Welcome to Ask an Adviser, EBN’s weekly column in which benefit brokers and advisers answer (anonymous) queries sent in by our readers. Looking for some expert advice? Please submit questions to askanadviser@arizent.com. This week, we asked Neal Ringquist, executive vice president and chief revenue officer of the Retirement Clearinghouse, to weigh in on the following: What happens if we learn a missing plan participant has died?
This is an excellent question because so much can hang in the balance. If a former employee who left behind a retirement account balance is deceased, the next step should be for the plan sponsor or recordkeeper to contact that plan participant’s beneficiary. If no beneficiary information is available, the other option is to follow the unclaimed property laws for the state where the deceased participant was located.
