ERISA’s Anti-Forfeiture Rule And Good Lawyering Net Pension Plan Participant An Additional $109,000 In Pension Benefits

ERISA’s Anti-Forfeiture Rule And Good Lawyering Net Pension Plan Participant An Additional $109,000 In Pension Benefits

ERISA [the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, which governs most private sector pension plans] seeks to protect pension plan participants from losing their promised pension benefits. One way ERISA does this is through an “anti-forfeiture rule” that expressly prohibits the forfeiture of a participant’s vested pension benefit at normal retirement age. In a recent court decision, this rule was instrumental in netting the pension claimant an additional $109,000 in past due pension benefits plus interest and the right to seek…

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Pension Annuity Versus Pension Lump Sum: Which is Better?

Pension Annuity Versus Pension Lump Sum: Which is Better?

There are two basic types of pension plans: (1) defined benefit (DB) plans, which provide a guaranteed benefit based on a defined formula set forth in the plan; and (2) defined contribution (DC) plans, such as 401(k) plans, which provide an individual account for each participant and for benefits based solely on the amount contributed to the account and any income, expenses, gains, or losses allocated to the account. DB plans must provide the benefit in the form of a…

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Widow’s Release Of Claims Against Deceased Husband’s Estate Did Not Extinguish Her Right To His Pension Account

Widow’s Release Of Claims Against Deceased Husband’s Estate Did Not Extinguish Her Right To His Pension Account

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). In Goins, Robert Goins passed away and was survived by his wife Tona Goins and two adult sons who were Tona’s step sons. Sometime after Robert’s death, a dispute arose between Tona…

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Underfunded Pension Plans; The PBGC; And What The Heck Got Us Into This Pension Funding Mess?

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…

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