403B question

Submitted by Barbara Vining on Tue, 2018-05-08 21:34

Hi,
My mother worked for a public school district. She was a good saver and I believe she had a 403B. I had called her former employer (she retired 23 years ago and passed at 89) and they hadn’t mentioned it and at the time I hadn’t thought to ask. Is there any other way to find out without having to call them back?
Thank you.



Submitted by William Tuttle on Tue, 2018-05-08 22:35

  • Almost employers will require proof of appointment as an executor or administrator to release that information.
  • Alternately, if you are the likely beneficiary, you can usually just file a beneficiary claim and they will approve it or not depending on if you are the beneficiary.
  • Given her age, a 403b of that legacy would have most likely been annuitized, or if not subject to RMDs or rolled over to an IRA that would also have been subject to RMDs. 
  • You should research all of her other financial accounts for evidence of payments. Of course, it wouldn’t be the first time that somebody never too RMDs for 20 odd years.
  • A deep dive of all financial records is probably in order.

Submitted by Ben Meyer on Wed, 2018-05-09 00:25

The people at the school district office would probably not have any information about a 403(b) account.  Although the school district is the nominal sponsor of a 403(b) plan, all dealing is directly between the employee and the sales representative or agent for the specific provider.  But it might be helpful to ask the school district for the list of companies that are authorized providers for the district.  They would have a short list that could be used for making inquiries.  Another place to look would be to see what 1099-R forms have been sent in recent years.  That would show what accounts have been paying RMDs.  Also look around for annual statements that any plan would send.  Since 403(b) plans don’t force out the RMD it is possible that none were taken, but there would still be annual statements from the plan.  If the 403(b) was rolled over to an IRA the search would be somewhat different.  In that case, look for annual forms 5498 as well as 1099-R from an IRA.

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