401K to IRA - still not rolled over!

[Guest jperkins98]

I left my previous employer in early June of this year. I was sent a form to fill out and told that I had to return the form within 30 days to roll over my 401K to an IRA of my choice, or they would cash out the account and send me a check. I opened an IRA account with Franklin Templeton, filled out all the necessary paperwork for the rollover and submitted it well within the 30 day limit. It is now mid-November and my 401K has STILL not been rolled over. I was contacted by Franklin Templeton last month and they said that my money had not yet been rolled over; and was there a problem? I called my previous employer and spoke with the accountant. He said that he had delayed sending my rollover request to the payroll company for about a month because he wanted to put a bunch of them through all at once. He said that the payroll company was having some problems and that the rollover should be completed by September 15. Today, I checked my IRA account online and saw that the rollover has STILL not taken place. I sent the following message to the accountant at my prior employer:

"Can you please update me as to the status of the rollover to my IRA? I just checked my online account status at Franklin Templeton and it's still not showing the rollover. This is getting a bit ridiculous; I left SGS over three months ago now, and I don't think it should be taking this long, no matter what the circumstances."

He wrote back:

"Whether you think it ridiculous or too long does not concern me, however, in realization that some failure has occured, I have resubmitted your request hoping that it will be properly handled this time. Time will tell the effectiveness of that strategy."

Am I being unreasonable here? It seems to me that they are simply delaying in order to be jerks. I did not have a particularly pleasant break with this company (I turned in my two-week notice when I received a new job and they turned around and said, "Don't bother coming back in tomorrow.") This is rather typical of the company. I just don't want my 401K funds held hostage any longer. Should I consult an attorney to begin legal action against them?

[rcline46]

To determine reasonableness, we need to know:

Is this a daily valued plan or not - if not then a distribution would have to wait until the 6/30 valuation (or whatever valuation date necessary) was completed. Also need to wait until last deferral had cleared.

So if a quarterly valued plan, and your last deferral did not reach the plan until after June 30th, and payouts are after succeeding valuation, you would not be paid until after 9/30!

Even in a daily valued plan, distribution would not be until after last deferral had cleared or longer. Putnam for example will not release deposited funds until 2 weeks after deposit. So, monthly payroll submission, sent in sometime early July, cleared say July 15th, two week 'hold' at mutual fund, earliest distribution would be beginning of August, a delay in submitting forms for payment, early September, market closed ...