Beneficary and waiver and divorce decree

[Guest dulan]

I am the only suvivor of my brother.

He was divorced three times and didn't have any children.

The company he worked for he had been with for almost 25 years.

In his divorce decree with the last two wives it states very clearly that they waived any rights to his 401K.

I am the administator of his estate and I live in a different state.

After I sent his company and Fidelity copies of his death certificate and my letter of adminstration I could not find out anything on is 401K.

After a couple of months Fidelity told me they could not find any beneificary and they were sending things back to the legal department where he worked.

I got a attorney to handle this. He found out that my brother never got wife number 2 off as beneficary.

It is very clear in there divorce decree and states the name of his plan and she waived any rights to it.

My attorney where I live says that the waiver would carry more weight than him not getting the second wife removed.

My attorney said I would need an attorney in GA and he would help me find one.

This has been going on for several months and I was not being pushey with our local attorney but now I would like to get this over with.

I cannot get him to return calls and he does not respond to emails. I made an appt with him and it was cancled and change twice.

Can anyone please just let me know if he is correct about the divorce decree with wife number 2 and her waiving it versus her still being named beneifcary the stronger case.

There has not been any claim to the funds.

The loss of my brother is so painful that my life will never be the same.

I just want to get this over with or get some straight answers.

I have inquired about different attorneys and then I am told they don't do this type of work and give me another attorney's number.

Please just the answer to that one question would be helpful.

Thanks so much for listening,

Dulan

[JanetM]

A waiver would negate the beneficiary form in normal course. Try and get copy of Summary Plan Description and see what is says about death and the account I would write the Plan Administrator (the company that sponsors the plan) - include copy of the divorce decree with the waiver and then saying in the absence of a valid beneficiary designation the account should go to the estate. Send it certified.

[Guest dulan]

I wrote months ago asking for a copy of the summary plan description, it was sent certified mail.

I never heard anything from them. After I got a local attorney he received one.

That is how I found out that my brother never got wife number 2 off as beneficary.

This company does not even send me his W-2 forms to file his income taxes and his state income taxes.

They send everything to his address where he lived and I have sold his house. They have copies of letters of administraton but they treat me like I don't exist.

My brother told me repeadly that I was his only survivor and he made changes in his life insurance to me.

I found out from friends that worked with him that they cannot find out who they have listed as there beneficary they just have to make out new paper work.

They don't have access to the Summary Plan.

I need to know what type of attorney I need to handle something like this. The attorney I am using made a statement a few months ago about some type of employee attorney.

He states that we would sue her if she makes a claim but I know she was remarried and I don't think she would know to file any claim.

So after I got a copy of the divorce decree from this wife number 2 I faxed it to my attorney because he had never received the one he requested from the county where the divorce was filed.

After that I waited for over a month and thought I would try to find out if we could just get this over with.

I don't know if he ever sent a copy to the company or Fidelity so last week I faxed one to the company attorney .

dulan

[JanetM]

An ERISA attorney is what you need to deal with the 401K plan. Your best bet is to contact the state bar association and get the name of an ERISA attorney and then get started. If you requested an SPD by certified mail and never got anything the company could face a penalty. (it would depend on how you asked and what you told them)

If existing employees can't find out who they listed as beneficiary or get SPD this oufit sounds like trouble.