Judge: Armen Tamzarian, Case: 24STCP00339, Date: 2024-02-28 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 24STCP00339    Hearing Date: March 28, 2024    Dept: 52

Petitioner StratCap Investments, Inc.’s First Amended Petition for Approval of Transfer of Structured Settlement Payment Rights

Petitioner StratCap Investments, Inc. petitions for approval of transfer of structured settlement rights by payee Lesly Contreras. 

Insurance Code section 10137 provides:

A transfer of structured settlement payment rights is void unless a court reviews and approves the transfer and finds the following conditions are met:

(a) The transfer of the structured settlement payment rights is fair and reasonable and in the best interest of the payee, taking into account the welfare and support of his or her dependents.

(b) The transfer complies with the requirements of this article, will not contravene other applicable law, and the court has reviewed and approved the transfer as provided in Section 10139.5.

Insurance Code section 10139.5(b) requires the court to consider 15 enumerated factors in determining whether this transfer should be approved.  After considering all relevant factors and the totality of the circumstances, the court finds the transfer is fair, reasonable, and in payee Lesly Contreras’s best interest.

Express Written Findings

Insurance Code section 10139.5(a) requires the court’s order of approval to include six “express written findings.”  The court hereby makes the following express written findings as required under Insurance Code section 10139.5:

(1) The transfer is in the best interest of payee Contreras, taking into account the welfare and support of the payee’s dependents.  Contreras intends to use the money as part of a down payment on a home.  (Contreras Decl., ¶ 11.)  She has no dependents.  (Id., ¶ 8.)

(2) Payee Contreras has been advised in writing by the transferee to seek independent professional advice regarding the transfer and has either received that advice or knowingly waived, in writing, the opportunity to receive the advice.  Contreras signed an acknowledgment that she waived the right to that advice.  (Amended Petition, Ex. 6.)

(3) The transferee has complied with the notification requirements pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (f), the transferee has provided the payee with a disclosure form that complies with Section 10136, and the transfer agreement complies with Sections 10136 and 10138.

(4) The transfer does not contravene any applicable statute or the order of any court or other government authority.

(5) Payee Contreras understands the terms of the transfer agreement, including the terms set forth in the disclosure statement required by Section 10136.

(6) Payee Contreras understands and does not wish to exercise her right as payee to cancel the transfer agreement.

Disposition

The court hereby grants petitioner StratCap Investments, Inc.’s petition for approval for transfer of payment rights.  The court hereby approves the proposed “structured settlement annuity sale and assignment agreement” attached to the first amended petition as Exhibit 2.