Hartford's 457 plan specimen documents

[J Simmons]

Any suggestions as to what provisions of this document might raise any red flags, either as a matter of compliance with 457b and regulations, or practical aspects of plan operations?

[Peter Gulia]

John, I don't know your client's situation, but in my experience few governmental or tax-exempt employers are ready to pay a lawyer or any professional for the time it takes to read a plan; and fewer still will pay a professional to think about the plan's provisions.

Depending on your client's circumstances, a method that sometimes helps a little is to focus the limited effort that the client will pay for on negotiating the service agreement so that the recordkeeper will be stuck with fixing defects without any incremental fee and at the recordkeeper's expense.

If the employer maintains a nongovernmental 457(b) plan, there are some opportunities to use others' desire to protect against personal liability as a way to get more professional attention on a plan.