N.J. Admin. Code § 17:6-14.8

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 23, December 2, 2024

Section 17:6-14.8 - Distribution to incompetent participant, beneficiary or alternate payee

(a) If a participant, beneficiary, or alternate payee is unable to manage property effectively for any reason including, but not limited to, mental illness, mental deficiency, physical illness, physical disability, chronic use of drugs, chronic intoxication, confinement, detention by a foreign power, or disappearance, any payment may be paid according to the terms of the applicable investment option(s) (if any) or according to applicable investment law (if any), or the Plan Administrator may direct payment(s) according to the following order:

1. As instructed by an appropriate court pursuant to a written court order;

2. To the duly court-appointed and currently acting conservator of the participant, beneficiary, or alternate payee;

3. To the duly court-appointed and currently acting legal guardian of the estate of the participant, beneficiary, or alternate payee;

4. To the duly appointed and currently acting attorney-in-fact under a durable power-of-attorney if the Plan Administrator finds that the power-of-attorney provides sufficient power to authorize the attorney-in-fact to receive the benefit; or

5. To the court having jurisdiction over the estate of the participant, beneficiary, or alternate payee.

(b) Payment under (a) above shall be in full satisfaction of all claims. The Plan Administrator has no duty to determine if a person is unable to manage his or her affairs and is only required to act pursuant to the order in (a) above if he or she is provided written evidence of the incapacity through a document showing one of the circumstances in (a) above prior to the distribution. The Plan Administrator has no duty to supervise or inquire into the application of any amount(s) so paid.

(c) Restoration of competency. If at the time a distribution begins, the participant, beneficiary, or alternate payee is an incompetent or is incapacitated (as described in (a) above) and the Plan Administrator begins payments to another person under (a) above, the Plan Administrator may continue all payments under the distribution to the other person notwithstanding that the participant, beneficiary, or alternate payee may have become competent or may have been adjudicated as competent, unless the participant, beneficiary, or alternate payee files a written claim according to all of the requirements of the Retirement Plan, including furnishing satisfactory evidence that he or she is competent to manage his or her benefit.

N.J. Admin. Code § 17:6-14.8