401k

[hrach]

What is the name of your state?
Illinois

I left an employer just over 1 year ago where I had a 401K. I also happened to be separated from my husband and filing for divorce therefore waiting for the agreement to be final before I redistributed the funds into an IRA. I did not use a lawyer in the divorce process and got the runaround from my "ex"
about signing the papers. This dragged on for over a year. He finally signed and the divorce is final. Our agreement relinquished all rights to any spousal support or retirement accounts ect....
When I contacted the financial firm who handled the 401K in order to redistribute the funds I was told that my former employer had liquidated funds and they were no longer handeling their accounts. Up untill the end of the last quarter for 2003 I had been receiving statements from my 401K which my former employer sent to me. I was never informed of the funds being handeled by a new firm or given any information whatsoever and I was told by the old firm that this happened at the end of last year.

I have already kicked myself for not handeling this differently, but I was never given a time frame in which to transfer that 401K. I would like to know if my fomer employer has violated any laws by not informing me of this and what is my recourse? I have not yet called the former employer to get a response because I thought it best to put a request for the information in writing and I want to be aware of what I am dealing with before I talk to them. There is a history of resentment from this employer because I left to start my own business. For example, they tried to withold my bonus check when I left which was collected for me from the IL Department of Labor. They have also made attempts (unsucessfully) to get my business in trouble with the IL Dept. of Professional Regulation. These are shady and resentful people I am dealing with. I should have known this might happen. How do you recommend I proceed at this point?

 

[divgradcurl]

You should definitely continue trying to get information from your former employer. You should also contact whichever state agency in Illinois is responsible for watching over 401(k) plans. I don't know who that is exactly, I think it is either the Secretary of State or the department of employment securities, but you should be able to find out by perusing the state's website. You can usually contact whichever department is responsible for 401(k)'s and file a complaint, and they can investigate.

It'll likely be faster to get info from your former employer, but it probably wouldn't hurt to talk with the state agencies now as well, as they might have some pointers, and, since they are likely to take longer, you might as well get things rolling with them as soon as possible.