What is an Insurance Settlement?

An insurance settlement represents the settlement of an insurance claim made on an insurance company. This could be a claim by an insured person under his own insurance policy, or a third party claim.

Insurance companies could make the settlement payments in different ways. One of these is to defer the payments as when the company promises to make annuity payments over a number of future years.

A life insurance settlement, or life settlement, is something different. It involves selling your life policy for immediate cash to a life insurance settlement company. If you are aged over 65, and have a life insurance policy, you could sell the policy. Life insurance policies are like any other asset that you own, and you are free to sell it.

Insurance Settlements Can be Cashed Out

Life Settlements are cash outs by their very nature. You could also cash out any deferred payments you are receiving under an insurance settlement. We look at both below.

Selling Life Insurance Policies

There are a number of reasons why you might want to sell your life insurance policy.
* Paying the premium has become a heavy financial burden

* You need cash for a prolonged medical treatment

* There are life policies in the market that are more cost effective

* There are investment options that you consider better

* Your business or personal situation have changed and a life insurance policy might not be the best

option under the changed situation

Factors like those mentioned above could make it better to cash out your life policy. In extreme cases, you might even have to let the policy lapse before you are able to make any claim.

The common alternative in such a case was to surrender the policy to the insurance company and get the surrender value. This was a poor alternative as the surrender value could be zero or a very low sum compared to the premium you have been paying for years.

If you are aged above 65, you now have the alternative to sell your policy and get a sum significantly higher than the surrender value. The amount depends on such factors as your present medical condition, statistical life expectation, smoking or tobacco use habit and the policy type.

Selling Other Insurance Settlements Involving Deferred Payments

Where your insurance settlement involves annuity payments, you might wish to cash it out for a lump sum. A lump sum of cash now could help you invest your money better or meet the expenses of a prolonged medical treatment.

In such cases you are allowed to accelerate your insurance settlement payments. A court process is involved to determine that cashing out the annuity payments is in your best interests. If the court approves the acceleration, you could sell your annuities in whole or in part and get a lump sum of cash.

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Posted in: Insurance,Settlement