A. The provisions of the Structured Settlement Protection Act shall not be waived by any payee.

B. Any transfer agreement entered into by a payee who resides in this state shall provide that disputes under the transfer agreement, including any claim that the payee has breached the agreement, shall be determined in and under the laws of this state. The transfer agreement shall not authorize the transferee or any other party to confess judgment or consent to entry of judgment against the payee.

C. Transfer of structured settlement payment rights shall not extend to any payments that are life-contingent unless, prior to the date on which the payee signs the transfer agreement, the transferee has established and agreed to maintain procedures reasonably satisfactory to the structured settlement obligor and the annuity issuer for:

(1) periodically confirming the payee's survival; and

(2) giving the structured settlement obligor and the annuity issuer prompt written notice in the event of the payee's death.

D. A payee who proposes to make a transfer of structured settlement payment rights shall not incur any penalty, forfeit any application fee or other payment, or otherwise incur any liability to the proposed transferee or any assignee based on any failure of the transfer to satisfy the conditions of the Structured Settlement Protection Act.

E. Nothing contained in the Structured Settlement Protection Act may be construed to authorize any transfer of structured settlement payment rights in contravention of any law or to imply that any transfer under a transfer agreement entered into before July 1, 2005 is valid or invalid.

F. Compliance with the requirements in Section 3 [39-1A-3 NMSA 1978] of the Structured Settlement Protection Act and fulfillment of the conditions in Section 4 [39-1A-4 NMSA 1978] of that act are solely the responsibility of the transferee in any transfer of structured settlement payment rights, and neither the structured settlement obligor nor the annuity issuer bears any responsibility for, or any liability arising from, noncompliance with the requirements or failure to fulfill the conditions.

History: Laws 2005, ch. 135, § 7.

Effective dates. — Laws 2005, ch. 135, § 8 makes the act effective July 1, 2005.