Settling cases can be more complicated when the claimant is a minor. Often an ad litem is appointed to protect the interests of the minor or to advise the judge, who generally must approve the settlement. These added participants often take an interest in what happens to the money. Sometimes the added participants have a different view of what is in the best interest of the child than the plan proposed by a settlement planner who has worked with the family. Trouble may emerge if the family had relied on a certain plan when they agreed to enter into a settlement agreement and then find out they cannot accomplish their goals. Personal injury attorneys can become frustrated when an ad litem who seemed to procrastinate working on the case until the eleventh hour wants to see changes in a settlement plan that had been carefully put together after a lot of work, family politics, and haggling with the defense. In other instances, a judge may surprise everyone by requiring changes to the plan before he or she will approve the settlement.

An attorney settling a personal injury case involving a structured settlement has a duty to get the best possible annuity rates available for the claimants. However, many personal injury attorneys simply assume that the annuity quote they and their clients receive is the best rate available. This is not always a safe assumption.