Barbara Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 I have a former client that established a nonelecting church plan that's a DB plan. The plan was never restated for PPA. Does anyone know how I can refer the client to a qualified firm to both do the restatement and also file under EPCRS? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCalActuary Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 Network with other churches to find trusted advisors. Or contact the national organization affiliated with this congregation to get a referral. They may already have qualified legal counsel on retainer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Bailey Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 Almost any ERISA lawyer with substantial VCP experience could handle this. I would seek out someone in your area and vet them among your acquaintances who do not offer competitive services. Luke Bailey Senior Counsel Clark Hill PLC 214-651-4572 (O) | LBailey@clarkhill.com 2600 Dallas Parkway Suite 600 Frisco, TX 75034 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Bailey Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 SoCalActuary's recommendation is probably better. I would turn to mine if SoCalActuary's doesn't work. Luke Bailey Senior Counsel Clark Hill PLC 214-651-4572 (O) | LBailey@clarkhill.com 2600 Dallas Parkway Suite 600 Frisco, TX 75034 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpod Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 A perfectly wonderful ERISA lawyer who has no experience with church plans may not be able to readily identify those PPA changes (and other changes) which are inapplicable to church plans, and which the client does not want in the plan (whether it knows it yet or not). While SoCal's recommendation is a good one, regrettably you may end up with the same type of ERISA lawyer. I would google for this by looking for attorneys in your area using key words such as "church plan" and "ERISA." Or, better yet, first contact the bar association in the biggest city in the state in question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david rigby Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 Where are you located? I can offer names of several attorneys for consideration. Private message. I'm a retirement actuary. Nothing about my comments is intended or should be construed as investment, tax, legal or accounting advice. Occasionally, but not all the time, it might be reasonable to interpret my comments as actuarial or consulting advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Starr Posted January 18, 2018 Share Posted January 18, 2018 We have handled church plans for nuns who ran a retirement home for the aged sisters and the plan (a DB plan) covered the lay employees of the nursing home. You need a lawyer who is very versed in the ERISA Church Plan stuff; most "good" ERISA attorneys are NOT good Church Plan attorneys. Our sisters are represented by a law firm that represents almost all of the Catholic church issues in our area. We met with them and were extremely impressed that they really did know what they were doing and know how we had to modify our regular ERISA document to appropriately handle the church plan exclusion. So, call the local church headquarters of the church your are dealing with and ask them who is the legal counsel and take it from there. That would be my first step. They might have the answer as to firms they work with that understand the church plan exemption and could handle this case together. FWIW. Lawrence C. Starr, FLMI, CLU, CEBS, CPC, ChFC, EA, ATA, QPFC President Qualified Plan Consultants, Inc. 46 Daggett Drive West Springfield, MA 01089 413-736-2066 larrystarr@qpc-inc.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Feldt ERPA CPC QPA Posted January 19, 2018 Share Posted January 19, 2018 Agree with above comments. Just FYI, non-ERISA church DB plans are individually drafted plan documents, not available in a prototype or volume submitter format (unlike the recent 403(b) documents). Individually drafted plans only have to restate if they want to submit Form 5300 for a determination letter. Now that the five-year restatement program has ended, are you sure you have truly a failure? Did they adopt the necessary interim amendment language? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbara Posted February 10, 2018 Author Share Posted February 10, 2018 Thanks to everyone for your help and responses. I've found 3 names, and passed them on to my former client. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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