Also known as: lump sum payment · lump-sum payments · lump sum payments · lump sum · lump-sum settlement
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A single payment of a sum of money made at one time rather than in installments over a period. The payment discharges an obligation in full upon delivery.
After Marcus died, his surviving spouse Nora petitioned the court for a family allowance under the probate code. The estate held sufficient liquid assets. The personal representative calculated a reasonable maintenance amount and disbursed the entire sum to Nora in one payment at the outset of administration rather than spreading it across monthly installments.
Junior Mortgagee secured a receiver who collected rents from Blackacre including a tenant's unauthorized lump-sum prepayment covering two years. When Senior Mortgagee later appointed its own receiver, the junior receiver had to account for and surrender the portion of that prepaid rent attributable to periods after the senior receivership began.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
After the plan participant died, the surviving spouse elected to receive the nonforfeitable accrued benefit as a single distribution instead of the qualified joint and survivor annuity. The plan administrator calculated the actuarial equivalent and issued the entire amount in one payment to the spouse.
Following the employee's death, the widow sought modification of ongoing death-benefit payments. The commission approved commutation of the remaining periodic obligation into a single payment that equaled the present value of future installments, discharging the carrier's liability at once.
When the employer terminated its defined-benefit plan, the plan administrator offered participants the choice between an annuity or an immediate distribution. Several employees elected the lump-sum option and received the full actuarial value of their accrued benefits in one check rather than monthly checks over retirement.
After the acquirer obtained control, dissenting shareholders exercised appraisal rights. The court determined fair value and ordered the corporation to pay each dissenter the entire appraised amount in a single distribution rather than through any deferred or installment schedule.
The code expressly authorizes the personal representative to pay the family allowance as a lump sum or in periodic installments not exceeding one year. The election belongs to the representative subject to court oversight when an interested person objects.
Supporting sources
Under the Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act, the obligation for child support does not terminate at the parent's death. The court may commute the remaining obligation to a lump-sum payment when doing so is just and appropriate under the circumstances.
Supporting sources
The jury calculates the total stream of reasonably certain future losses, discounts that stream to present value, and awards the resulting figure as a single sum. The plaintiff receives the money immediately rather than waiting for each future loss to accrue.
Supporting sources
No. Courts do not award separate prejudgment interest on noneconomic damages such as pain, suffering, or emotional distress. The jury instead accounts for the passage of time by increasing the size of the single compensatory sum it awards at trial.
Supporting sources
…must operate"); People v. Tremaine , 252 N. Y. 27, 44, 168 N. E. 817, 822 (1929) ("If the power to approve the segregation of lump sum appropriations may be delegated to any one, even to one or two members of the Legislature, it necessarily follows that the power to segregate such appropriations may also be conferred upon…