It makes me sad to learn when heirs fight over a decedent's assets, especially when it involves a widow's surviving spouse pension benefits, as occurred in Goins v. Tona L. Goins & Nat'l Elec. Annuity Plan, No. 16-cv-01281, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 71387 (S.D. Ill. May 10, 2017).
Widow's Release Of Claims Against Deceased Husband's Estate Did Not Extinguish Her Right To His Pension Account
Underfunded Pension Plans; The PBGC; And What The Heck Got Us Into This Pension Funding Mess?
You would need to be asleep at the wheel to not know we are in a pension funding crisis. Hardly a day goes by when we do not hear about a pension plan that reduces or freezes future benefit accruals to lessen its funding shortfall, or that is predicted to become insolvent in the foreseeable future notwithstanding such benefit adjustments. Participants in these underfunded plans naturally worry that they will lose their hard-earned pension benefits. If the plan is in the private sector, they will be somewhat protected by a pension insurance system established in 1974 under ERISA [the Employee Retirement Income Security, which covers most non-governmental pension plans] and administered by a governmental agency known as the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC).
