Required signatures on retirement forms

[Guest meggie]

Our retirement paperwork is set up so that if a participant should waive the QJSA, not only does he need to sign the waiver form but his signature must be witnessed. I know if there is a spouse, that the spouse would have to consent to waiving the QJSA and the spouse's signature would need to be witnessed by the plan representative or notary public. Can anyone witness the participant's signature- or must that be a plan rep or notary too?

If the person is not married and waiving the QJSA (single life), then would you agree that the same rules on "witnessed" signature would apply to the unmarried participant as would the married participant? That is, would need the plan rep or notary to witness the participant's signature. I can't find anything definitive in the regs on who must witness the participant's signature--just who must witness the spouse.

Thanks

[FundeK]

The regs do not indicate who must witness the participant's signature because the participant's signature does not need to be witnessed. It sounds like you require it as an "extra", so I would assume that you could decide who must witness the signature. A single participant, in a plan subject to QJSA, could consent electronically, and there is no witness there. Perhaps you should consider removing this requirement, it is seems like it would be quite cumbersome to administer.