Hardship Withdrawal

[Guest ducharme]

I have called my plan admn.-and/or 3rd party admn's office- three times since August 26th, 1998. After the third time I was informed by the company 401K plan admn. that all correspondence must be in writing. From that point I have sent three requests for hardship withdrawal forms and twice I have asked in writing for input on plan information and instructions (sent via certified mail). I received a copy of the plan, which I did not have prior to the requests, and three forms for things like salary reduction (% amount to deduct) etc. but no form for a hardship withdrawal. I have contacted the Dept. of Labor, Pension and Benefits Admn. with carbon copies of all the written requests this week. I do no know what to do to motivate my former employer to release hardship withdrawal forms and information beyond what I have done. Any suggestions? Is there a legal limit on responding to these requests?

[Guest Dook]

Now that you have a copy of the plan document, have you read it to confirm whether the plan allows for hardship withdrawals? Plans are not legally required to allow hardships, it is an optional feature.

If in fact the plan allows hardship withdrawals then you are pursuing the correct course of action. The Plan Administrator at your employer's offices should be your primary contact. If they are not adequately responding to you or answering your questions then you should work through the DOL.