(215 ILCS 153/25)

Sec. 25. Procedure for approval of transfers.

(a) No annuity issuer or structured settlement obligor may make payments on a structured settlement to anyone other than the payee or beneficiary of the payee without prior approval of the circuit court. No payee or beneficiary of a payee of a structured settlement may assign in any manner the structured settlement payment rights without the prior approval of the circuit court.

(b) An application under this Act for approval of a transfer of structured settlement payment rights shall be made by the transferee and shall be brought in the circuit court of the county in which the payee is domiciled, except that, if the payee is not domiciled in this State, the application may be filed in the court in this State that approved the structured settlement agreement or in the circuit court of the county in this State in which the structured settlement obligor or annuity issuer has its principal place of business.

(c) A hearing shall be held on an application for approval of a transfer of structured settlement payment rights. The payee shall appear in person at the hearing unless the court determines that good cause exists to excuse the payee from appearing. Not less than 20 days prior to the scheduled hearing on an application, the transferee shall file with the court and serve on all interested parties a notice of the proposed transfer and the application, including the information and documentation required under subsection (d) of this Section.

(d) In addition to complying with the other requirements of this Act, the application shall include:

(1) the payee's name, age, and county of domicile and the number and ages of the payee's dependents;

(2) a copy of the transfer agreement and disclosure statement;

(3) a description of the reasons why the payee seeks to complete the proposed transfer;

(4) a summary of:

(i) any prior transfers by the payee to the transferee or an affiliate, or through the transferee or an affiliate to an assignee, within the 4 years preceding the date of the transfer agreement and any proposed transfers by the payee to the transferee or an affiliate, or through the transferee or an affiliate to an assignee, applications for approval of which were denied within the 2 years preceding the date of the transfer agreement;

(ii) any prior transfers by the payee to any person or entity other than the transferee or an affiliate or an assignee of a transferee or affiliate within the 3 years preceding the date of the transfer agreement and any prior proposed transfers by the payee to any person or entity other than the transferee or an affiliate or an assignee of a transferee or affiliate, applications for approval which were denied within the one year preceding the date of the current transfer agreement, to the extent that the transfers or proposed transfers have been disclosed to the transferee by the payee in writing or otherwise are actually known by the transferee;

(5) notification that any interested party is entitled to support, oppose, or otherwise respond to the transferee's application, either in person or by counsel, by submitting written comments to the court or by participating in the hearing; and

(6) notification of the time and place of the hearing and notification of the manner in which and the time by which written responses to the application must be filed, which shall be not less than 5 days prior to the hearing, in order to be considered by the court.

(Source: P.A. 99-286, eff. 8-5-15.)