When utilizing Legacy Investment Advisors as part of your settlement planning team, you help provide a more secure future for your clients, increase the level of client satisfaction, and limit your liability. Our objective is to protect the interests of you and your client, maximize the settlement, and help secure their future by offering our unique approach and specialized products.
WHAT WE OFFER TO YOU AND YOUR CLIENTS
Maximize the Settlement
Your goal is to get your client the best settlement. Our goal is to help them keep it. Almost every attorney has experienced a client doing something unwise with their settlement and very soon the money is gone. Although spendthrift protection is not necessary for everyone, we have learned from years of experience that most people don’t handle lump sums wisely. Our objective is to maximize their settlement while minimizing risk through various products and stategies which offer cash flow management, tax advantaged income plans with varying degrees of spendthrift protection.
Plaintiff Only
Always have your own consultant! In situations involving claims or lawsuits, we work only with plaintiffs and their attorneys. There is no potential for conflict of interest because our loyalty rests exclusively with the plaintiff. Especially in situations where a broker representing the defense is involved, it is essential to have your own consultant! Attorneys understand the need for a personal advocate in a dispute. The defense broker is employed to protect the interests of their client, not yours. Relying upon the advice of opposing counsels’ broker is unwise and may increase the potential for malpractice. Having a dedicated plaintiff consultant like Legacy Investment Advisors assures that your interests are being protected – at no extra cost.
Full Disclosure
Our disclosure statement explains that we do not participate in any commission sharing arrangements, benefit from being on ‘approved lists’, or similar agreements with property & casualty carriers or self insureds which may cause one carrier to be preferred over another; thus the potential for conflict of interest is reduced. We also fully disclose our compensation.
Competitive Analysis
We shop the market and provide you with a Competitive Analysis which lists all available carriers, their financial ratings and the cost for any given benefit quoted so you can choose the company which offers the best benefits. In addition to the Competitive Analysis, we provide you with all the necessary information so you can make informed decisions about your financial future.
Multiple Products
We offer a client centered rather than a product centered approach. Because each product has specific benefits, matching the product to meet specific needs and objectives of each client more accurately achieves financial goals and creates more satisfied clients. Offering options gives your client more control and is a better way to ensure their needs and goals are met. Give your client a choice!
Independent Advice
Because we are independent, we can offer unbiased advice and a unique mix of products and services that help to secure your future with your specific personal and financial needs in mind.
Line Resolution and Medicare Set Asides
We will identify and resolve government benefits and private/ERISA liens, provide liability protection and educate clients about these important issues. Remove the burden for this activity from your firm and/or staff and let our full time CMS experienced professionals handle this for you.
Structuring Your Fees
Some benefits of structuring your fees are:
- There is no limit on the amount an attorney can defer in any year.
- There is no requirement to contribute to the plan in future years.
- It can supplement qualified retirement plans, again with no deferment amount limits, unaffected by the amount contributed to the qualified plan.
- It can be done in addition to a SEP or an IRA, with allowed deferments unaffected by the amount contributed to the SEP or IRA.
- Each time you defer a fee constitutes a separate plan, and you can have as many deferred compensation plans as you wish.
- You can layer income from different plans over the same payment period and, if the funding assets are issued by different companies, you achieve portfolio diversity.
- There are no annual plan evaluations required, as there are in qualified plans.
- There is no requirement to include law partners, and non-attorney employees cannot participate except through separate deferred compensation agreements with the attorney.
- There is no necessity to wait until age 59½ for distribution from the plan.
- You can set up lump sum payments to cover known future needs such as college education for children or to build a retirement home.
- The money inside the plan, whether invested in an annuity or funded with a reinsurance assumption agreement, is guaranteed to grow at a rate specified at the time the plan is established—unaffected by the future performance of the investment marketplace. The guarantee is made by a venerable financial institution—a highly rated life insurance company by the independent analysts, i.e. Moody’s, S&P, Fitch, and A.M. Best— which holds the asset.
- You can avoid the highest tax bracket in an extraordinary year by spreading out income.
- The plan can survive bankruptcy or divorce.
Case Valuation
This tool provides you these critical pieces of information to the successful resolution of your case: 1. the target settlement amount, 2. the probable verdict amount 3. the probability that the verdict will be for the plaintiff. We offer the Case Valuation at no cost when used in conjunction with the settlement of your case.
Other Resources
We have relationships with providers of life care plans, economic evaluations and other resources.
Limit Your Liability
Many plaintiff attorneys are hesitant to make recommendations to their clients that address financial issues. These concerns are legitimate, yet there is also danger in failing to provide some guidance and informing clients of alternatives to a cash settlement. If settlement options are not adequately addressed, it can have devastating consequences with ramifications extending to family, friends and even attorneys.
The Christa Grillo (Grillo v Pettiete et al) case is one high profile example of the potential financial impact to attorneys. The Grillo’s attorney and court appointed guardian ad litem who represented Christina and her parents were sued and paid a total of $4.1 million in damages for failing to seek adequate financial guidance and inform their clients of settlement options that could maximize the settlement.
If an attorney doesn’t consider alternatives to lump sum payments to help protect the client, the attorney may be open to legal malpractice. We recommend attorneys provide their clients with information regarding alternatives to a cash settlement so their client can choose for themselves which settlement option is most attractive.
When Legacy Investment Advisors is involved in the process, we can provide documentation that acknowledges the client has been presented with alternatives, that dissipation and investment risks are understood and that the decision is irrevocable. This removes the burden from the attorney and places it on the shoulders of the client, thereby reducing the potential for liability.
Factoring
It is our goal that no client will ever have a need to sell or factor a periodic payment plan we have put together. However, situations may arise that require the need for immediate capital either for a client or yourself. We will determine the company which provides the best rate for your specific situation.
