The Best Interest Process for Plan-to-IRA Rollover

The effective date of the DOL’s new definition of fiduciary advice and the amendments to PTE 2020-02 have been stayed pending the outcome of the lawsuits challenging the rule and the amended PTE. However, there will still be instances when advisers will be considered fiduciaries under the current DOL fiduciary rule when recommending rollovers and as such, may need to comply with the current version of the PTE and undertake the best interest process described in this article. This article also describes the similarities in the best interest process required by the SEC for rollover recommendations.