WHERE HAVE YOU GONE, CHIP HILTON?
Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Investment Management Roundtable Discussion – Personal Estate Planning
This is the second of three articles addressing the topic of what needs to be done when a spouse or loved one passes away. My last article addressed the immediate things that need to be done prior to the decedent’s funeral...more
Pension risk transfers (“PRTs”) continue to make the news. And well they should. Last year alone, over $100 billion in liabilities were transferred from defined benefit pension plans to insurance companies. And the trend...more
Over the last several years, numerous large pension plan sponsors have transferred billions of dollars in financial risk related to their pension plan benefit obligations to insurance companies through the purchase of group...more
The SECURE Act of 2019 made three statutory changes to ERISA regarding lifetime income benefit payments from defined contribution plans (e.g., 401(k), 403(b), profit sharing, and money purchase pension plans). This blog will...more
In a little more than 35 years, 401(k) plans have become the dominant employer-sponsored retirement plan. 401(k) plans place the investment risk and reward squarely on the participant. The employee’s ultimate benefit is...more
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas dealt a major blow to the putative class action Torres v. American Airlines, Inc., finding that the four named plaintiffs are not adequate class representatives for...more
In an opinion issued in Smith v. Rockwell Automation, Inc., et al., No. 19-C-0505 (E.D. Wis.) on Feb. 10, 2020, U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman denied Rockwell Automation's motion to dismiss a putative class action complaint...more
Eleven cases have been filed against defined benefit pension plan sponsors and certain fiduciaries alleging that the plan’s assumptions—called “actuarial equivalence factors” or “actuarial equivalence assumptions”— for...more
Pension factoring continues to leave investors looking for remedies beyond filing suit against defunct pension factoring companies, as witnessed by a recent filing in Johnson County, Kan., titled Michele R. Lenderman v. Emil...more
INTRODUCTION - Now that §401(k) plans have replaced traditional pension plans as the overwhelming type of employer-sponsored type of retirement plan, there is a growing concern that many employees are not equipped to make...more
Over the past several years, sponsors of defined benefit pension plans have examined and implemented ways to reduce their pension liabilities. This is sometimes referred to as “de-risking.” One de-risking option is for a plan...more
In December 2018, class action lawsuits under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) were filed against several large single-employer defined benefit plans. The suits focus on the calculation of joint and...more
On March 6, 2019, the IRS announced that it will not amend the minimum required distribution regulations under Code section 401(a)(9) to expressly prohibit lump-sum window elections for retirees who are already receiving...more
CHANGES TO INSOLVENCY PROCEEDINGS, CORPORATE LAW AND PENSIONS - The 2019 Budget proposes to introduce legislative amendments to the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, the Canada...more
The shortest week of the 60-day regular session of the West Virginia Legislature ended last Friday with the Senate introducing 284 bills, while the House of Delegates introduced 332 bills....more
PBGC staff have taken the position in informal guidance that plan sponsors that structure pension annuity purchases through spinoff and termination transactions should not be able to achieve the significant savings on PBGC...more
The Ontario government recently filed O. Reg. 193/18, Purchase of Pension Benefits From an Insurance Company – Section 43.1 of the Act (Regulation) under the Pension Benefits Act (PBA). The Regulation supports the provision...more
On December 7, 2017, the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services (DRS) issued additional guidance regarding the new statutory withholding requirements for certain payors of pension and annuity payments set to take effect...more
New legislation, effective January 1, 2018, will require certain payors of pensions and annuities to withhold Connecticut state income tax from distributions made from an employer pension, annuity, profit-sharing plan, stock...more
The Hogan Lovells’ Corporate Insurance Newsletter for May has been published. This provides a round-up of UK, EU and international regulatory developments relevant to UK based insurance market participants. In this issue,...more
The UK Government announced that it would not be taking forward its plans to create a secondary market for consumers to sell their annuity income...more
The Department of Treasury has issued final regulations that simplify the rules that allow retiring participants to simultaneously elect a partial lump sum and a partial annuity from a defined benefit pension plan. Under the...more
If you are one of the lucky few employees who participate in an employer’s defined benefit retirement plan, you previously had to choose between receiving your benefits in a lump sum or in annuity payments. However, in the...more
The Financial Conduct Authority published a consultation paper on its proposed rules and guidance for the secondary annuity market due to start in April 2017. The consultation is aimed at parties interested in pensions and...more
HM Treasury published a consultation paper on the UK Government’s proposed secondary market due to be introduced in April 2017. The market would extend the recently introduced pension freedoms and flexibilities to...more