Hartford Adds Funeral, Estate Planning to Insurance Offering

The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., has made funeral planning benefits available to workers at no additional cost through employers that add group life insurance coverage to their employee benefits offerings.

The new service, Life Conversations from The Hartford, is offered in conjunction with Everest Funeral, according to a press release. Through Everest, clients can plan for funerals years in advance or can make arrangements at their time of need. The service can also negotiate funeral costs on behalf of the bereaved, and save them between $1,250 and $5,500 per funeral, based on average savings experienced by consumers using Everest services.

Life Conversations features a comprehensive Web site with tools, information, and services employees need to plan important conversations with their families about end-of-life issues, The Hartford said. The site is backed by a team of advisers available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to answer questions and connect consumers to appropriate resources.

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Employers can also opt to extend Everest services to the parents and step-parents of employees.

Life Conversations also features the EstateGuidance program, which helps consumers create a legally binding will quickly and conveniently online, with assistance available from licensed attorneys. The service is administered by ComPsych.

Other legal services are also available, including creation of living wills and trusts, guidance about divorce proceedings, and change of names.


 

More information is available at www.thehartford.com.

 

Defunct 401(k) Plan to Restore Plan Benefits

The U.S. Department of Labor obtained court judgments ordering that $97,317 in benefits be restored to the 401(k) retirement fund of now-defunct Triangle Laboratories.

A lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina alleged that Joseph Morales and four other defendants failed to discharge their fiduciary duties to the 401(k) plan in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), according to the Durham Herald-Sun. The environmental and pharmaceutical testing services company filed for bankruptcy in 2004, and in March 2008, the court appointed an independent fiduciary to oversee the plan’s assets.

Following trial, the court ordered Joseph Morales to restore $54,317.49 to the retirement fund, the news report said. In separate judgments, defendant Donald Harvan was required to restore $25,000 to the plan, and Debbie Monaghan and Craig Stoke were ordered to restore $9,000 to the 401(k) plan.

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In addition, all of the defendants are barred in the future from serving as fiduciaries to any employee benefit plan governed by ERISA.

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