A structured settlement is a financial arrangement where a claimant agrees to resolve a claim by receiving periodic payments over time rather than a single lump sum. This method is common in personal injury, wrongful death, and workers' compensation cases. The payments are "scheduled into the future" as described in the question, often funded by an annuity purchased by the defendant. This structure provides a stable, long-term, and often tax-advantaged income stream for the claimant.

A. Traditional claim settlement typically refers to a single, lump-sum payment made to resolve a claim immediately.

B. Losses paid settlement is an insurance accounting term for the total amount paid out on claims, not a description of the payment schedule.

C. Secured claims settlement refers to a claim backed by collateral, which is unrelated to whether payments are periodic or a lump sum.

1. Cornell Law School, Legal Information Institute (LII). "Structured Settlement." Wex Legal Dictionary. Accessed 2023. This source defines a structured settlement as "an arrangement for periodic payment of damages for personal injury established by settlement or judgment."

2. Burke, A. E. (2002). The Use of Structured Settlements in Personal Injury Cases. Journal of Forensic Economics, 15(2), 185-192. On page 185, the article states, "A structured settlement is a voluntary agreement between an injury victim and a defendant under which the victim receives a stream of periodic payments in the future in exchange for releasing the defendant from liability." (Available via JSTOR or university library databases).

3. U.S. Internal Revenue Code. 26 U.S.C. § 130, "Certain personal injury liability assignments." This section of the tax code provides the legal and tax framework for structured settlements, defining the requirements for the periodic payments to receive favorable tax treatment, implicitly defining the nature of the arrangement as a series of future payments.