As used in the Structured Settlement Protection Act of 2001:
§ 3239.Definitions
Chapter 41A: Structured Settlement Protection Act of 2001 · Not amended since adoption on record · Last verified August 3, 2026
In one sentenceDefines the twenty-one terms the Structured Settlement Protection Act uses, including "structured settlement," "payee," "transfer," and "transferee," to establish who is protected when someone sells future settlement payments and what counts as a covered transaction.
Full Text of § 3239
1. "Annuity issuer" means an insurer that has issued a contract to fund periodic payments under a structured settlement;
2. "Dependents" include a payee's spouse and minor children and all other persons for whom the payee is legally obligated to provide support, including alimony;
3. "Discounted present value" means the present value of future payments determined by discounting the payments to the present using the most recently published applicable federal rate for determining the present value of an annuity, as issued by the United States Internal Revenue Service;
4. "Gross advance amount" means the sum payable to the payee or for the payee's account as consideration for a transfer of structured settlement payment rights before any reductions for transfer expenses or other deductions to be made from the consideration;
5. "Independent professional advice" means advice of an attorney, certified public accountant, actuary or other licensed professional adviser;
6. "Interested parties" means, with respect to any structured settlement, the payee, any beneficiary irrevocably designated under the annuity contract to receive payments following the payee's death, the annuity issuer, the structured settlement obligor, and any other party that has continuing rights or obligations under the structured settlement;
7. "Net advance amount" means the gross advance amount less the aggregate amount of the actual and estimated transfer expenses required to be disclosed under paragraph 5 of Section 3 of this act;
8. "Payee" means an individual who is receiving tax-free payments under a structured settlement and proposes to make a transfer of the payment rights;
9. "Periodic payments" includes both recurring payments and scheduled future lump sum payments;
10. "Qualified assignment agreement" means an agreement providing for a qualified assignment within the meaning of section 130 of the United States Internal Revenue Code, United States Code Title 26, as amended from time to time;
11. "Responsible administrative authority" means, with respect to a structured settlement, any government authority vested by law with exclusive jurisdiction over the settled claim resolved by the structured settlement;
12. "Settled claim" means the original tort claim or workers' compensation claim resolved by a structured settlement;
13. "Structured settlement" means an arrangement for periodic payment of damages for personal injuries or sickness established by settlement or judgment in resolution of a tort claim or for periodic payments in settlement of a workers' compensation claim;
14. "Structured settlement agreement" means the agreement, judgment, stipulation, or release embodying the terms of a structured settlement;
15. "Structured settlement obligor" means, with respect to any structured settlement, the party that has the continuing obligation to make periodic payments to the payee under a structured settlement agreement or a qualified assignment agreement;
16. "Structured settlement payment rights" means rights to receive periodic payments under a structured settlement, whether from the structured settlement obligor or the annuity issuer, where:
a. the payee is domiciled in, or the domicile or principal place of business of the structured settlement obligor or the annuity issuer is located in this state,
b. the structured settlement agreement was approved by a court or responsible administrative authority in this state, or
c. the structured settlement agreement is expressly governed by the laws of this state;
17. "Terms of the structured settlement" include, with respect to any structured settlement, the terms of the structured settlement agreement, the annuity contract, any qualified assignment agreement and any order or other approval of any court or responsible administrative authority or other government authority that authorized or approved such structured settlement;
18. "Transfer" means any sale, assignment, pledge, hypothecation or other alienation or encumbrance of structured settlement payment rights made by a payee for consideration; provided that the term "transfer" does not include the creation or perfection of a security interest in structured settlement payment rights under a blanket security agreement entered into with an insured depository institution, in the absence of any action to redirect the structured settlement payments to the insured depository institution, or an agent or successor in interest thereof, or otherwise to enforce the blanket security interest against structured settlement payment rights;
19. "Transfer agreement" means the agreement providing for a transfer of structured settlement payment rights;
20. "Transfer expenses" means all expenses of a transfer that are required under the transfer agreement to be paid by the payee or deducted from the gross advance amount, including, without limitation, court filing fees, finders' fees, commissions, and other payments to a broker or other intermediary; "transfer expenses" do not include preexisting obligations of the payee payable for the payee's account from the proceeds of a transfer; and
21. "Transferee" means a party acquiring or proposing to acquire structured settlement payment rights through a transfer;
Amendment History
Added by Laws 2001, SB 545, c. 70, §2, eff. 11/1/2001.
Plain-English Summary
A structured settlement pays out damages from a personal-injury or workers'-compensation claim over time, in periodic payments, instead of one lump sum -- usually funded by an annuity the insurer buys to guarantee the schedule. Section 3239 defines the vocabulary the rest of the act uses to regulate what happens when the person receiving those payments, the "payee," wants to sell some or all of them for cash now. That sale is a "transfer," the buyer is the "transferee," and the amount the transferee pays before subtracting fees is the "gross advance amount"; what the payee keeps, after transfer expenses, is the "net advance amount."
The definitions also name the other players bound by a structured settlement: the "structured settlement obligor," who owes the periodic payments, and the "annuity issuer," the insurer that funds them. "Interested parties" reaches further, covering anyone with a continuing stake in the settlement -- the payee, any beneficiary named to receive payments after the payee dies, the obligor, the annuity issuer, and others with ongoing rights or duties under the deal.
Two definitions do technical work elsewhere in the act. "Discounted present value" pegs the value of future payments to the IRS's published rate for valuing annuities, giving courts a fixed benchmark against which to judge a proposed sale price. And "structured settlement payment rights" exist under this act -- meaning a transfer needs court approval -- only when the payee lives in Oklahoma, the obligor or annuity issuer is based here, the settlement was approved by an Oklahoma court or agency, or the settlement is governed by Oklahoma law.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's a "structured settlement" under Oklahoma law?
Under Section 3239, it's an arrangement to pay damages for a personal injury or sickness, or to pay a workers' compensation claim, in periodic payments rather than a single sum, set up by a settlement or judgment.
What does "transfer" mean, and does it cover using my payments as loan collateral?
"Transfer" means selling, assigning, pledging, or otherwise giving up structured settlement payment rights for money, but the definition carves out a security interest created under a blanket security agreement with an insured depository institution, as long as no one redirects the payments to enforce it.
Who counts as an "interested party" who gets notice of my proposed sale?
The payee, any beneficiary irrevocably named to receive payments after the payee's death, the annuity issuer, the structured settlement obligor, and anyone else with continuing rights or duties under the settlement.
How is the "discounted present value" of my payments calculated?
By discounting the future payments to today's dollars using the most recently published federal rate the IRS uses to value annuities.
Source & verification. Section text is reproduced verbatim from
Title 12 of the Oklahoma Statutes, enacted by the Oklahoma Legislature.
Last verified August 3, 2026.
· Official source
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