Benefit Restrictions on Retirement Plan

Placing Benefit Restrictions

The participant's benefit activity will be restricted when the Court Order Center receives one of the following:

• Draft domestic relations order
• Court order
• Joinder

The retirement plan administrator will start the process to prevent the participant from withdrawing money, which otherwise may be payable to the payee if the order is approved as a Court Order.

Defined Contribution Plans

The participant will be able to change investment choices and contribution amounts during the restriction period. However, none of the following account activities will be allowed by the participant during the restriction period:

• Distributions
• Loans
• Withdrawals

Removing Benefit Restrictions

• A domestic relations order becomes qualified.
• A subsequent court-certified order is received. The new order must state that the payee has waived his or her right to the participant's benefits under the plan, or that the participant is entitled to 100% of the benefit under the plan.
• A subsequent court-certified order is received that cancels the order that caused the restriction to be placed on the plan.
• A notarized letter signed by the payee is received requesting the restrictions be removed and naming the plan affected. This method of removing a restriction is an available option only when a draft order has been submitted.

Note: Any new order received after a restriction has been removed will begin a new restriction period.