Joe Jamail discusses structured settlements

Famed trial lawyer Joe Jamail, the attorney that brought in a $12 billion verdict against Texaco in the landmark Pennzoil vs Texaco case was recently interviewed by the Legal Broadcast Network while at a NSSTA regional in Austin, TX.

Mr. Jamail had spoken at length to the members of the National Structured Settlement Trade Association earlier in the day and then agreed to an interview to discuss the vital importance of structured settlements as a tool for injury victims and others who receive large court awards. Very often it is the trial lawyer who over looks the key role they play in providing settlement options to their clients, matching them up with a qualified settlement professional and explaining how the structured settlement annuity is used to guarantee tax free income and future funds to protect them and their family.

You can view this entire video, that was sponsored by NSSTA and produced by The Legal Broadcast Network, by either clicking on the TV screen in this blog or clicking on this link. If you are considering the option of using a structured settlement or if you are a trial lawyer wondering what your responsibility is to obtain professional advice for your client, this is a very valuable video for you to watch.

Wahlstrom and Associates is one of the leading experts nationally in the use of structured settlements and underwriting settlement annuity contracts. If you want to know more about structured settlements or how to work with our firm, contact us at the email form on this page.  

The mortgage market collapse and structured sales.

As anyone who reads my blogs here and at The Settlement Channel know i've been warning about the inevitable collapse of the real estate market for over two years now. My most recent post on The Settlement Channel discusses my thoughts on real estate, sub prime mortgage and where we go from here.

As part of those warnings I mention the loose and careless lending practices being promoted by mortgage brokers nationwide, although living in Phoenix I got an up close view over the last 7 years of just how wild and crazy it got. Virtually anyone could get a loan if you really wanted one. College students buying houses on the prospect of sharing the mortgage payment with their roommates, retirees on fixed incomes getting no money down loans to buy condo's, single mom's just out of a divorce and bankruptcy getting a 2% down loan with an ARM at 3% to buy a home in Scottsdale. Those are just some of the one's I know of personally.

So, the inevitable happened. The market slowed down, payments got late, foreclosures rose, home prices dropped, mortgage rates reset at higher levels, and all of a sudden we have a mortgage crisis as all these packaged loans start to go bad and the institutional investors panic about losing their money. We are now in the midst of a classic credit induced sellers panic and it should last at least a full year as the lending community figures out how to start making responsible loans again.

The issue is, what if you have a sale you were trying to make happen and were scheduled to do a 1031 roll over or transfer, and now the new property you wanted to go into can't be financed for what you thought you could get? I have no doubt that there are a lot of transactions right this minute that are blowing up because the property to be rolled into can't appraise for what the buyer needs, the financing has collapsed or other issues have put your purchase at risk.

What do you do if your 1031 roll over is going bad, but you still must sell your property?

You absolutely need to look into using a structured sale annuity to spread out your tax hit and defer the taxation of your gains as the real estate markets go through this correction. If you are lucky enough to have a buyer that can still afford your property, and you want to spread your gains out, to my mind the best option now is to use a structured sale annuity to fund an installment sale over time. Spread out your tax hit, consolidate your assets and debt, wait for a better buying opportunity and then take advantage of it when you see it.

Rolling over into a property that is over valued and sure to decline is never a smart decision no matter what you think you might save in taxes! Take your sale, defer the gains safely and at good rates of interest and then wait for your next buying opportunity.

Contact my office if you'd like to know more.  

Mark Wahlstrom presents on 468b Trusts at the NSSTA annual Conference.

Mark Wahlstrom, President of Wahlstrom & Associates and host of The Settlement Channel will be presenting to the NSSTA ( National Structured Settlement Trade Association) in Toronto on April 24, 2007 on the topic of 468b Trusts in Mass Tort and Multi-Claimant cases, a new approach to an old problem.

One of the leading innovators in the creative uses of structured settlements, non-qualified annuity contracts and settlement trusts, Mark will be sharing his latest innovation that has been designed for multi-litigant and mass tort cases such as the anemia drugs Procrit and Aranesp, as well as on going litigation such as Vioxx and Accutane.

While 468b trusts have been part of the tax and legal community for over 20 years, their use has been hindered by confusion, lack of education, turf battles between settlement professionals and interference from financial institutions hostile to the settlement planning industry.

You may read the outline of this talk, as well as access all of the embedded video and media clips from a wide range of attorneys and experts commenting on this unique approach to mass tort case management and settlement.

Click here to access the outline and media resources.