ConnieStorer

I have a somewhat unusual situation. We have a defined benefit plan that was frozen back in 2017. The Plan Sponsor recently amended the Plan to allow for lump sum payments. We had a terminated vested participant who just passed away. The only death benefit was the QPSA for married participants. This individual was divorced (I believe back in 2020). The Plan sponsor received a copy of the divorce settlement from the ex-wife after the Participant died. The divorce settlement stated that the full benefit from the defined benefit plan was payable to the spouse. No QDRO was ever written. The Plan Document is an FIS Cycle 3 Document with the following language: 5.22 QUALIFIED DOMESTIC RELATIONS ORDERS All rights and benefits, including elections, provided to a Participant in this Plan shall be subject to the rights afforded to any Alternate Payee under a "qualified domestic relations order." Furthermore, a distribution to an Alternate Payee shall be permitted if such distribution is authorized by a "qualified domestic relations order," even if the affected Participant has not reached the "earliest retirement age." For the purposes of this Section, "qualified domestic relations order" and "earliest retirement age" shall have the meanings set forth under Code §414(p). A domestic relations order that otherwise satisfies the requirements for a "qualified domestic relations order" will not fail to be a "qualified domestic relations order": (i) solely because the order is issued after, or revises, another "qualified domestic relations order"; or (ii) solely because of the time at which the order is issued, including issuance after the Annuity Starting Date or after the Participant's death. We told the ex-wife that she needs a QDRO before any payment can be made. However, there is some disagreement in our office as to whether or not there are any benefits payable to the ex. My arguement is that the Participant died prior to the request for any payments to begin. He had attained Early Retirment Age but was a few years from Normal Retirement Age. As an unmarried Participant, there is no death benefit so the ex is not entitled to any benefit. Another administrator in the office thinks that if a QDRO is written, then the death of the participant should not affect the payment available to the ex since she was the Alternate Payee and entitled to 100% of the benefit. I still think any benefit payable to the ex is contingent on the Participant being alive at the time an election is made. The Plan Sponsor has no problem with paying the benefit to the ex if she can get a QDRO issued. Any thoughts out there on the benefit payable in this situation?

Hi Audrey, Most documents (FIS at least) says to use years in which the participant receives credit for TH. If the participant does not work 1000 hours in a year, then they should not receive credit for TH for that year.

Thanks everyone. The normal url that we use does not show the updated rates. Guess I need to snoop around more.

Does anyone know when the updated segment rates will be available? The last rates we have are January 2025.

I am assuming that you use FIS/Relius. We had to go in and fix the rates in our system after we ran the global updates. Someone in Jacksonville is not doing a good job of checking their work.

I have a terminating Defined Benefit Plan with assets in a pooled account at Vanguard. I prepared my standard Letters of Authorization for the Trustee to sign and submit to Vanguard for the benefit payments. Vanguard said the Letters were not sufficient but did not provide any alternative. Does anyone have a form or template that they have successfully used to get payments made from a qualified plan with Vanguard? Thanks,

I would like to think this would work but the deferrals were reported on the 2023 W-2. They were Roth so no tax consequences to the participant.

I have an ineligible employee who was allowed to defer prior to meeting eligibility. I would normally just amend the Plan to allow early entry for this employee. My only concern is that the Plan is Top Heavy. Is there anyway to avoid allocating a Top Heavy Benefit to this employee?

OMG That is so true.😂

Hi Jakyasar, That is my understanding of how the calculation works. Attached is a little spreadsheet that I use when I am forced to calculate a premium based on 74-307. Definitely not a fan of insurance in a qualified plan. Rev Ruling 74-307.xlsx

This is a small plan. The Trustee is the Plan Administrator. I have no clue as to why the Trustee/Plan Administrator is so adamant about paying out benefits now. No one has submitted a claim.

Very strange situation. Participant dies with no spouse. He does have minor children. The Plan document (FIS prototype) provides the order of payout. Since no spouse, the payments will go to the children. The Plan Trustee reached out to the parents of the deceased participant assuming that they would be the legal guardians. The Parents will not respond to the Trustee. At this point the Trustee wants to send the death benefit to the state's (Ohio) unclaimed funds. We cautioned the Trustee that this was not the appropriate action to take. The Trustee is totally fed up with the situation and is asking what he can do. Does anyone know if there is an agency that can be contacted to obtain information on the legal guardian of the deceased Participant's children. At least this would confirm who the Trustee needs to contact in order to pay out the death benefits. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks CuseFan. The Plan Sponsor would like all the assets housed at one place. Currently the individual accounts are with 15 plus brokerage houses. The goal was to simplify the annual reporting process which is currently a challenge to say the least. They would also like to appoint a Corporate Trustee rather than the current arrangement which is to name two of the Key Employees as Trustees. We did not think that it would be possible to get a Corporate Trustee if the assets are with multiple brokerage houses and vendors. I do like you idea of spinning off the MP accounts into a separate MP Plan and then terminating that Plan. Dropping the In-Service Age on the MP Assets is not that helpful due to the age of most Participants.

I would appreciate any thought from the Pension Guru's out there. Here is a little backgroud information: I have a somewhat large Profit Sharing 401(k) Plan where everyone has individual accounts. The Participants all have an investment account (with Advisor X)where their profit sharing and deferral contributions are deposited. More than 50% of the Participants also have individual advisors with separate accounts at other financial institutions. Periodically the assets are moved from the Advisor X accounts to their separate individual advisor accounts. The Plan Sponsor is thinking of doing away with the individual advisors and forcing all Participants to house their assets under a single platform provider. This will most likely meet with some resistance so they want to allow individuals to periodically take in-servive distributions in order to rollover their assets to an IRA with their individual advisor. The biggest issue with In-Service is that about 5 years ago the Plan Sponsor merged their old Money Purchase Plan into the Profit Sharing Plan. The old Money Purchase accounts have been maintained separately from any of the Profit Sharing Accounts and we have always restricted In-Service to those age 62 and over. Is there anyway, short of terminating the entire Plan, to get the Money Purchase Accounts out of the Plan? Can the Profit Sharing 401(k) Plan be terminated and only allow the Profit Sharing and Deferral money sources to be rolled directly into a new 401(k) Plan? Any ideas would be helpful.

The reversion will be roughly $60,000. Peter, thank you for the advise. We will throw this back to the attorneys.