For major settlement proceeds
Turn settlement money into a durable financial plan.
A large settlement creates immediate decisions: how much to keep safe, whether to structure payments, how to invest, how to protect family needs, and who should be in the room before funds arrive.
Common settlement planning decisions
Where to start
Settlement Windfall Guide
How to stabilize the first year, protect the proceeds, and build a long-term plan.
Structured Settlement vs Lump Sum
How to compare guaranteed payments with flexibility, control, and investment responsibility.
Settlement Money Checklist
What to do before signing, before funds arrive, and during the first 90 days.
What to Do With Settlement Money
Step-by-step guide: banking safely, protecting benefits, tax treatment, building a plan.
Personal Injury Settlement Planning
Resolving Medicare and Medicaid liens, structured settlement decisions for ongoing care, and protecting disability benefits before funds arrive.
Wrongful Death Settlement Planning
Income replacement analysis, trust planning for minor children, Social Security survivor benefits, and structured vs. lump sum for surviving families.
Employment Settlement Planning
How wrongful termination, discrimination, and harassment settlements are taxed differently—and what to do about COBRA, retirement accounts, and estimated taxes.
Medical Malpractice Settlement Planning
Using the life care plan as a financial roadmap, resolving Medicare and hospital liens, structured payments for ongoing care, and trust planning for catastrophic injury cases.
Workers' Compensation Settlement Planning
Medicare Set-Aside requirements, SSDI offset timeline, compromise and release vs. periodic payments, and building a durable plan for WC proceeds that must replace long-term income.
How to Invest Settlement Money
Investment policy before products, three-bucket time-horizon allocation, tax treatment of investment returns on §104 proceeds, and IRA contribution rules for settlement recipients.
Settlement Tax Calculator
Estimate your 2026 federal income tax on any settlement type. Enter settlement amount, attorney fees, and other income to see your taxable proceeds, marginal rate, and estimated quarterly payment.
How to Protect Settlement Money
Seven strategies for the first year: FDIC-safe banking, creditor protection, family boundary protocols, public benefits preservation, and an investment policy before any product purchase.
Get matched with a settlement financial advisor
Best fit is usually expected proceeds of $1M+ or a settlement that must support care, dependents, housing, or lifetime income.
Settlement Financial Advisor Match is a matching service. We help route settlement recipients to advisors who can coordinate with their attorney and professional team.