"What would an H-1B employee need to supply to the employer to confirm they are an nonresident alien? Plan excludes nonresident aliens and employee is asking to join."

"CB/DC combo 401k with NESH at 3% Terminated on 12/22/2022 but received the final paycheck in 2023, last payroll of 2022. No hours worked in 2023. Do you agree for 2023 Need 3% NESH Need 2023 gateway"

"A DBP requires 1000 hours for a year of credited service. However, final average earnings (FAE) is determined monthly through end of employment. Therefore, someone who terminated and worked less than 501 hours in a year could nonetheless experience an increase in their accrued benefit by virtue of an increase in FAE despite not earning credited service. Are we able to statutorily exclude these participants for 410(b) testing or are they considered benefiting or could benefit (i.e., term < 501 hours NOT being the reason they fail to benefit)? I know we would have to include or exclude all such participants on whichever basis whether they experienced a benefit increase in actuality or not."

The law as it stands today is that a Participant in an ERISA qualified defined contribution Plan can take a distribution from the Plan without giving notice to or obtaining the consent of his/her spouse or former spouse. But the time when such a distribution can be made has always been defined as the time the Participant terminates employment with the Plan Sponsor (e.g. retires or is fired). I have always stressed to my colleagues at the Bar the importance of getting the QDRO entered by the Court at the same time that the JAD is entered and sending a certified copy to the Plan Administrator ASAP.... Plan Administrators are not required to take any action, but their lawyers usually suggest that, now that they have 'actual notice', they don't want to find themselves involved in a lawsuit and should freeze everything in place until the parties have reached an agreement or the Court has entered a QDRO, vel non.

"Now Fidelity has a new product -- Fidelity's Guaranteed Income Direct, now available to Plan Sponsors nationally and applicable to 401(k), 403(b) and 457(b) Plans. Participants can purchase an income annuity directly through an employer's plan benefit from a third-party insurer selected by the employer. The assets Participant's assets leave the retirement plan and go to the insurer for purchase, with monthly cash flow views available through the benefits platform, NetBenefits....

"So let's say that the Participant retires and elects the new annuity option offered by Fidelity. The parties are still happily married. No divorce is on the horizon. But matters deteriorate and somebody files suit for divorce.

• Are the prospective Alternate Payee and the Court bound by the annuity option selected by the Participant?
• Can a QDRO supersede the annuity election and enter a QDRO awarding an immediately payable lump sum?
• Will that sponsor of the annuity, e.g. MetLife, Pacific Life, Prudential Financial and Western & Southern Financial Group, be required to accept and act in accordance with a QDRO?
• What if the Participant elects a 10 year life only annuity and dies 2 years later. Are the balance of the annuity payments wiped out thereby destroying what should have been the Alternate Payee's interest in the Plan benefits?
• Will the annuity contain the equivalent of survivor annuity benefits options and be treated like a QJSA in a defined benefit plan?

"I don't know the answers to any of these questions. But I can say with confidence that whoever drafted and enacted Secure 2.0 had zero experience in family law or in the allocation of defined contribution plans."

"What is the maximum SH NEC% that can be written into a SH plan? 6%?"

"The sole participant (100% owner) in a DB plan was in dire need of $100k while still employed and was told by her TPA that the only way to get such a distribution would be for her to elect to immediately start receiving her benefit as a 30-year annuity. Although she was supposed to take $100k out of the plan every year due to this change, she only took $100k the first year and never took out any more. Is she able to now make another election to change this back to not having to receive distributions until she retires? The doc unfortunately doesn't address such a situation. It seems the annuity circumvents the requirement that DB plans can't make inservice distributions until the attainment of age 62, which the participant hasn't yet reached. As for the annual payouts after the 1st distribution that were not taken -- would it be acceptable for her to be paid from the plan the missed distributions with interest at this time? Is any other option or correction/adjustment/reporting needed to fix all this, if it can be fixed?"