Missed amendments

[chris]

To what extent do tpa's in general let their clients know of amendment deadlines with respect to plans they administer? I have got a tpa that was administering a plan for a client from 1987 up until 1996. No amendments have ever been made to the plan. Client says he had no idea since the tpa was handling everything and advising him on the plan. Any comments?

[Medusa]

Like everything else, it depends on the nature of the contract between the sponsor and the TPA. Many TPA's advise their clients of amendment requirements, but some do so as a contractual obligations whereas others do so as a courtesy. For example, I worked at a TPA where either we were responsible for their documents via our volume submitter plan, or we weren't. And if we weren't, our contract clearly stated that all document compliance issues were the sole responsibility of the client. We were given legal advice that for clients in this category, we were better off giving no advice than establishing a pattern of giving advice and then not following through completely.

Don't know if this helps, but that was my real world.