Understanding Asbestos Trust Payment Percentages

What a Trust Payment Percentage Means

The U.S. Government Accountability Office defines a Payment Percentage as the fraction of a claim’s value that an asbestos trust can pay to present claimants while maintaining sufficient assets for future claims. The percentage is applied to the value assigned to an allowed claim according to the governing Trust Distribution Procedures (TDP).

In a straightforward example, if a trust liquidates an allowed claim at $100,000 and the applicable Payment Percentage is 25%, the arithmetic result is $25,000.

Mathematical illustration only — not a guaranteed payment. Actual trust payments can also be affected by the type of review, disease level, exceptions in the TDP, claim-payment ratios, maximum-payment rules, FIFO queues, liens, releases and other trust-specific provisions.

Why Asbestos Trusts Use Payment Percentages

Asbestos diseases can develop decades after exposure. A trust therefore has to consider not only people filing claims today but also people who may develop mesothelioma, lung cancer or other qualifying diseases in the future.

GAO found that most trusts cannot pay the full liquidated value of every claim and still preserve enough assets for present and future claimants. Payment Percentages are a financial mechanism designed to spread available trust resources across generations of qualifying claimants.

The percentage is not a statement about how serious a disease is. A low percentage generally reflects the trust’s financial and actuarial circumstances rather than the medical severity of an individual claimant’s diagnosis.

Scheduled Value Versus Actual Payment

Several different numbers can appear in an asbestos trust’s TDP, and they should not be confused:

• Scheduled Value: a preset liquidated value assigned to a qualifying disease claim under specified procedures, commonly Expedited Review.
• Average Value: a valuation reference used by some trusts for Individual Review claims.
• Maximum Value: the highest ordinary liquidated value permitted for specified claims under a TDP, subject to exceptions.
• Liquidated Value: the value assigned to an allowed claim before the Payment Percentage and other payment provisions are applied.
• Payment Percentage: the percentage applied to covered liquidated claims under the trust’s current rules.
• Actual Payment: the amount ultimately issued after all applicable trust provisions are applied.

This distinction is essential when comparing asbestos trusts. Two trusts can publish the same Scheduled Value yet produce very different mathematical payment amounts because their Payment Percentages differ.

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How a Payment Percentage Is Determined

Payment Percentages are generally established under the trust’s governing documents and periodically reconsidered. GAO reports that trustees evaluate what the trust can afford to pay based on assets on hand, expected investment earnings, claim statistics and forecasts of future claim volume and value.

The Trust Advisory Committee (TAC), which represents present claimants, and the Future Claimants’ Representative (FCR), which represents future claimants, generally participate in or consent to significant percentage changes under the governing documents.

A current primary-source example appears in the ASARCO Asbestos Personal Injury Settlement Trust’s 2025 Annual Report. Its TDP directs the Trustee to base Payment Percentage decisions on current estimates of the number, types and values of present and future claims, assets available for payments, anticipated administrative and legal expenses and other material factors affecting the sufficiency of funds.

Why Payment Percentages Change

A Payment Percentage is not necessarily permanent. Trust finances and claim forecasts change over time.

A trust may reconsider its percentage when actual claim filings differ from projections, disease mix changes, claim values change, investment results differ from expectations, insurance proceeds are recovered, administrative expenses change or updated actuarial projections indicate that the trust can afford to pay more or must conserve additional assets.

GAO found that trustees periodically review payment schedules and may adjust percentages upward or downward based on the assets available to meet present and future liabilities.

This is why an old percentage from a secondary website should not be treated as current. The latest official trust notice, TDP amendment, annual report or other governing primary source should be checked before calculating a payment.

What Happens When a Payment Percentage Increases

An increase can raise the amount payable on newly processed claims because a larger fraction of the liquidated value is being paid.

GAO also reported that when a percentage increases, trusts will generally make supplemental payments to claimants who previously liquidated claims and were paid at a lower percentage, as provided by the particular TDP.

Supplemental-payment rules are trust-specific. Minimum-payment thresholds, administrative costs, prior releases and other provisions can affect whether or how an additional payment is issued.

A claimant should therefore check the specific trust’s current notice and TDP rather than assuming every percentage increase automatically results in the same supplemental-payment procedure.

What Happens When a Payment Percentage Decreases

A decrease generally means a smaller fraction of a newly allowed claim’s liquidated value will be paid. Trust documents may contain special rules governing claims being processed while a proposed decrease is awaiting required consent.

The Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corporation Asbestos Personal Injury Trust provides a useful current example. On February 5, 2025, its Trustees sought consent to reduce the Payment Percentage from 15.5% to 10.6%. Under Kaiser TDP section 4.3, while the proposed change remained unadopted, claimants were to receive the lower of the current or proposed percentage. The Trustees therefore directed Verus Claims Services to pay claims at 10.6% effective February 5, 2025.

That example demonstrates why it is important to distinguish an adopted percentage from a temporary or pending payment rule. A page that merely repeats “15.5%” would not accurately describe the amount Kaiser directed its processor to use after February 5, 2025.

Real and Mathematical Payment Examples

Mathematical illustrations only — not guaranteed payments.

Generic Example

A hypothetical $100,000 liquidated claim at a 25% Payment Percentage produces a mathematical result of $25,000.

Current ASARCO Example

The ASARCO Trust’s official 2025 Annual Report, filed April 29, 2026, states that its Payment Percentage remains 35%. The report also explains that the percentage is applied to allowed liquidated asbestos personal-injury claims except specified categories and that the Trustee must periodically reconsider the rate using current financial and claim information.

This is a useful example of a trust publicly confirming its current percentage in a recent annual report. It should not be used to calculate a claim against a different trust.

Kaiser Pending-Change Example

Kaiser’s February 5, 2025 official notice shows why percentage status can be more complicated: the prior rate was 15.5%, the Trustees proposed 10.6%, and the TDP required claims to be paid at the lower 10.6% rate while the proposed change was pending.

These examples reinforce the same rule: use the current official documents for the exact trust involved in the claim.

Confirmed Primary Sources for Payment Facts

No law-firm or lead-generation website was used as factual authority for this guide. Government and official trust sources reviewed include:

• U.S. Government Accountability Office report explaining Payment Percentages, Scheduled Values, claim review and why percentages are adjusted.
• Official ASARCO 2025 Annual Report filed April 29, 2026, confirming that its Payment Percentage remains 35% and explaining the factors used to reconsider the percentage.
• Official ASARCO Trust resource center containing its TDP, amendments, notices and claim materials.
• Official Kaiser February 5, 2025 notice proposing a reduction from 15.5% to 10.6% and directing claims to be paid at 10.6% while the change was pending.
• Official Kaiser Trust resource center containing current TDP materials and Payment Percentage notices.

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A Scheduled Value, Average Value, Maximum Value or Payment Percentage does not guarantee compensation. Actual eligibility and payment depend on the responsible trust, medical and exposure evidence, claim review, liquidated value, current trust procedures and individual circumstances. Compensation is not guaranteed.