Qualified order requirement
Every transfer must be approved by a state court under a qualified state statute, or the transferee owes a 40% excise tax on the discount. The petition package must demonstrate compliance.
The most rigorous §5891 petition package a factoring company can file.
DocketClear assembles a court-ready petition, disclosure, notice, and proposed-order package — every statutory element, every required disclosure, the notice calendar, and the state-specific format — checked against the letter of the applicable SSPA before a specialist releases it.
Every applicable SSPA subsectionState-specific discount-rate disclosureNotice-period calendar verifiedSpecialist release on every package5-business-day SLA
Why petitions fail
A single missing element can trigger a 40% excise tax.
Every structured settlement transfer must be approved by a state court under a qualified state statute, or the transferee owes a 40% federal excise tax on the discount under IRC §5891. Miss a required disclosure, use the wrong form, misstate the effective discount rate, or fail to meet the notice period — and the petition can be denied, delayed, or expose the factoring company to liability.
Most factoring companies rely on local counsel to draft each petition from scratch, state by state. The statute has not been read end-to-end since the last time it mattered. That is exactly where completeness gaps hide.
DocketClear exists to close that gap with a single, exhaustive standard applied identically to every file.
40%
excise tax penalty if the transfer is not approved by a qualified court order
The benchmark
Measured against the letter of the statute — subsection by subsection.
We do not summarize the law and hope. Every package is scored against a versioned rule pack tied to the exact text of the applicable SSPA and IRC §5891. These are the provisions each package is held to.
Effective discount rate disclosure
The state-mandated effective discount rate must be computed and disclosed in the exact format required by the applicable SSPA — no rounding shortcuts.
Notice period and parties
The notice period (typically 20 days) is verified deterministically. All required parties — payee, annuity issuer, and any other interested parties — are included.
Best-interest finding
The petition must include facts supporting a judicial finding that the transfer is in the payee's best interest, consistent with the state's standard.
State-specific forms
The petition, disclosure, notice, and proposed order are drafted to the exact statutory format of the payee's state of domicile — no generic templates.
Hearing readiness
The package includes a hearing checklist and, where required, a proposed order for in-person or remote appearance, with the payee's attendance obligation noted.
How a package is built
Intake to specialist release, with deterministic gates the AI cannot overrule.
AI extracts and drafts. Deterministic rules — running as code, outside the model — decide what is complete. A human specialist signs every release. That order is never reversed.
01
Gap Scan
Upload the annuity schedule and transfer agreement. We return a free completeness read: which statutory elements and disclosures you already have, and which are missing.
02
State-specific rule pack
We identify the applicable SSPA and load the versioned rule pack for that state — forms, disclosure methodology, notice period, and approval standard.
03
Grounded drafting
The petition, disclosure, notice, and proposed order are drafted from your validated data and the rule pack into field-locked templates — no legal opinions, no invented facts.
04
Deterministic completeness gates
The effective discount rate is computed and verified; the notice period is checked; all required parties are included; the best-interest facts are present. Any failure blocks release.
05
Specialist release
A petition specialist reviews the exception queue and signs the release. High-value or complex petitions route to attorney review first.
06
Delivery
You receive the package: petition, disclosure, notice, proposed order, evidence log, notice calendar, and filing checklist — ready for your local counsel to review, certify, and file.
The bar we hold
Rigor you can measure.
100%
Specialist-released
No package ships without a human signature.
5 days
Standard SLA
From complete intake to released package.
<1%
Critical-defect target
Tracked against a gold-standard package library.
49+
SSPA rule packs
Every state with a qualified statute, maintained and versioned.
Why DocketClear
Built to be the most thorough option a factoring company has.
Documentation-complete, by design
The deliverable is completeness itself — every statutory element and disclosure accounted for or explicitly exception-coded. Nothing is left implicit.
Deterministic, not vibes
The gates that decide completeness are code, not a model's opinion. A drafting error cannot slip past a statutory requirement.
In its lane, on purpose
We prepare documentation and run searches as your clerical agent. We never contact the payee, give legal advice, or conduct the hearing.
Engagement
Flat fee, per released package. No hourly billing, ever.
Simple, predictable, and aligned with a documentation standard — not a cut of any recovery.
- A free Gap Scan before you commit — see exactly what is missing.
- One flat fee per released Petition Package; disclosed pass-through search fees.
- Optional fixed-fee attorney review for high-value or complex petitions.
- Optional Multi-State Volume Subscription for recurring filings across jurisdictions.
FAQ
Questions, answered precisely.
Is DocketClear a law firm?
No. DocketClear, a service of Your Deputy, Obuke LLC, provides documentation-completeness services. It is not a law firm, does not provide legal advice, and does not represent you in any legal matter. Attorney review is available and recommended for complex or high-value petitions.
Do you contact the payee or give advice?
Never. DocketClear does not contact the payee, provide independent professional advice, or steer the payee toward any attorney. The factoring company remains responsible for all communications with the payee and for retaining local counsel.
What makes a package 'complete'?
Completeness is defined by the applicable SSPA and IRC §5891: the petition, disclosure, notice, and proposed order contain all required elements, the effective discount rate is correctly computed, the notice period is verified, and all required parties are included. Deterministic gates enforce each one before release.
How fast is it?
The standard SLA is five business days from complete intake to a specialist-released package. The free Gap Scan is returned much sooner and tells you exactly what is still needed.
How are you priced?
A flat fee per released package, plus disclosed pass-through search costs. No hourly billing and no percentage of any transfer amount.
See what's missing before it costs you a 40% tax.
Start with a free Gap Scan. Send your annuity schedule and transfer agreement and we'll return a completeness read against the applicable SSPA and IRC §5891.
Documentation-completeness service · not legal advice · your local counsel files every petition.