N.M. Stat. § 39-1A-2
Definitions.
As used in the Structured Settlement Protection Act:
A. "annuity issuer" means an insurer that has issued a contract to fund periodic
payments under a structured settlement;
B. "court" means:
(1)
the court of original jurisdiction that authorized or approved a structured
settlement; or
(2)
if the court that authorized or approved the structured settlement no longer
has jurisdiction to approve a transfer of payment rights under the structured settlement
under the Structured Settlement Protection Act, a district court or a probate court
located in the county in which the payee resides;
C. "dependents" includes a payee's spouse, minor children and all other persons for
whom the payee is legally obligated to provide support, including alimony;
D. "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;
E. "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;
F. "independent professional advice" means advice of an attorney, certified public
accountant, actuary or other licensed professional adviser;
G. "interested party" means, with respect to any structured settlement:
(1)
the payee;
(2)
any beneficiary irrevocably designated under the annuity contract to
receive payments following the payee's death;
(3)
the annuity issuer;
(4)
the structured settlement obligor; and
(5)
any other party that has continuing rights or obligations under the
structured settlement;
H. "net advance amount" means the gross advance amount less the aggregate
amount of the actual and estimated transfer expenses required to be disclosed under
Subsection E of Section 3 [39-1A-3(E) NMSA 1978] of the Structured Settlement
Protection Act;
I. "payee" means an individual who is receiving tax-free payments under a
structured settlement and proposes to transfer payment rights under the structured
settlement;
J. "periodic payments" includes both recurring payments and scheduled future
lump-sum payments;
K. "qualified assignment agreement" means an agreement providing for a qualified
assignment within the meaning of Section 130 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as
amended;
L. "settled claim" means the original tort claim or workers' compensation claim
resolved by a structured settlement;
M. "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;
N. "structured settlement agreement" means the agreement, judgment, stipulation
or release embodying the terms of a structured settlement;
O. "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;
P. "structured settlement payment rights" means rights to receive periodic payments
under a structured settlement, whether from the structured settlement obligor or the
annuity issuer, if:
(1)
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;
(2)
the structured settlement agreement was authorized or approved by a
court located in this state; or
(3)
the structured settlement agreement is expressly governed by the laws of
this state;
Q. "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 the court;
R. "transfer" means any sale, assignment, pledge, hypothecation or other alienation
or encumbrance of structured settlement payment rights made by a payee for
consideration, except that "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 its agent or successor in interest, or to enforce the blanket security interest
against the structured settlement payment rights;
S. "transfer agreement" means the agreement providing for a transfer of structured
settlement payment rights;
T. "transfer expenses" means all the 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 court filing fees, attorney fees, escrow fees, lien recording fees,
judgment and lien search fees, finders' fees, commissions and other payments to a
broker or other intermediary, except that "transfer expenses" does not include
preexisting obligations of the payee payable on the payee's account from the proceeds
of a transfer; and
U. "transferee" means a party acquiring or proposing to acquire structured
settlement payment rights through a transfer.