An amendment added to the Senate version of the Bankruptcy Reform Act provides that a debtor may waive the exemption of his or her retirement plan assets from creditors in bankruptcy.
Current law protects retirement plan assets from creditors.
The bill will undergo final changes in a House-Senate Conference Committee later this spring. Grassley is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee which was responsible for the legislation and, as a likely conferee, will help determine the final version of the legislation. A copy of the letter is attached. We incorporated these provisions in the Taxpayer Refund and Relief Act of 1999, which, as you will agree, provides the most comprehensive expansion of both private and employer-provided retirement plans in recent years. This provision provides that a debtor may waive the exemption of his or her retirement plan assets from creditors in bankruptcy.