How do I withdraw money from my 403b using 72t aka SEPP?

Question

My mom is 55 and hasn't worked in about 3 years. We just found out about the SEPP 72t penalty free withdrawals from her 403b account. It has around $38,000 and is with metlife. Would a metlife employee do the calculations for us or do we need to hire someone? If she is going to be applying for disability will this make a difference?

Answer 1

Yes, you should be able to withdraw money from a 403b using 72t rules via SEPP.   The rules are very subtly different from those for 401ks, but very similar.  If she is disabled I would think there would be no problems in qualifying under the rules, but she could very well qualify anyway.

Your best bet is to contact Metlife and they should be able to arrange this, and really I would suspect with no additional charge.  If not, you may have to transfer the account.