Deals & People November 4, 2010

Swanson Comes Onboard at Union Bank

Brian Swanson joined the Institutional Trust & Custody division of Union Bank, N.A. as a senior client relationship manager and product executive.
Reported by

A news release said Swanson will represent the bank in the development of institutional trust and custody business from his office in New York City. Swanson is an 11-year client relationship specialist of the institutional investment and custody sales industry, according to the company.

Swanson started his career in 1999 as a retirement plan specialist in Boston for Evergreen Investments. Prior to his current position, he served as a global relationship sales manager for Brown Brothers Harriman responsible for leading the firm’s U.S. financial institutions sales efforts.

Never miss a story — sign up for PLANADVISER newsletters to keep up on the latest retirement plan adviser news.

Swanson received his MBA in Finance from Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Compliance November 4, 2010

Ex-Wife Entitled to 401(k) Account Balance

Even though an ex-wife waived her right to her now-deceased ex-husband’s 401(k) plan savings, she is still entitled to the money, a federal judge in New Jersey has ruled.
Reported by

U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler for the District of New Jersey, in following a 2009 U.S. Supreme Court decision, ruled that the husband’s old employer had to disburse the money according to the plan documents under which the ex-wife was the beneficiary.

In finding that Adele Kensinger was entitled to the money, Kugler pointed out that the Supreme court ruled that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) does not bar common law waivers but plan administrators are nevertheless bound by the plan documents if such waivers conflict.

For more stories like this, sign up for the PLANADVISERdash daily newsletter.

Even if the property settlement agreement (PSA) constituted a valid waiver of Adele Kensinger‘s right to the 401(k) proceeds, the justices still had required the employer to transfer the proceeds according to the plan documents, Kugler said.

According to the decision, William and Adele Kensinger were married at the time that William Kensinger enrolled in his 401(k) plan and named Adele Kensinger as his beneficiary. The two subsequently divorced and executed a PSA in which they gave up their rights to any interest in the others’ retirement accounts, but William Kensinger did not remove his ex-wife as the named beneficiary. He died in 2009, with an account balance of approximately $57,000.

His estate argued that it was entitled to the funds.

The case is In the Matter of the Estate of Kensinger, D.N.J., No. 09-6510 (RBK/AMD).

«