The Department of Labor (DOL) has released Field Assistance Bulletin 2025-01 (the Bulletin), allowing ERISA fiduciaries to transfer retirement balances of under $1,000 to a state unclaimed property fund.
The Bulletin describes a DOL nonenforcement policy for fiduciaries that decide to transfer the account balances of missing participants (including uncashed checks) to a state’s unclaimed property fund, as long as the amount of the benefit is $1,000 or less. In addition, the plan’s fiduciaries must ensure that the state’s unclaimed property fund is a prudent destination for the participant’s balance.
The fiduciary also must have a prudent program in place to attempt to locate the missing participant, and the state selected for the transfer of the unclaimed property must be the state of the participant’s last known address. Finally, the state unclaimed property fund must meet other DOL requirements, including updating the plan’s summary plan description to include the possibility of transfer of benefits to an unclaimed property fund.
