legally obligated to provide support, including alimony.
(c) "Discounted present value" means the fair present value of
future payments, as determined by discounting those payments to the
present using the most recently published applicable federal rate for
determining the present value of an annuity, as issued by the United
States Internal Revenue Service.
(d) "Effective equivalent interest rate," with respect to a
transfer of structured settlement payment rights, means the
annualized rate of interest on the net advance amount, calculated by
treating the transferred structured settlement payments as if they
were installment payments on a loan, with each payment applied first
to accrued unpaid interest and then to principal.
(e) "Expenses" means all broker's commissions, service charges,
application or processing fees, closing costs, filing or
administrative charges, legal fees, notary fees and other
commissions, fees, costs, and charges that a payee would have to pay
to transfer the structured settlement payment rights of a structured
settlement agreement or that would be deducted from the gross
consideration that would be paid to the payee in connection with the
transfer of the structured settlement payment rights of a structured
settlement agreement.
(f) "Independent professional advice" means advice of an attorney,
certified public accountant, actuary, or other licensed professional
adviser meeting all of the following requirements:
(1) The adviser is engaged by a claimant or payee to render advice
concerning the legal, tax, or financial implications of a structured
settlement or a transfer of structured settlement payment rights.
(2) The adviser's compensation for rendering independent
professional advice is not affected by occurrence or lack of
occurrence of a settlement or transfer.
(3) A particular adviser is not referred to the payee by the
transferee or its agent, except that the transferee may refer the
payee to a lawyer referral service or agency operated by a state or
local bar association.
(g) "Interested parties" means, with respect to a structured
settlement agreement, the payee, the payee's attorney, any
beneficiary irrevocably designated under the annuity contract to
receive payments following the payee's death, the annuity issuer, the
structured settlement obligor, and any other party who has
continuing rights or obligations under the structured settlement
agreement. If the designated beneficiary is a minor, the beneficiary'
s parent or guardian shall be an interested party.
(h) "Payee" means an individual who received tax-free payments
pursuant to a structured settlement agreement.
(i) "Qualified assignment agreement" means an agreement providing
for a qualified assignment within the meaning of Section 130 of Title
26 of the United States Code, as amended from time to time.
(j) "Structured settlement agreement" means an arrangement for
periodic payment of damages established by settlement or judgment in
resolution of a tort claim in which the payment of the judgment or
award is paid in whole, or in part, in periodic tax-free payments
rather than a lump-sum payment. A structured settlement agreement
entered into pursuant to Section 667.7 of the Code of Civil Procedure
or Section 970.6 or 984 of the Government Code is not subject to the
provisions of this article other than the requirements of Section
10138.
(k) "Structured settlement obligor" means the party that has the
continuing periodic payment obligation to the payee under a
structured settlement agreement or a qualified assignment agreement.
(l) "Structured settlement payment rights" means rights to receive
periodic payments, including lump-sum payments, pursuant to a
structured settlement agreement, whether from the settlement obligor
or an annuity issuer.
(m) "Terms of the structured settlement" include, with respect to
a structured settlement agreement, the terms of the structured
settlement agreement, annuity contract, qualified assignment
agreement, and any order or approval of a court or responsible
administrative authority or other governmental authority authorizing
or approving the structured settlement.
(n) "Transfer" means any sale, assignment, pledge, hypothecation,
or other form of alienation or encumbrance made for consideration.
(o) "Transfer agreement" means the agreement providing for the
transfer, and any other document used to effectuate the transfer,
from the payee to the transferee of structured settlement payment
rights of a structured settlement agreement.
(p) "Transferee" means any person receiving structured settlement
payment rights resulting from a transfer.

10135. (a) This article is only applicable to transfers entered
into on or after January 1, 2000.
(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), the changes to this article
made by the act amending this section in the 2001-02 Regular Session
shall only be applicable to transfers entered into on or after
January 1, 2002.
(c) This article is only applicable to transfers of structured
settlement payment rights if one of the following requirements is
met:
(1) The payee is domiciled in California at the time the transfer
agreement is signed by the payee.
(2) The payee is not domiciled in California at the time the
transfer agreement is signed and the state where the payee is
domiciled does not have a structured settlement transfer statute, but
either the structured settlement obligor or annuity issuer is
domiciled in California.

10136. (a) No direct or indirect transfer of structured settlement
payment rights by a payee to which this article applies shall be
effective, and no structured settlement obligor or annuity issuer
shall be required to make any payment directly or indirectly to a
transferee, unless all of the provisions of this section are
satisfied.
(b) Ten or more days before the payee executes a transfer
agreement, the transferee shall provide the payee with a separate
written disclosure statement, accurately completed with the
information that applies to the transfer agreement, in substantially
the following form, in at least 12-point type unless otherwise
indicated (bracketed instructions shall not appear in the form):

"Disclosure Notice Required By Law