Workers' Compensation Discussion Forums

1171, thier final offer, curently I recive $1680 monthly and i have medical @ 100% dissabled. I am 39yrs old ,so thier offer is about 140K up front with 1k a month for life and 2k a year for life. I would have a diffrent medical plan. some of my money will be used on this new medical plan not to sure how it works but none the less i will still have medical, my meds are about 5k a month alone.
I asked for 100k more up front but they said no,a couple of opinions from pepole in the industry told me this was one of the better deals they have heard of. 1171 what do you think, I really value your opinion on this matter. I dont have to take it, but it would be nice to have some money in the bank for what ever. I am in pain evey day,so this is my life i am dealing with.
is this a fair deal ? if I was to waited out, would they give in and offer me some more money up front? I dont feel comfortable posting my life up on the net.but I need your opinion so i wont have any regrets.

Thank's
Mr.Pain California USA

you haven't posted much so must have been a regular reader.
I appreciate your trust and hope i can offer something of value.

I'm assuming the "medical plan" is the simple mandated medicare Set-Aside trust acct.
usually in a situation like yours medicare requires a lifecare plan to document the amount that needs to be set aside. getting prior approval for these plans can be complex and take awhile as medicare in many areas of the county is backlogged.

the rest of the settlement appears to be setup as a structured settlement where they are reducing your monthly disability payment from them by $680 and paying it upfront.
$140,000 calculates closely to a 6% discount on $680/mthly payment for 42 yrs.
(actually computes to $138,251 for a 39 yr male).

some things to think about.......
what about guarentees?
comp payments stop when you die but a structured settlement can be guarenteed very inexpensively. if unfortunate circumstances took your life next year would you want the payments (in addition to the balance of the set aside trust) to continue?
it's not unreasonable to ask them to guarentee it for 20 yrs for someone your age.
other then the $2K bonus each year do you see the need for another balloon payment in the future? college money in another 10 or 15 yrs? mortgage buyout? etc.
one of the nice things about structured settlements is that they can be customized for future needs.....

rather then trying to increase the upfront money you might have more success sweetening the deal with the guarentee or programed balloons

P.S. you want to make sure the carrier holds the annuity in their name so all payments to you remain untaxable.
also make sure the responsibility for the payments falls back to the carrier if anything happens to the annuity provider.
same thing with any potential penalties for late payment. if payments become irregular you want to be able to go back to the WCAB for penalty awards and enforcement.

Well today my lawyer called,it had been a month since thier last offer and i did not respond to thier offer,so know they are offering 200K up front but the monthly pay would drop to cover the extra money, instead of 1k it would be 750 a month,yes your right it can be done many diffrent ways,spread out more, I dont know if I will live more then 20yrs, so maybe in my case its best to get as much as i can up front, i really need to think it over, and they will guarentee the payments for 15yrs, I should ask for 5 more,my lawyer says if i sign i would see the money in about two weeks or less with direct deposit,you brought out some good points i will investigate on all the details you mentioned, thank you for the insight on these areas, one more thing,would social security be affected if i get some money up front? thanks again for your help and time 1171.
Thank's
Mr.pain, its a corny name.

Your attorney needs to make sure he covers you for your social security. There is a way to get paid up front but show it as a payout for your life. Make sure you tell him about your social security and that he protects your from it. It can be protected if your attorney writes the documents correctly.

a commutation would have paid all your PD upfront.

yes social security will only pay up to 80% of your previous wages when combined with workers comp. you'll have to include wording in the C&R that equates the upfront money to the weakly comp payment so they can properly set their rate.