Lost Beneficiary

[Guest ccl]

Has anyone handled a situation like the following?

A 401(k) plan participant named a trust as his beneficiary under the plan. The participant deceased and no records of the trust can be found. No bank or institutional information, really no way to locate the trust. All we have is the name of the trust, which doesn't help much at all. Anyone know what to do in this situation?

Thanks

CL

[Guest Sieve]

Contact spouse and other known relatives to inquire, perhaps ask for name of attorney (if known).

As an aside: Notice that certain information must be provided to the Plan Administrator if the spouse is to be treated as the sole beneficiary of the trust for purposes of minimum required distributions after death, and some of that information must be provided before death (Treas. Reg. Section 1.401(a)(9)-4, Q&A-6(a)). Since apparently this plan did not receive that information, then either the spouse isn't the sole beneficiary or, if he/she is, then I'm not sure what the penalty is for not providing the information (perhaps it's treating the trust as having no designated beneficiaries other than as per the plan document).

[Guest mjb]

Has anyone handled a situation like the following?

A 401(k) plan participant named a trust as his beneficiary under the plan. The participant deceased and no records of the trust can be found. No bank or institutional information, really no way to locate the trust. All we have is the name of the trust, which doesn't help much at all. Anyone know what to do in this situation?

Thanks

CL

Send a letter to the deceased's last known address and see if you get a reply. Check with the county clerk or probate court in the county where the decedent lived to see if a will was probated so you can contact his attorney. If he did not have a will see if an administrator was appointed for his estate. If the beneficiary was a living trust you may not be able to find any information on his estate in which case the money will remain unclaimed. The only other thing you can do is hire a locater service to find his heirs who can be notified of the designation of the trust as beneficiary in order to commence a court proceeding to determine who will be entitled to the retirement benefits if the trustee cannot be located.