Guidelines For Best Practices in Connection With Retirement Accounts of the Elderly
I am serving on an American Bar Association, Senior Lawyers Division, Task Force in connection with setting up ABA approved guidelines to identify elder financial abuse with respect to retirement accounts. The relevant statute and the definition of Monitors, are hereinafter described. A broker-dealer who is a member [“Member”] of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) shall permit each owner [“Investor”] of an account described in sections 408(a), 408(k) or 408A of the Internal Revenue Code [“IRA account”] to designate up to three trusted contact persons as defined in, and consistent with the procedures and requirements of, FINRA’s Rule 4512(a)(1)(F) (such persons hereinafter called “Monitors”) . The Member, at its discretion, may permit the designation of more than three Monitors. An Investor who designates one or more Monitors shall be able to withdraw or cancel those designations at any time, substitute other individuals to replace one or more prior Monitors or, if there are less than three Monitors, add additional individuals to serve as Monitors. There are various, notice events that are suggested to could indicate the account owner is the subject of financial abuse. The Task Force needs to collect and/or review data relating to how the industry is implementing the rules relating to Monitors and the use of “Notice Events”. If anyone in my network has any data or first-hand knowledge of these rules and their implementation, please contact me.
