retirement plan getting put into a lump sum?

[minnis0610]

my wive's father passed aweay and i asked this question las night but did not word it correctly. well anyways we are getting a part of his retirement plan of 305 a moth for the next twelve years,which turns out to be around 39000, or so.now i know we wouldnt get it all if we got it in a lump sum beut do retirement plans do that for u? we currently bought a house and are in some bebt problems so we were wondering if its possible to get the money in one lump sum. if anybody knows a way or some advice on fixing our debt soulution please answer this question please

[Califrich]

If you want a lump sum, you can annuitize it -- convert the monthly payments into a single payment. However, you will probably wind up with only half of the $39,000 -- maybe $20,000 or less.