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You say the plan covered nuns. Was it a church plan? If so, it is not required to file Forms 5500 or 8955 unless it elected to be covered by ERISA, which very few church plans do.

If you want help, you're going to have to provide a lot more information than you have provided. There are about 175, 000 pension and retirement plans in the United States and they do not all have the same procedures. I'm not sure what OC means in your post but I assume it's "other counsel". It is clear that your lawyer doesn't have a clue. If you want to call me at 301-947-0500 I can very likely tell you what you need to do and send your attorney a template for a motion asking the court to enter the qdro without the approval of your former spouse and or his or her attorney. You are going to need to have in hand the exact name of the 401K plan and the Judgment of Absolute Divorce that the court signed giving you an interest in that plan. David Goldberg

@david rigby this link may take you down memory lane:

With Roth accounts in 401(k) plans not being subject to the RMD rules, some people without other taxable income other than Social Security are looking to reduce prospective current year income below the threshold that triggers taxation of their Social Security benefits. Add in the potential exemption of earnings from taxable income from the Roth accounts, this may be an attractive option for someone who is betting on living longer than their average life expectancy. There also are individuals who see the sun setting in 2025 on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provisions and they are anticipating a hike in their personal rates.

I'm certainly no investment expert or tax strategist either. I have sometimes seen a strategy where part of the "diversification" is that the "aggressive" investments are converted to Roth, on the theory that if they hit a home run and get big returns, it'll be tax free. The conservative investments remain as pre-tax.

Somebody might remind both the employer and the provider that there is a fiduciary duty to process domestic relations disorders and determine whether or not they are qualified. The statute suggests an outside time limit (often misinterpreted), but the law requires that things be done within a reasonable time. The threat of fiduciary liability sometimes gets things moving.

Bill - thank you sir. I'm not a tax strategist, but they are focused on growing non-taxable earnings. Personally, I'm not clear why they want to increase their tax liability this year anyway, but that seems to be what they've been advised.

Got an answer to the question below from my partner who does more submissions than I these days. Apparently you type in "determination" instead of Form 5300 on pay.gov. in order to get the 5300 form. Unbelievable. Every other form, including 5307, you are asked to fill in the number of the form or the Agency. Type in 5300 and you get a blank. Type in the IRS and you get other forms, like the 5307, but not the 5300. ___________________________________________ I am going to submit an individually designed 403(b) plan under the new procedure that allows for this. The IRS website says to use pay.gov. To my surprise, pay.gov only has a 5307 available. It seems that the 5300 has not been loaded into pay.gov. but that is a form for qualified plans, too. Any ideas?

Take a look at the rules for correcting missed deferral opportunities for plans with auto-enrollment. They are very generous for the plan, and the IRS admitted the leniency was because the IRS like auto-enrollment. There also is a three-month rule which can reduce the cost of a corrective action. Do keep in mind that if there is a match involved, the missed match plus earnings are more likely to be required. Take care in pointing fingers at any one particular party, and do so only after carefully reading not only the plan documents but also each service agreement with each service provider. Ultimately the responsibility and accountability for the proper operation of the plan falls on the shoulders of the plan fiduciaries. Also document a timeline of events of what should have happened and what did happen, and note any causes of delays. This is invaluable should the plan fiduciaries attempt to recoup anything from any of the service providers. As some have noted above, deferrals are a payroll function which may not have been under the control of the Custodian, and if the Custodian was not in a position to accept the deferrals, there were alternatives available until Custodian fixed its problems. Stick to the facts, take advantage of the breaks available to auto-enrolled plans, and work with the service providers to right the ship.

Consider that a writing (even a little email) stating or describing a nonelective contribution might be among the “documents and instruments governing the plan[.]” Consider too that what the plan’s governing documents provide is only one of several lanes a claimant might drive in. Among others, a disappointed participant might pursue one or more of the other legal and equitable remedies ERISA’s title I provides. Those can include remedies for miscommunication. The plan sponsor, the plan’s administrator, and other plan fiduciaries each will decide how much risk one wants to assume. If the employer wants to evaluate how relevant law applies and which risks to assume or manage, it might call in a lawyer. This is not advice to anyone.

1. were deferrals withheld? but not sent in? in that case you have late deposits. See VFCP, and Form 5330, and look up late deposits to retirement plans 2. were deferrals not withheld? but they should have been? In that case you have a missed opportunity to defer. See EPCRS, if there were deferral elections, or no deferral elections, or match or no match, the actual amount will vary, but it all covered in the IRS's EPCRS rev pro. Note: the custodian not being ready isn't a valid excuse. Plans encounter this all the time, and purposely pick a special deferral start date farther out, that is written into the plan document, for this very reason. The give service providers time to get set-up with all the info from the sponsor. Even in the event of an unexpected delay, there is no reason why the deferrals couldn't have started on time, and the plan open up a temporary account, such as brokerage/checking/savings account etc in the name of the plan into which to deposit the deferrals. Then they would be deposited to the trust on time, and then once the regular custodian is ready, the money can be transferred to there.

No, LTPTEs do not need to get SH match. However the plan document needs to say that they won't get it. (proposed) 1.401(k)-5(e)(2)(i) The plan also does not lose its deemed top heavy exemption merely because it excludes LTPTEs from the safe harbor contribution. 416(g)(4)(H)

As a further clarification to CBZeller's note that participants must have the same effective opportunity to make catch-up contributions, IRS 414(v)(2) says: This language allows for a plan to limit catch-up contributions to an amount that is lower than the catch-up limit. The Joint Committee on Taxatation General Explanation of section 109 of SECURE 2.0 says in part: This reinforces the idea that the SECURE 2.0 increased limits are themselves optional.

Sorry for your situation. A couple of things, though. First, the parties don't need to "agree" on a QDRO. It is an order of the Court - and if the divorce was granted with a settlement of retirement plan rights, the judge can issue that order (a QDRO) without the parties doing anything to agree to it (you've already agreed to the amount and terms - the QDRO is a mechanism under federal law to actually get at retirement plan assets). It may be customary for the parties to agree (and at times easier to get a judge to sign it if they do), but it is not required. Second, your ex does NOT need to provide the data indicated in your original post. The plan probably has that info (it really should as a matter of federal law) - and as part of the plan's review of the QDRO, they will determine the amount - if it is based on a formula (like, 50% of the amount of increase between dates of marriage and divorce). If you provide the dates, the plan (through either the recordkeeper, or the Plan Administrator) should be able to figure it out. If they can't (change in employer through a merger or acquisition, or change in recordkeeper), then you can approximate the amount, and have the order changed to a specified dollar amount (rather than a formula). Finally, if your ex is truly necessary and still recalcitrant, the judge can 1) order them to not do anything with the plan assets until the issue is resolved; 2) hold them in contempt; and/or 3) penalize them, but simply awarding you the whole thing (rare, but I've seen it happen). In any event, someone needs to get to the judge to "enforce that which was already ordered/agreed to." If not your attorney, then write a letter to the judge asking that the matter be reopened and reheard (and file a complaint with the local or state bar association responsible for attorney discipline). Domestic relations judges are used to that....