THRONEBERRY LAW GROUP
Mesothelioma & Asbestos Attorneys
TRUST PAYMENT REFERENCE
A payment reference for the United Gilsonite Laboratories Asbestos Personal Injury Trust, which pays claims for asbestos products sold, distributed, handled, processed, or manufactured by United Gilsonite Laboratories. Every figure below was checked against the trust's own Trust Distribution Procedures, notices, filing instructions, and annual report on October 18, 2026.
CURRENT TRUST STATUS
The UGL asbestos trust pays 3.35% of a claim's liquidated value. The trustee set the rate at 3.35% effective April 11, 2024, down from 11%. A mesothelioma claim carries a $259,614 scheduled value for 2026, after the trust's 1.75% annual inflation adjustment, so an Expedited Review claim pays about $8,697. Individual Review averages $292,067 (about $9,784 at 3.35%) with a $519,231 maximum. Every claim needs a $100 processing fee, refunded when the claim is paid, and since August 20, 2026 a withdrawn claim must be refiled within three years and carries a second $100 fee. A claimant whose exposure happened west of Wisconsin or south of Virginia cannot take the scheduled value and must prove the product with documents through Individual Review.
Throneberry Law Group files UGL claims for painters, waterproofers, basement and masonry contractors, and the homeowners who used UGL products on do-it-yourself jobs, and their families, across the country. This page is part of our asbestos trust funds guide, which covers every trust we file against. UGL is one of the few trusts whose claim form has a section for do-it-yourself exposure, and one of the few with a geographic rule that changes how a Kansas, Arizona, or Florida claim is proved.
PAYMENT REFERENCE
The table below is the short answer. The sections that follow explain each line.
| Current payment percentage | 3.35% of the liquidated value for Disease Levels II through VIII. Other Asbestos Disease (Level I) carries a $0 value and is not compensable. |
|---|---|
| In effect since | April 11, 2024 (Notice Regarding Payment Percentage, with the consent of the Trust Advisory Committee and the Future Claimants' Representative). Claims liquidated before the April 11, 2024 proposal date whose releases came back in time ("Released Claims") were paid at the prior 11% rate (TDP Section 4.3). |
| Prior rates | 11% before April 11, 2024 (the "Released Claims Payment Percentage" in the trust's notice). The TDP leaves the Initial Payment Percentage to the trustee after the trust's December 31, 2014 effective date and the trust has posted no notice stating it or dating the steps before 11%. |
| Review cycle | The trustee may adjust the rate up or down with the consent of the TAC and the FCR to reflect current estimates of assets and liabilities (Section 2.4). If a lower rate is proposed but not yet adopted, the claim is paid at the lower rate, with the difference paid later if the proposal fails (Section 4.3). A claimant holding a release when a cut is proposed keeps the old rate by returning it within 30 days of receipt. When the rate goes up, claimants paid at the lower rate receive supplemental payments (Section 4.3). |
| Inflation adjustment | The Sixth Amendment to the TDP, effective September 24, 2024, raises every scheduled, average, and maximum value by 1.75% each year (Section 5.2(b)(3)). The values effective January 1, 2026 are posted in the trust's Notice of Inflation Adjustments and apply to all offers made from that date; they do not trigger supplemental payments. |
| Mesothelioma scheduled value | $259,614 scheduled; $292,067 Individual Review average; $519,231 Individual Review maximum (values effective January 1, 2026). The TDP's base figures, before adjustment, were $200,000 / $225,000 / $400,000. |
| Mesothelioma payout at the current rate | Expedited Review: about $8,697 ($259,614 x 3.35%). Individual Review awards are paid at 3.35% of the liquidated value, up to the maximum (about $17,394 at the $519,231 cap). |
| Review options | Expedited Review pays the scheduled value times 3.35% once the claim meets the medical and exposure criteria (Section 5.2(a)). Individual Review values the claim on the law of the claimant's jurisdiction and the trust's factors, up to the maximum (Section 5.2(b)). Lung Cancer 2 (Level VI), foreign claims, secondary exposure claims, and any claim whose exposure occurred west of Wisconsin or south of Virginia must go through Individual Review. |
| Extraordinary Claims | Disease Levels IV through VIII. A claimant whose exposure occurred predominantly at a UGL facility while UGL handled asbestos products there, or was at least 75% the result of UGL product or conduct, with little likelihood of a substantial recovery elsewhere, can be awarded up to five times the scheduled value (five times the average value for Level VI), times 3.35% (Section 5.3(a)). For mesothelioma that is up to $1,298,070 at the 2026 values, about $43,485 at 3.35%. Extraordinary Claims go through Individual Review, a special panel decides disputes, and liquidated Extraordinary Claims are paid ahead of all claims except Exigent Claims. |
| Exposure requirement | Debtor Exposure: meaningful and credible exposure before May 22, 1980 to an asbestos product sold, distributed, marketed, handled, processed, or manufactured by United Gilsonite Laboratories, or to conduct for which UGL is responsible (Section 5.6(b)). Mesothelioma needs Debtor Exposure only. Lung Cancer 1, Other Cancer, Severe Asbestosis, and Level III need six months of Debtor Exposure before May 22, 1980 plus Significant Occupational Exposure (five cumulative years in an asbestos trade, at least two before May 22, 1980). Level II needs six months of Debtor Exposure plus five years of occupational asbestos exposure. Exposure west of Wisconsin or south of Virginia is Individual Review only and must be proved by documents (sales records, invoices, or similar), not by affidavit alone. |
| Filing deadline | Anyone first diagnosed after March 23, 2011 (the petition date) may file within three years after diagnosis or by June 17, 2019 (three years after the June 17, 2016 Initial Claims Filing Date), whichever is later, regardless of any state statute of limitations (Section 5.1(a)(2)). Claims diagnosed before March 23, 2011 had to be filed by June 17, 2019 if the claim was pending, tolled, or still within the statute of limitations on the petition date (trust notice dated December 3, 2018). |
| Fees and withdrawal rules | $100 Claims Processing Fee on every claim filed on or after September 24, 2024 (up from $50), refunded in full when the claim is paid (Section 2.2; notice dated September 24, 2024). A claim is not considered filed, and the statute of limitations is not tolled, until the fee is paid (trust notices). Since August 20, 2026, a claim withdrawn or deemed withdrawn must be refiled within three years, a claim that has been withdrawn for three years in total is barred without the trustee's written exception, and every refiling carries a $100 Re-Filing Fee due within 60 days or the refiled claim is rejected (Sections 2.2 and 6.3; claims withdrawn as of January 1, 2026 have until January 1, 2029). A claim is deemed withdrawn if the claimant does not accept, reject, or start arbitration within six months of the offer, with one six-month extension on request. Deferral of up to three years total keeps the queue position; a deferred claim not cured in three years is deemed withdrawn. |
| Claims payment split | The trust's filing instructions state that 98% of each year's Maximum Available Payment goes to mesothelioma (Level VIII) claims and 2% to all other disease levels (Section 2.6). Non-mesothelioma claims share a very small pool. |
| Claims processor | Claims Processing Facility, Inc. (CPF), 1771 West Diehl Road, Suite 220, Naperville, Illinois 60563, through the CPF e-File system (a UGL-specific Electronic Filer Agreement is required). The trust's principal office is in Wilmington, Delaware; its trustee is Hon. Alan B. Rich. |
| Trust created | Under the Modified First Amended Plan of Reorganization of United Gilsonite Laboratories dated September 30, 2014, confirmed by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on December 8, 2014 and affirmed by the District Court the same day (Case No. 5:11-bk-02032). UGL filed its petition on March 23, 2011. The trust was established December 31, 2014, began accepting paper claims December 17, 2015 and e-filed claims March 17, 2016; the Initial Claims Filing Date was June 17, 2016. The current procedures are the Second Amended and Restated TDP effective August 20, 2026 (notice dated June 22, 2026), which folds in six prior amendments. |
| Last checked | October 18, 2026, against ugltrust.com (home, Resources, Latest News, Notices, and Contact pages), the Second Amended and Restated Trust Distribution Procedures (effective August 20, 2026) and its adoption notice dated June 22, 2026, the Notice of Inflation Adjustments effective January 1, 2026, the Notice Regarding Payment Percentage (3.35% effective April 11, 2024), the Notice Regarding Claims Processing Fee dated September 24, 2024, the claim filing deadline notice dated December 3, 2018, the UGL Filing Instructions and Announcement Packet (2015), and the trust's 2025 annual report filed April 21, 2026. |
SCHEDULE OF DISEASES
The trust sorts asbestos diseases into eight levels. Lung Cancer 2 (Level VI) has no scheduled value and goes through Individual Review only. Level I carries a $0 value and is not compensable. The values below are the figures effective January 1, 2026 from the trust's Notice of Inflation Adjustments, which rise 1.75% each January under Section 5.2(b)(3) of the TDP.
| Level | Disease | Scheduled Value | Payout at 3.35% | IR Average | IR Maximum |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VIII | Mesothelioma | $259,614 | About $8,697 | $292,067 | $519,231 |
| VII | Lung Cancer 1 | $27,260 | About $913 | $29,206 | $38,942 |
| VI | Lung Cancer 2 | None (Individual Review only) | Individually valued | $15,576 | $20,120 |
| V | Other Cancer | $11,682 | About $391 | $11,682 | $11,682 |
| IV | Severe Asbestosis | $15,576 | About $522 | $16,227 | $19,471 |
| III | Asbestosis / Pleural Disease | $1,947 | About $65 | $1,947 | $1,947 |
| II | Asbestosis / Pleural Disease | $1,169 | About $39 | $1,169 | $1,169 |
| I | Other Asbestos Disease | $0 (not compensable) | None | None | None |
The payout column is the 2026 scheduled value times 3.35%, rounded. A Level II or III claim pays less than the $100 processing fee until the fee is refunded, and the trust's 98/2 payment split leaves almost nothing for non-mesothelioma claims, so in practice UGL is a mesothelioma trust. For mesothelioma, the Individual Review average is only 12.5% above the scheduled value, so Individual Review is worth the extra proof mainly when the Extraordinary Claim track is in reach or when the geographic rule requires it anyway.
FILING REQUIREMENTS
The trust checks three things on every claim: the disease, the exposure, and the timing. It also checks where the exposure happened, and since 2024 it checks that the $100 fee arrived.
The claimant must show meaningful and credible exposure, before May 22, 1980, to an asbestos product sold, distributed, marketed, handled, processed, or manufactured by United Gilsonite Laboratories, or to conduct for which UGL is responsible (TDP Section 5.6(b)). East of Wisconsin and north of Virginia, the trust accepts a sworn statement of the injured person, a family member, or a co-worker based on personal knowledge, invoices, employment or construction records, or other credible evidence. For exposure west of Wisconsin or south of Virginia, the claim cannot take the scheduled value, must go through Individual Review, and must be proved by documentary proof, meaning sales records, invoices, or other documents that satisfy the trustee that a UGL asbestos product was at the site when the claimant was exposed; an affidavit or deposition does not count as documentary proof, though the trust still requires one as corroboration, and a claimant who cannot find documents must file an affidavit explaining why. The claim form has a separate Part 1 for do-it-yourself exposure (project dates, location, description, where the product was bought, and the product names) and a Part 2 for occupational exposure. Mesothelioma needs Debtor Exposure only. Lung Cancer 1, Other Cancer, Severe Asbestosis, and Level III also need six months of Debtor Exposure before May 22, 1980 and Significant Occupational Exposure, which means at least five cumulative years, two of them before May 22, 1980, in an industry and occupation that handled raw asbestos, fabricated asbestos products, worked with asbestos products, or worked regularly alongside those who did. Level II needs six months of Debtor Exposure plus five years of occupational asbestos exposure. Secondary exposure claims go through Individual Review (Section 5.4).
Every diagnosis must come with either a physician's statement that at least ten years passed between first asbestos exposure and diagnosis, or an exposure history that shows a ten-year latency. A mesothelioma claim needs a diagnosis of mesothelioma. The non-malignant levels need a diagnosis of Bilateral Asbestos-Related Nonmalignant Disease (a B-read of 1/0 or higher, or an x-ray, CT, or pathology report by a qualified physician showing bilateral disease) and, for Levels III and IV, pulmonary function tests (TLC under 80% or FVC under 80% for Level III; ILO 2/1 or pathology plus TLC under 65% or FVC under 65% for Level IV). The trust keeps a List of Unacceptable Physician Reports and Medical Facilities Reports. The National Cancer Institute explains what mesothelioma is and how it is diagnosed.
Anyone first diagnosed after March 23, 2011 may file within three years after diagnosis, regardless of the state statute of limitations (Section 5.1(a)(2)). The alternative deadline, three years after the June 17, 2016 Initial Claims Filing Date, ran out on June 17, 2019, so for a diagnosis today the deadline is three years from the diagnosis date. Claims diagnosed before March 23, 2011 had to be filed by June 17, 2019 if they were pending against UGL, tolled, or still within the statute of limitations on the petition date. The trust's notices say a claim is not considered filed, and the statute of limitations is not tolled, until the $100 fee is paid, so we send the fee with the claim. After filing, the six-month deemed-withdrawal rule on unanswered offers runs, and since August 20, 2026 a withdrawn claim has three years to be refiled, with a $100 Re-Filing Fee due within 60 days of refiling.
Expedited Review pays the scheduled value times 3.35% once the claim meets the criteria, about $8,697 for mesothelioma at the 2026 value, and is available only for exposure east of Wisconsin and north of Virginia. Individual Review values the claim on the law of the claimant's jurisdiction and the trust's factors, up to $519,231 for mesothelioma, with the average set at $292,067 (about $9,784 at 3.35%). An Extraordinary Claim, for a worker exposed predominantly at a UGL facility or whose exposure was at least 75% UGL product or conduct, can reach five times the scheduled value, about $43,485 for mesothelioma at 3.35%, and is paid ahead of all claims except Exigent Claims (Section 5.3(a)). A claimant who rejects the trust's offer can go to arbitration under the trust's ADR Procedures (revised October 20, 2020) and, after non-binding arbitration, to the tort system (Sections 5.9 and 5.10).
RATE HISTORY
The TDP left the Initial Payment Percentage to the trustee, to be set with the consent of the Trust Advisory Committee and the Future Claimants' Representative after the trust's December 31, 2014 effective date, and told claimants to look for the current rate on the trust's website. The trust has posted no notice stating the initial rate or dating any step before 11%, and this page does not guess at them.
The trust's Notice Regarding Payment Percentage records that the rate was 11% before the trustee proposed a change on April 11, 2024, and that effective April 11, 2024, with the consent of the TAC and the FCR, the trustee set the rate at 3.35%. Claims liquidated before the proposal date whose releases were returned before it, or within 30 days of receipt, were paid at the 11% Released Claims Payment Percentage under Section 4.3. Five months later the trustee adopted the Sixth Amendment (effective September 24, 2024), which doubled the processing fee to $100 and added the 1.75% annual inflation adjustment to the values, and in 2026 the Second Amended and Restated TDP (effective August 20, 2026) added the three-year refiling bar and the Re-Filing Fee. In 2025 the trust paid 136 claims totaling $1,012,754 after the payment percentage, and had paid 1,320 claims in all since opening (2025 annual report).
PRODUCTS AND WORK SITES
The trust's procedures define covered exposure by company, as asbestos products sold, distributed, marketed, handled, processed, or manufactured by United Gilsonite Laboratories, or conduct for which UGL is responsible (TDP Section 5.6(b)), and the trust publishes no product list and no site list. Two things in the trust's own documents say who it expects to pay: the claim form's do-it-yourself exposure section, and the geographic rule that treats exposure east of Wisconsin and north of Virginia as the trust's home territory. Proof for the trust comes from two directions.
The firm sees UGL exposure in the construction trades, among painters and waterproofers, basement and masonry contractors, and the homeowners who did the work themselves, and the same drywall, paint, and patching history usually supports claims against Bondex, USG, National Gypsum, and W.R. Grace. For our Illinois clients the trust's scheduled value is available on an affidavit; for Kansas, Arizona, and Florida exposure, and for any Missouri site the trust treats as west of Wisconsin, the claim goes to Individual Review and needs a receipt, an invoice, or another document, which is why we ask families early for old hardware store receipts and contractor paperwork. Our page on products that contained asbestos explains how these building materials released fiber.
QUESTIONS
As of October 18, 2026, the United Gilsonite Laboratories Asbestos Personal Injury Trust pays 3.35% of a claim's liquidated value. The trustee set the rate at 3.35% effective April 11, 2024, down from 11%, with the consent of the Trust Advisory Committee and the Future Claimants' Representative. Claims liquidated before April 11, 2024 whose releases came back in time were paid at 11%.
The mesothelioma scheduled value is $259,614 for 2026, after the trust's 1.75% annual inflation adjustment, so an Expedited Review claim pays about $8,697 at 3.35%. Individual Review averages $292,067 (about $9,784) with a $519,231 maximum (about $17,394). A claimant whose exposure was at least 75% UGL product can qualify as an Extraordinary Claim worth up to five times the scheduled value, about $43,485 at 3.35%.
Usually not for a recent diagnosis. Anyone first diagnosed after March 23, 2011 may file within three years after diagnosis regardless of the state statute of limitations. The trust's alternative deadline of June 17, 2019 has passed, so claims diagnosed before March 23, 2011 and not filed by then are late. A claim is not treated as filed until its $100 processing fee is paid, and since August 20, 2026 a withdrawn claim must be refiled within three years.
WHY THRONEBERRY LAW GROUP
UGL pays about three cents on the dollar, charges a fee to find out, and treats half the country as out-of-territory. A firm that files it blind in Missouri or Arizona on an affidavit gets a deficiency letter and a lost $100. We file UGL because the claim costs the client nothing extra once the product history is built for the other drywall and paint trusts, because the fee comes back when the claim pays, and because the trust's do-it-yourself section means a homeowner's basement job counts for mesothelioma. We check the exposure state first, gather receipts and invoices where the geographic rule demands them, and elect Individual Review only where the facts earn it. Our overview of mesothelioma compensation explains how trust payments fit with lawsuits and other recoveries, and attorney Michael Throneberry, who has handled asbestos cases for more than two decades, reviews every trust claim before it goes out.
We work on contingency, so you pay nothing unless we recover money for you. We serve clients nationwide, we can help Spanish-speaking families, and we travel to you, including to your home or hospital.
SOURCES
Figures on this page come from the United Gilsonite Laboratories Asbestos Personal Injury Trust website (ugltrust.com): the home, Resources, Latest News, Notices, and Contact pages; the Second Amended and Restated Trust Distribution Procedures (effective August 20, 2026) and the Notice of Adoption dated June 22, 2026; the Notice of Inflation Adjustments to the Scheduled, Average, and Maximum Values effective January 1, 2026; the Notice Regarding Payment Percentage (3.35% effective April 11, 2024); the Notice Regarding Claims Processing Fee dated September 24, 2024; the claim filing deadline notices dated December 3, 2018 and after; the UGL Filing Instructions; the Announcement Packet (December 2015); and the trust's Annual Report for 2025 filed April 21, 2026 (Case No. 5:11-bk-02032, Bankr. M.D. Pa.). Last checked October 18, 2026.
DISCLAIMER
This page is general information, not legal advice. Trust payment percentages, scheduled values, and procedures change, and the trust's own current documents control. Payout examples are arithmetic on the trust's published figures, not a promise of any result. Contacting us or sending a form does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Copyright 2026 Throneberry Law Group. All rights reserved.
GET A FREE CASE REVIEW
If you or a family member used United Gilsonite Laboratories products before 1980, on the job or on a do-it-yourself project at home, the UGL asbestos trust may owe a payment, and the same history often supports claims against the other paint, patching, and drywall trusts. We check the current rate, the exposure rules, the geographic rule, and the deadline for every trust before we file.
We serve clients across the country, we can help Spanish-speaking families, and we charge nothing unless we recover for you. Start with a free, no-obligation case review through our contact form.
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