Time to Withdraw from 401A and 401K - Update

Dio

I need to start withdrawing from my retirement accounts, but they require DH's signature and to be notarized. How can I get this accomplished when he's in memory care? I have DPOA, but I can't find any information on what the process requires under these circumstances. If anyone has experience, please advise. Thanks.

gampiano

Hi Dio,

I had the same issue. My husband's 401k was through Fidelity investments. I called them and spoke to an agent. I had to send a copy of the poa to Fidelity, and also to his employer, so that they would even SPEAK to me. It was very frustrating. Make sure you send all correspondence with a return receipt. Good luck.

Maureen

Ed1937

Unfortunately some places are more difficult to work with than others. But with the DPOA you should have little problems.

Pat6177

I agree with gampiano that you need to call the financial institution that holds the IRA funds. Every institution has different rules. I know this comment won’t help you but for anyone else reading this that is earlier in the journey… When my DH and I did our legal paperwork including DPOAs, both our lawyer and our contact at Fidelity told us that things would move more smoothly and quicker if we also did a DPOA on the financial institution’s form. This was pretty easy with Fidelity especially since they have an office here in town and we just went in and one of the Fidelity people filled in the forms and then was also able to notarize them. It was a royal PIA getting it done with TIAA but I finally managed to get that done as well. I haven’t had to use it yet but I’m hoping it simplifies things when I do need to.

Joe C.

Dio, My wife 401K was at Fidelity and I was able just bring in the DPOA, explain the situation and I was given trading authorization over her accounts.

toolbeltexpert

Dio you have the power. It's just a matter of supplying the poa to whomever you need to do business with for your dh.

Sandias

Dio, you stated that “I need to start withdrawing from my retirement accounts…”

I don’t understand. These are your own retirement accounts. Why is your DH’s signature required?

Do you mean non IRA accounts with both of your names on them?

Dio

Sandias, apparently by law our spouse is the direct beneficiary of our IRA and/or 401 accounts. In rare cases, even ex-spouses have a claim to retirement accounts. I am learning this the hard way, that although the money is mine, spouse has to "co-approve" any withdrawals.

Thanks, everyone, for your input! I will visit the local office on Monday to get this squared away. I'm sure it'll be resolved. Just takes a few extra steps.

Sandias

Really! Learned something new...

Dio

Update: Mission accomplished!

Learning things the hard way...sigh. After spinning a few wheels and hitting a few bumps, turns out that all I had to do was bring the form which required DH's signature to be notarized along with his DPOA, and then I sign as his "Attorney in Fact" in front of the notary. Voila!

The silver lining is that while fumbling through the process, I inadvertently submitted his DPOA to his retirement account, thus, established my access to manage his account going forward. Definitely will make things easier when I need to take any actions on his behalf down the road.

Also, since there's been a few questions/discussions on how to sign on behalf of the person you have POA for, I found out from the notary who said to sign our name, not the person for whom you have power, followed by noting "Attorney in Fact."

Incidentally, local office was no help. But calling/speaking to a live account rep who knew the process helped tremendously.

ImMaggieMae

I ran into a similar problem this week when I wanted to change my beneficiary on my 401k to my sister in case something would happen to me. The bank told me I would need my husband’s approval on a form and have it notarized. I do have POA for him and my sister has POA for me. I don’t want to withdraw money, just change the beneficiary.

Dio

MaggieMae, see if what I did will work for you. Bring the POA with you to the notary and sign the form in front of notary. I have pretty much full access/power over his 401K now. But for my own stuff that require DH's signature, the notary just need to see the original, notary stamped POA, and me signing as him was good to go.