In desperate need of his retirement funds please give us any advice because this just is not right because my

Question

My dad worked at a Lumber Company for 25 years and the Company went out of business he really wants 2 know who can he speak 2 about getting his Retirement money the owner of the company is deceased and me and my dad have did research on the internet pulling up the company name but 2 no success .can any one give me some advice on what legal action we can take he has since then worked at another Lumber job for about 15 years he,s 72 and has since retired from this job. from his understanding he thought he would be receiving all of the $21,000 retirement money and wants 2 take it all and not in pieces and instead the company is given his retirement in $200.00 monthly checks and he is very upset about this can someone give us some advice on how he can get all of his money and not in pieces my dad has worked very hard all his life and took care 11 children and he needs all his money thank 2 u guys in advance for any advice given like i was saying the first lumber company went out of business and he needs information on how he can get his retirement from this company. and the second lumber company refuses to pay him all his retirement of $21,000 an instead pays him monthly and when he called the company two ask why are they only given him $200.00 monthly they got and attitude with him and told him thats how they do business and i deffiantly know something wrong so if u guys have any information u can give to us we desperatly need to here it thanks so much and yea this happen in the state of arkansas

Answer 1

First you have to figure out what type of retirement your dad is getting.  It sounds like a pension, essentially the company will pay him that $200 for the rest of his life (and maybe his wife's too if he elected).  You said the company went out of business, if that is the case it is possible that the PGBC (the government company that covers pensions of businesses that fail) will cover the payments.  I'd first check with the HR department, although there might not be one anymore if the company failed.  See if there are any phone numbers on the $200/mo checks to contact.  Good luck.

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Answer 2

re: 2nd company - the policies of the retirement plan probably say retiree would get paid $X per month - there probably is no option for getting the full amount in one shot, that's typically how pension plans work - you get the money a little each month

for company 1 - maybe contact IRS and see if there was any kind of retirement plan set up for that company - they would have had to file annual tax returns for the plan if it was an "official" pension plan - not sure who else you could call

Answer 3

You have two issues here. The first being you can't find if the first company even exists anymore. Check with the secretary of state, look for other employees that may have worked there. Understand that there maybe no money, that the company went bankrupt or was disolved and his pension was lost. Hopefully, that company he worked for, even though it's out of business, likely contributed to a plan with an outside company whom is most likely still in operation.

With regards to the second company. You need to look at the details of whatever pension plan he had with them. Within those legal documents you should be able to determine if what they are doing is legal or not, and take legal action if need be. Instead of being a hard head and demanding money, be nice to those people and ask for details of the plan. Put all of your personal feelings and situation aside, think business.  That company has to disclose the terms of the plan. Thoroughly read the disclosures and understand what you can and can't do, the fact is, they maybe correct in their distributions. Don't simply assume they are being mean, even if they come off as jerks. They most likely have a legal reason for doing what they do.