The annuity inside a structured settlement is doing a job nobody chose for investment reasons. It exists because an insurer needed a cheap and certain way to discharge an obligation to pay you over years, and it was bought by them, not by you. That single fact separates it from every annuity sold as a retirement product, and it is why selling one goes through a court.
Whose annuity it is, and why that matters
You are the payee, but the annuity was purchased by the obligor and is usually owned by it or by an assignment company rather than by you. You cannot surrender it, borrow against it or change its terms, because those are owner's rights and you are not the owner. What you hold is the right to receive the payments, and that right - not the annuity - is what a buyer acquires in a transfer, which is why the statutes talk about structured settlement payment rights rather than about annuities at all.
How it differs from an annuity you would buy
A retirement annuity is a product you purchase with your own money, and you can usually surrender it, take withdrawals or change the beneficiary, subject to charges. None of that is available here. A settlement annuity's payments are typically tax-free where the underlying claim was for personal physical injury, it has no surrender value in your hands, and the only way to convert it into money now is a transfer that a judge has to approve in advance.
What a Florida court has to find
Florida's section conditions everything on express findings by the court, beginning with the fact that the transfer complies with the section and does not contravene other applicable law. It then does something the other statutes on this record do not: it puts a clock and a typeface on the disclosure. At least 10 days before the date on which the payee first incurred an obligation with respect to the transfer, the transferee must have provided the payee a disclosure statement in bold type, no smaller than 14 points in size, and the court must find that the payee received or waived independent professional advice.
Questions people ask about structured settlement annuity
Does a court really have to approve this?
Yes, in every state. The federal exception in 26 U.S.C. 5891(b) applies only where the transfer was approved in advance in a qualified order, and the order must find the transfer is in the best interest of the payee, taking into account the welfare and support of the payee's dependents.
What is the single biggest variable in the price?
The discount rate, and after that how far in the future the payments you are selling fall due. The reported range across the market is between 9% and 18%.
Do you take a share of what I get?
No. Buyers pay a flat fee for the enquiry itself, never a share of the discount and never anything contingent on a transfer completing.