Viatical Settlements Offer Comfort for Individuals Facing Terminally Illness

Summary: A viatical settlement involves the sale of a terminally ill individual's life insurance to a third party for an up-front payment of money.

Terminal illnesses not only destroy lives, but they can also erode the financial stability of individuals and their families. A viatical settlement, however, can provide financial support and emotional comfort to those with serous diseases. A viatical settlement is simply the sale of the benefits of a life insurance policy to a third party. Viatical settlements, also called "viaticals", allow individuals facing a terminal illness to use the present day value of their life insurance policy to ease the financial burdens. The viatical settlement business originated in the 1980s as a way to give terminally ill AIDS patients early access to their life insurance benefits. Since then, the use of viatical settlements has broadened significantly. Viaticals now include policy holders suffering from Lou Gehrig