"I am divorced for 22 years. My QDRO had me paying life long alimony, however my ex recently dropped the alimony as she is living with someone. On the QDRO it has ex named as my death beneficiary. I am remarried for 5 years and would like to change the death beneficiary to my current wife. I believe that the reason ex was named this designation was in the event I should pass away and she would be paid her alimony. I would like to modify my QDRO and I was advised that I would need to ask her if she agrees first. I am perplexed as this is my money.... Should I ask ex first or just have lawyer send her a letter and make it matter of fact of my intent? Do I have a good chance of the judge agreeing to modification? She dropped the alimony and legally my obligation has been satisfied. She is entitled to a share of my pension in QDRO which I am not disputing, I just want to add my current wife as my death beneficiary."

"In the past, we have allowed employees to start contributing to our SIMPLE IRA as soon as they [1] completed 12 months of continuous service; [2] earned $5,000 in that 12 month period; and [3] were reasonably expected to earn $5,000 in the next 12 month period. As a result, employees were entering the plan at all dates during the year based on their hire date. I don't think this is correct. It appears that SIMPLE IRAs all have a January 1 entry date and only compensation can be used to determine eligibility. For example, an employee hired in August 2024 could enter the plan January 1, 2025 as long as they earned $5,000 in 2024 and are reasonably expected to earn $5,000 in 2025. Is that correct?"

"I have a client with an ESOP who left their job 5 years ago. They just received the option to take a disbursement, and the disbursement will now be split up over an additional 5 years. Rather than try to interpret the rules myself, I thought I would ask here. Is that allowed? They are under 59 years old, if that is relevant."

"Employer was a governmental entity exempt from ERISA until 7/1/23 when its structure was changed to a non-governmental, non-profit entity. The employer has sponsored various welfare and retirement plans for years but we were not filing 5500s due to the governmental status of the employer. Now that the employer is subject to ERISA we are working on the 2023 Form 5500s (yes -- we know they are late). For the 2023 Form 5500s, do we need to indicate a short plan year from 7/1/23 to 12/31/23? By checking the box for a short plan year are we saying the plans did not come into existence until 7/1/23 or that the plans were not subject to ERISA reporting requirements until 7/1/23?"

"Of the [DOL, Treasury, and PBGC] rules and regulations published as final on or after January 20, 2021, which of them -- even with an effective date before 2025 -- do not become applicable before January 20, 2025? (In a convention used by Republican and Democrat Presidents over the past 44 years, a newly inaugurated President's chief of staff directs executive agency heads to review rules that, even if final and effective, have not yet become applicable.) Has anyone yet written that list? If not, can you help us crowdsource which rulemakings won't be applicable before January 20, 2025?"

"May a business fund a defined benefit plan with any source of income? Specifically schedule E income?"

"New to the MEP world. Can you have a SEP plan join a MEP plan as an adopting employer? I have a financial advisor wanting to have a current SEP plan come over to a MEP plan and I just don't think that is possible in my thought process. Any language/proof that you can provide that I can provide to the financial advisor would be great."