Recognizing The Importance of Settlement Planning

Experiencing an auto injury can be life-altering, not just physically and emotionally, but financially. Legal settlements from such cases are often intended to cover medical expenses, lost income, and personal damages. However, without proper planning, it’s possible to deplete these funds faster than expected, leaving you in a precarious position.

Hosts Chris Shakib and Jessica Hall sat down with Nate Evans of Arcadia Settlement Group to explore the critical role of settlement planning in auto accident and personal injury cases. Evans, a financial planner specializing in structured settlements, shared his insights on how proper planning can transform a legal settlement into a foundation for long-term stability. As this conversation reveals, thoughtful settlement structuring is key to avoiding common pitfalls and ensuring that compensation fulfills its intended purpose: supporting recovery and future security.

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Episode 8: You Received a Settlement. Don't Spend it All in One Place! with Nate Evans

In this episode of 'Not Another TV Lawyer,' hosts Chris Shakib and Jessica Hall from the Terrell Hogan Law Firm discuss the importance of comprehensive settlement planning for clients who have been injured in auto crashes. Their guest, Nate Evans, introduces the concept of settlement planning—a specialized form of financial planning designed to help injured individuals make smart decisions with their recovery funds. The conversation highlights the tax advantages of structured settlements, strategies to avoid financial pitfalls post-recovery, and ways to protect government benefits for clients on Medicaid.

Video time-stamps are available at the end of this blog in the Episode Notes.

The Vital Role of Settlement Planning

Navigating life after an auto accident can be daunting, especially when a significant financial settlement is involved. And this is precisely why settlement planning with an expert is deemed not just nice to have, but extremely necessary. As Chris Shakib aptly notes, “You can't just leave [clients] to their own devices. Depending on their level of experience with money, to say, all right, here it is.” Without proper guidance, individuals may overspend, underestimate future costs, or mismanage their funds.

Settlement planners like Nate Evans with Arcadia Settlement Group, Inc. can step in and help client's and their legal representatives ensure that settlements are supported with good numbers and a spending plan to match. When done properly, settlement planning ensures that individuals are equipped to manage their funds wisely, aligning financial decisions with long-term needs in the most tax-advantaged manner.

Timing Is Everything

One of the key takeaways from the discussion was the importance of addressing settlement planning early in the legal process. "When someone has gone through this long process," Evans explains, "and then all of a sudden in the 11th hour, you show them something that may be in their best interest, they may just want the cash" instead of opting for the more rational solution that settlement planning can provide.

Settlements are designed to make you “whole” after an accident by compensating for losses and addressing future needs. They typically include:

1. Medical Expenses: Covers current and future treatment costs.

2. Lost Wages: Accounts for income lost due to the injury, including potential future earnings.

3. Pain and Suffering: Provides compensation for non-economic damages, such as emotional distress or physical pain.

Offering a solution to safeguard their financial futures, settlement arrangements can provide regular, often tax-free payments over time, ensuring steady income for ongoing expenses like medical care, rehabilitation, and living costs. When meeting certain requirements under the IRS tax code, damages from personal physical injuries are excluded from gross income, which keeps more of the settlements in the client's pockets.

By initiating financial conversations early, attorneys and planners can help clients see the bigger picture, avoiding the temptation to take a lump sum and spend it quickly. As Evans and Shakib both stress, early planning creates better outcomes.

Avoiding Common Pitfalls

Throughout the episode, Evans and the hosts of Not Another TV Lawyer shared stories illustrating how a lack of planning can lead to poor outcomes:

• Impulse Spending: Receiving a lump sum often tempts individuals to make impulsive financial decisions, like purchasing a new car.

• External Pressures: Without a plan, clients may feel obligated to share their funds with others.

• Underestimating Costs: Long-term healthcare needs and inflation can quickly erode unstructured funds.

Structured settlements address these challenges by providing financial security and a clear roadmap for managing resources.

Strategic Steps for a Brighter Future

The episode wrapped up with a powerful message from Jessica Hall: “It’s really a difference maker.” Settlement planning isn’t just about the here and now—it’s about creating a foundation for long-term stability and peace of mind. Evans emphasized that clients can achieve financial security by integrating planning discussions into the settlement process from the outset.

For individuals recovering from an auto accident, thoughtful planning can mean the difference between financial uncertainty and lasting security. Here is a list of smart steps to consider when anticipating a large legal settlements:

1. Work With Financial Experts

Consult a financial advisor experienced in legal settlements upfront to create a long-term strategy. They can help you allocate funds to cover immediate and future needs, while also growing your money responsibly.

2. Consider a Structured Settlement

Structured settlements provide regular payments over a set period rather than a lump sum. Benefits include:

• Guaranteed income to cover ongoing expenses.

• Reduced risk of overspending.

• Potential tax advantages, as many structured payments are tax-free.

3. Set Up a Budget and a Life Care Plan

Work with a professional life care planner to create a detailed budget that accounts for:

• Medical treatments and rehabilitation to include prescription medications, physical therapy, specialist visits.

• Monthly living expenses.

• Emergency savings.

Even after recovery, some injuries require long-term care or follow-up treatments, which if not properly estimated can be turn out devastating to a client.

4. Protect Your Settlement

A structured settlement can support the release of funds in line with a client's life care plan and budget. If receiving a lump sum, consider investments that outpace inflation, like low-risk mutual funds or inflation-protected securities. This ensures your money retains its purchasing power over time.

Avoid impulse spending and external pressures to spend funds on items outside of your budget and life care plan. Do not openly talk about your financial situation with others and carefully consider requests to co-sign loans or give away money to friends and family unless absolutely necessary.

By learning from professionals like Nate Evans and engaging in early financial planning, you can transform a legal settlement into a secure and sustainable financial future.

Meet our Guest

Nathan M. Evans, CSSC, CMSS

Certified Structured Settlement Consultant, Certified Medicare Settlement Specialist with Arcadia Settlement Group, Inc.

Nathan works with attorneys to resolve litigation in ways that address the long-term needs of injured children and adults. Through tax-free periodic payments and specialized trusts, Nathan has grown millions of settlement dollars for injured recipients, protected settlement proceeds from financial predators, and preserved access to public benefits such as Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income (SSI).

Nathan believes that injuries and the loss of a loved one are among life’s most difficult challenges – having financial security from a source of dependable payments provides the foundation needed to move forward and turn dark yesterdays into brighter tomorrows.

Practice areas: Infant/birth injury, medical malpractice, aviation and commercial auto crashes, wrongful death, and Workers’ Compensation.

Certifications and Professional Affiliations:

• Certified Structured Settlement Consultant (CSSC): National Structured Settlements Trade Association administered in conjunction with the University of Notre Dame

• Certified Medicare Settlement Specialist (CMSS)

• Certified Workers’ Compensation Settlement Specialist (WCSS)

• Mediator, approved in the state of Texas

• Legislation and Regulation Committee – NSSTA

• Angelwood Foundation

Episode Notes:

The episode highlights the significance of early financial planning and the role of structured settlements in providing long-term financial stability.

00:00 Introduction to Not Another TV Lawyer

00:22 Meet Nate Evans: Financial Planning for Injury Victims

01:44 Understanding Settlement Planning

02:48 Tax Advantages in Personal Injury Recoveries

06:02 The Importance of Early Financial Planning

10:09 Challenges and Pitfalls in Settlement Planning

16:50 Structured Settlements Explained

28:26 Protecting Government Benefits with Settlements

31:11 Conclusion and Contact Information