Can a church sponsor two separate plans?

[401(k)athryn]

A nonelecting church plan sponsors a 403(b) Plan.  All employees are eligible and there is one platform provider.  Much nicer and cleaner than most 403(b)s!  Oone of the pastors would like to have the church start a separate plan with a company dedicated to retirement advice specific to clergy, which appears to have a MEP for church plans.  The only reason for this change seems to be that the pastor has personal investments with this company already.

The church would like all employees to be able to choose between the new plan and the existing plan.  I understand that 410(b) does not apply, but there are still pre-ERISA coverage requirements.

Questions:

1) Can each plan exclude employees covered under another plan sponsored by the church?  Would it need to be specific as to who is covered under each plan or is it okay to allow participants to choose?

2) If the new plan is set-up, can this pastor move his existing 403(b) Plan assets?  There is no distributable event that I can see, but is there a way to do a 403(b) plan to plan transfer?

Thanks,

Kathryn

[CML526]

I wish this was answered because I am wondering the same!