By the Mid-America Pension Rights Project at Elder Law of Michigan

The Mid-America Pension Rights Project (MAPRP) assists clients with pension and 401(k) issues. There are no age or income restrictions and there is never a charge for the services. The Pension Project works to find answers and solutions to your pension-related problem. Just ask Mr. Q.

Mr. Q knew that he had a 401k with his last employer and decided to cash it out. Mr. Q contacted the Plan for a distribution. Mr. Q filled out all the necessary paperwork and sent it in to the Plan. After a few weeks, Mr. Q called the Plan and was told, by the representative, that the reason for the delay was because they were waiting for Mr. Q’s former employer to “sign off” on the transaction. After 45 days of waiting, Mr. Q contacted the MAPRP.

As soon as the MAPRP received Mr. Q’s documents, an MAPRP attorney was assigned to his case. Immediately, the attorney sent a letter to the Plan explaining the law and providing the date Mr. Q signed the paperwork for the release of his money. 

In addition to the letter, the attorney also called the plan with Mr. Q. This time, the representative told Mr. Q that the reason for the delay was because he filled out the distribution forms wrong. This was new information to both the attorney and Mr. Q.

Mr. Q received the new forms from the Plan. The distribution forms were very confusing. The MAPRP attorney helped Mr. Q to complete the forms and they were sent to the Plan. After a couple more phone calls to the plan from the attorney, Mr. Q finally got his money! Mr. Q was very happy with the work that the MAPRP attorney did on his case. Without the intervention of the MAPRP Mr. Q may have never received his money.  

The Pension Project is funded by the federal government through a grant provided by the Administration for Community Living and is a program of Elder Law of Michigan, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit. 

Since the program began in 1998, the Pension Project has assisted over 16,000 clients and has recovered over 85 million dollars in pension benefits. The Pension Project assists clients that either worked in or are currently living in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. For more information, visit Mid-America Pension Rights Project.

If you need help with or information about your pension or 401(k) benefit, please call the Mid-America Pension Rights Project at 866-735-7737.

The information in this article is general and not intended to be a substitute for legal advice. In any legal matter you should always consider consulting with an attorney for specific advice.