Hi. We terminated our DB plan last year. We have been notified by our trustee that there are about 10 participants (that all made affirmative elections as to their account balances) that have not cashed their checks. These checks range from 9 to 12 months in age. The trustee says they need to return these funds to us (the employer/plan sponsor). But the plan trust is closed. We have filed Form 501.
We are trying to track these people down to find out why they haven't cashed their checks. The trustee is saying that even if we find some or all of these people, they (the trustee) cannot re-issue a check. They say that they have to send the funds back to us.
With the plan trust closed, can we (the employer) even take these funds back? If so, how do we hold these funds. We are confident that we can find all of these participants (4 of them are active employees).
Thanks for any guidance.