Lost in the mists of time

“Lost participants” are terminated participants and beneficiaries entitled to benefits from a plan, but for whom plan sponsors no longer have accurate contact information. The longer they remain lost, the more difficult they can be to locate. Plan sponsors should have solid procedures in place for locating lost participants and initiating their benefit payments- or they could end up spending a lot of time documenting the details or perhaps defending their actions (or inactions) in an audit.