5 Key Takeaways | IRS Final RMD Rules & Proposed Regulations to Address SECURE 2.0 Act Issues
5 Key Takeaways | Establishing Tax Qualified Retirement Plans
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Millennials, Boomers and Retirement Planning
CARES Act – Retirement Plan Distributions and Loans: Troutman Sanders and Pepper Hamilton COVID-19 Issues for Employers Podcast Series
COVID-19 Estate News: Five Important Takeaways from the CARES Act that Affect Your Estate
The SECURE Act: Significant Changes for Retirement Plans and IRAs
The Secure Act | How secure are you in your estate plan?
The SECURE Act: How This Brand New Law Affects Your Retirement Accounts
Asset Protection 101: Are You and Your Family Protected from Litigation, Creditors, and Divorce?
IRA News: Beware, the IRS May be Your New Biggest Beneficiary
Impact of Tax Reform on Charitable Giving
Bill on Bankruptcy: Lawyers Easily Make Simple Words Complicated
Even as high-priority issues such as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), immigration, and Ukraine take center stage in the first months of the new presidential administration, many employers are wondering what the next...more
On January 14, 2025, the DOL issued Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB) 2025-01, providing sponsors and administrators of ongoing defined contribution plans with a new option for missing participant balances of $1,000 or less:...more
Among other things, FINRA is focusing on services and recommendations by broker-dealers and their registered representatives to retirees, senior investors and investors with diminished capacity. The Report has one part...more
The United States Department of Labor (DOL) has released Field Assistance Bulletin 2025-01 (the Bulletin), providing much-needed guidance to fiduciaries of retirement plans covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security...more
Over the years, plan sponsors and administrators have wrestled with the question of what to do with the accounts of participants who left employment years earlier and cannot now be located. ...more
In the wake of the horrific wildfires in Los Angeles (which are ongoing as of today), employees based in the Los Angeles area may have questions about available support from employer-sponsored 401(k) plan accounts and other...more
We have noticed an increasing number of employers reaching out with questions about whether they should have their defined contribution plan join the auto-portability network. ...more
As I explained in my last post, Fiduciary Rule 51, I have been asked whether the Supreme Court’s decision in Loper Bright Enterprises et al. v. Raimondo, Secretary of Commerce et al. could affect the outcome of the litigation...more
If you study the rules of the various standard-setters, a pattern emerges about their expectations for the process for developing a best interest recommendation. The DOL and SEC are consistent in that regard, while the NAIC...more
The stay of the effective dates of the amended fiduciary regulation and amended exemptions means that the “old” DOL fiduciary regulation (the 5-part test) and the existing exemptions continue in effect indefinitely....more
The effective date of the DOL’s new expansive fiduciary rule and the amendments to Prohibited Transaction Exemption (PTE) 2020-02 has been stayed pending the outcome of the lawsuits challenging the rule and the amended PTE....more
The amendments to the QPAM Exemption include a September 15, 2024 notification deadline that will apply to many asset managers. This blog post includes a brief summary of the US Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) recent technical...more
The stay of the effective dates of the amended fiduciary regulation and amended exemptions means that the “old” DOL fiduciary regulation (the 5-part test) and the existing exemptions continue in effect indefinitely. As a...more
On July 25, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas stayed the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) recently-issued final rule, set to take effect September 23, 2024, which would amend the definition of an...more
Two federal district courts in Texas have issued orders staying the implementation of the United States Department of Labor’s (DOL) 2024 Fiduciary Rule (the Final Rule) and related prohibited transaction exemption amendments....more
The stay of the effective dates of the amended fiduciary regulation and amended exemptions means that the “old” fiduciary regulation (the 5-part test) and the amended exemptions continue in effect indefinitely. As a result,...more
The DOL’s fiduciary regulation was scheduled to become effective this September 23. The exemptions were scheduled to become partially effective this September 23 and fully effective September 23, 2025....more
In July, two Federal District Courts in Texas issued orders staying the effective date of the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary rule (Fiduciary Rule)....more
Two recent Texas court decisions stayed the fast-approaching September 23, 2024, effective date of the DOL’s new fiduciary rule (including both the new regulation re-defining “fiduciary” investment advice and the related...more
Under recently finalized federal regulations (commonly referred to as the “Fiduciary Rule”) that were scheduled to become effective on September 23, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor intended to expand the fiduciary...more
SEC Loses in ALJ Case, DOL’s Latest Fiduciary Rule Put on Hold, and SEC Reconsiders AI and Custody Rule Proposals - Welcome to our July Regulatory Roundup, where we provide a quick look at the latest regulatory developments....more
The Department of Labor (“DOL”) recently issued final rules (the “Final Rules”) which expanded what it means to provide fiduciary “investment advice” under ERISA and Section 4975 of the Code (discussed here). The Final Rules...more
The Department of Labor has issued the: The exemptions provide relief from prohibited compensation resulting from fiduciary recommendations to “retirement investors”—private sector retirement plans, participants in those...more