Asbestos Trust Fund Calculator: How a Trust Pays a Claim

What an asbestos trust fund is

The Bankruptcy Code lets the court in a company's reorganization stop asbestos suits and send the claims to a trust. In the Code's words: “After notice and hearing, a court that enters an order confirming a plan of reorganization under chapter 11 may issue, in connection with such order, an injunction in accordance with this subsection to supplement the injunctive effect of a discharge under this section.” (11 U.S.C. § 524(g)(1)(A))

The injunction can stop suits over claims a trust is to pay: “An injunction may be issued under subparagraph (A) to enjoin entities from taking legal action for the purpose of directly or indirectly collecting, recovering, or receiving payment or recovery with respect to any claim or demand that, under a plan of reorganization, is to be paid in whole or in part by a trust described in paragraph (2)(B)(i),” (11 U.S.C. § 524(g)(1)(B))

The trust is for a company named in suits over “damages allegedly caused by the presence of, or exposure to, asbestos or asbestos-containing products” (11 U.S.C. § 524(g)(2)(B)(i)(I)), and the trust “is to use its assets or income to pay claims and demands” (11 U.S.C. § 524(g)(2)(B)(i)(IV)).

How an asbestos trust fund pays

The Code requires the court to find that “the trust will operate through mechanisms such as structured, periodic, or supplemental payments, pro rata distributions, matrices, or periodic review of estimates of the numbers and values of present claims and future demands, or other comparable mechanisms, that provide reasonable assurance that the trust will value, and be in a financial position to pay, present claims and future demands that involve similar claims in substantially the same manner.” (11 U.S.C. § 524(g)(2)(B)(ii)(V))

One trust's procedures put the pro rata share this way: “the claimant will ultimately receive a pro-rata share of that value based on the Payment Percentages separately set for OC and Fibreboard Claims pursuant to Section 4.2 below.” (Owens Corning/Fibreboard Asbestos PI Trust Distribution Procedures § 2.3 (rev. Dec. 2, 2015))

And its Expedited Review page: “The Expedited Review Process option is paid the current Payment Percentage of the scheduled value for each disease as outlined in the Asbestos PI TDP.” (Owens Corning/Fibreboard Asbestos PI Trust, ER Settlement (read Oct. 6, 2026)) “Expedited Review is also intended to provide qualifying claimant a fixed and certain claims payment.” (Owens Corning/Fibreboard Asbestos PI Trust, ER Settlement (read Oct. 6, 2026))

So under that trust's Expedited Review, the payment is the Scheduled Value times the Payment Percentage. That is the arithmetic the calculator does.

One trust's numbers

The Owens Corning/Fibreboard trust pays from two sub-accounts. Its Expedited Review page lists, for Owens Corning: “Owens Corning Sub-Accounts Mesothelioma (Level VIII) $215,000 Lung Cancer 1 (Level VII) $40,000 Lung Cancer 2 (Level VI) None Other Cancer (Level V) $22,000 Severe Asbestosis (Level IV) $42,000 Asbestosis/Pleural Disease (Level III) $19,000 Asbestosis/Pleural Disease (Level II) $8,000 Other Asbestos Disease (Level I) $400” (Owens Corning/Fibreboard Asbestos PI Trust, ER Settlement (read Oct. 6, 2026)). And for Fibreboard: “Fibreboard Sub-Accounts Mesothelioma (Level VIII) $135,000 Lung Cancer 1 (Level VII) $27,000 Lung Cancer 2 (Level VI) None Other Cancer (Level V) $12,000 Severe Asbestosis (Level IV) $29,000 Asbestosis/Pleural Disease (Level III) $11,500 Asbestosis/Pleural Disease (Level II) $4,500 Other Asbestos Disease (Level I) $240” (Owens Corning/Fibreboard Asbestos PI Trust, ER Settlement (read Oct. 6, 2026)).

Its notices of June 30, 2026 set the payment percentages. For Owens Corning: “during the pendency of the consent process the payment percentage for the Trust will be 4.3%” (Owens Corning/Fibreboard Asbestos PI Trust, Owens Corning Sub-Account payment percentage notice (June 30, 2026)). For Fibreboard: “during the pendency of the consent process the payment percentage for the Trust will be 3.5%” (Owens Corning/Fibreboard Asbestos PI Trust, Fibreboard Sub-Account payment percentage notice (June 30, 2026)).

So a mesothelioma claim paid under Expedited Review comes to $9,245.00 from the Owens Corning Sub-Account ($215,000.00 × 4.3%) and $4,725.00 from the Fibreboard Sub-Account ($135,000.00 × 3.5%), in that trust's figures as read for this page.

The percentages are provisional, in the notices' words: “If the 4.3% payment percentage is not ultimately adopted by the Trust, claimants whose claims have been paid applying the 4.3% payment percentage will receive an additional payment representing the difference between their payment based on the 4.3% payment percentage and any higher payment percentage that is subsequently adopted.” (Owens Corning/Fibreboard Asbestos PI Trust, Owens Corning Sub-Account payment percentage notice (June 30, 2026)) And: “reconsider the payment percentage for the Owens Corning Sub-Account asbestos claims no less frequently than once every three years.” (Owens Corning/Fibreboard Asbestos PI Trust, Owens Corning Sub-Account payment percentage notice (June 30, 2026))

Levels the arithmetic does not reach

Level I, Other Asbestos Disease, is paid differently. The procedures say claims at that level “shall not be subject to such Sub-Account’s Payment Percentage, but shall instead be paid the full amount of their Scheduled Value” (Owens Corning/Fibreboard Asbestos PI Trust Distribution Procedures § 4.3 (rev. Dec. 2, 2015)).

One level on the Expedited Review page shows no Scheduled Value, so it has no Expedited Review payment to compute.

And a claimant can ask for more than the Scheduled Value. The procedures say claimants “may alternatively seek to establish liquidated values for their claims that are greater than their Scheduled Values by electing the PI Trust’s Individual Review Process.” (Owens Corning/Fibreboard Asbestos PI Trust Distribution Procedures § 2.2 (rev. Dec. 2, 2015)) The calculator does not value an Individual Review claim.

Claims that have not arisen yet

A trust is set up to pay later claims too. The Code defines a demand as “a demand for payment, present or future,” (11 U.S.C. § 524(g)(5)) and, for those claims, requires that “the court appoints a legal representative for the purpose of protecting the rights of persons that might subsequently assert demands of such kind” (11 U.S.C. § 524(g)(4)(B)(i)).

How such a claim is filed and valued is set by the trust's own procedures, which is why the calculator works from a trust's published figures.

Using your own trust's figures

If you have a claim with another trust, that trust sets its own Scheduled Values and Payment Percentage, and the second card of the calculator takes them as you read them in that trust's documents. With claims at more than one trust, compute each one separately.

The example trust's procedures set medical and exposure criteria for each disease level. Read your trust's criteria with its values: a claim that does not meet them is not paid the Scheduled Value.

Filing deadlines

A trust's procedures can set their own rules on when a claim must be filed, and a lawsuit runs on a filing period of its own. This page counts neither.

The product liability calculator on this site quotes each state's period and repose for a product claim from its code. A lawyer can say which rules apply to your claims.

Talking to a lawyer about an asbestos claim

This site is not a law firm, does not refer anyone to a lawyer, and cannot say what a lawyer would recover. Which trusts a claim can be filed with, whether Expedited or Individual Review fits, and what a lawsuit against a company still in business could add are questions for a lawyer.

Bring the diagnosis and its date, the work and exposure history, every product or site you remember, and the figures this calculator shows.