RECORDKEEPER EMPLOYER: Prudential Retirement
TENURE WITH COMPANY: Four years
BIO: Julie Klassen is vice president, key accounts at Prudential Retirement, in Irvine, California. Previously, she worked at Great-West Retirement Services (now Empower Retirement), from 1993 to 2011.
She has been in the retirement plan business for 32 years.
CLIENT: State of Hawaii Deferred Compensation Plan
CLIENT INDUSTRY: Government
CLIENT HEADQUARTERS: Honolulu, Hawaii
CURRENT PLAN ASSETS: $2 billion
CURRENT PLAN PARTICIPANTS: 27,466
The State of Hawaii Deferred Compensation Plan had an old, unsolved problem. Fortunately, Prudential Retirement’s Julie Klassen, vice president, key accounts, in Irvine, California, worked several months to help find a solution.
Two decades earlier, a participant in the $2 billion 457(b) plan went through a divorce, and the distribution of his account assets that were owed to his ex-wife never occurred. There were two reasons: No final settlement was made as to the amount of the distribution, and no contact information was supplied for the man’s former wife. “The plan hadn’t run into this type of situation in the past,” says Cynthia Akiyoshi, human resources (HR) specialist at the Department of Human Resources Development for the state. “It was a unique and isolated incident.”
The problem long predated the involvement of Prudential Retirement, which won the plan’s business in 2013. “It was a 20-year-old divorce, and back then there were no QDROs [qualified domestic relations orders],” explains Klassen.
Prudential became aware of the problem when the participant called one of its service centers. “He wanted to draw down on his account, but the account had a hold: No further distributions could be made to him because it was unclear what was owed to his former wife,” Klassen says. “He had some frustrations that this situation had not been resolved.”
Years earlier, the participant’s ex-wife had tried contacting a former provider for the 457 plan about the distribution. “The perplexing and frustrating thing for her was that she could not give them her contact information, because she wasn’t a participant in the plan,” Klassen says.
Klassen heard about the participant’s problem and started doing research. Her Google search located a woman with the same name as the one in the divorce document and living in the appropriate area. “She initially thought I was a solicitor,” Klassen says. Klassen reassured the woman that she was confirming her identity as the ex-wife. Subsequently, over the next couple of months, Klassen worked with both former spouses to help them reach an agreement on the distribution.
“Since there was still no QDRO document, Julie acted as a mediator between the participant and his former wife to settle the dispute through a mutually agreed upon settlement,” Akiyoshi says.
By last September, the situation was ironed out: The ex-wife received the payment, and the ex-husband again could draw money from his account. “I felt happy that I could get the situation resolved, after such a long period of time,” Klassen says. That level of effort for participants, she says, “is just part of what I do.” —Judy Ward
Two decades earlier, a participant in the $2 billion 457(b) plan went through a divorce, and the distribution of his account assets that were owed to his ex-wife never occurred. There were two reasons: No final settlement was made as to the amount of the distribution, and no contact information was supplied for the man’s former wife. “The plan hadn’t run into this type of situation in the past,” says Cynthia Akiyoshi, human resources (HR) specialist at the Department of Human Resources Development for the state. “It was a unique and isolated incident.”
The problem long predated the involvement of Prudential Retirement, which won the plan’s business in 2013. “It was a 20-year-old divorce, and back then there were no QDROs [qualified domestic relations orders],” explains Klassen.
Prudential became aware of the problem when the participant called one of its service centers. “He wanted to draw down on his account, but the account had a hold: No further distributions could be made to him because it was unclear what was owed to his former wife,” Klassen says. “He had some frustrations that this situation had not been resolved.”
Years earlier, the participant’s ex-wife had tried contacting a former provider for the 457 plan about the distribution. “The perplexing and frustrating thing for her was that she could not give them her contact information, because she wasn’t a participant in the plan,” Klassen says.
Klassen heard about the participant’s problem and started doing research. Her Google search located a woman with the same name as the one in the divorce document and living in the appropriate area. “She initially thought I was a solicitor,” Klassen says. Klassen reassured the woman that she was confirming her identity as the ex-wife. Subsequently, over the next couple of months, Klassen worked with both former spouses to help them reach an agreement on the distribution.
“Since there was still no QDRO document, Julie acted as a mediator between the participant and his former wife to settle the dispute through a mutually agreed upon settlement,” Akiyoshi says.
By last September, the situation was ironed out: The ex-wife received the payment, and the ex-husband again could draw money from his account. “I felt happy that I could get the situation resolved, after such a long period of time,” Klassen says. That level of effort for participants, she says, “is just part of what I do.” —Judy Ward
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