Unresponsive Beneficiary

[BLM]

Qualified DC Plan, fully vested account balance - no beneficiary form on file

Former participant was married at time of death and died 15 days before 1st RMD was due to be taken.

A letter regarding benefit from plan, along with distribution forms, has been sent by Plan Sponsor via certified mail and a return receipt has been received 2ce!  The SSN of the surviving spouse is unknown.

How can the account balance be disposed of?  As a missing participant - to forfeitures until/if a claim is made? other?

[Peter Gulia]

If the participant died before a distribution began, what are the plan's provisions for that situation?

If no survivor has communicated with the plan's administrator, perhaps there is no claim the administrator need respond to?

Do the plan's provisions mandate an involuntary distribution?

When is the required beginning date?

[ESOP Guy]

You might want to try some informal ways to reach out to the deceased's spouse. 

I have had great success in the past finding and getting beneficiaries responding to me by doing things like if a former co-worker knows the beneficiary have them know these letters are legit.  You don't have to share any confidential information but by having a know person start the process it helps break down barriers. 

With cell phone now a days people rarely delete numbers so a former co-worker may have been close enough to the deceased to know the family well enough to have a number to call. 

if the spouse is old and now grieving they might not responding thinking this is a scam (think Nigerian e-mails which promise you money if you give up information) or too confused.

So in short maybe try something that comes across as less legalistic and formal as a certified letter to break the ice. 

Also, we recently had a thread that was similar facts.  You might find the conversation about how much duty the fiduciaries have to resolve who is the beneficiary helpful-- or not since there was no agreement on that duty,.

 

[My 2 cents]

From ESOP Guy's post:

"You might want to try some informal ways to reach out to the deceased spouse."

Do they still do seances? 

I assume you meant "...to the deceased's spouse."

The idea of people not cooperating in receiving money to which they are entitled would be unthinkable but for Nigerian officials looking for people with larceny in their hearts and brains in neutral!