Legal Question in Consumer Law in California

I have rolled over approximately $32000 into my IRA account from ING bank's 401(k) to Fidelity. After the rollover has completed, I have invested the money into various funds with Fidelity IRA.

ING bank has sent me notice that they have over payed the amount of money since they did not deduct legal fees incurred in the processing of the release of the funds from the 401(k) account.

ING is now asking for me to authorize the return of $3662.66 to cover the legal fees which they claim were over payed.

My question is: Am I legally obligated to pay this bill?


Asked on 6/05/12, 3:22 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

That sounds highly irregular. I have never heard of a roll-over from a 401k to an IRA requiring over 10% in legal fees. In fact I've never paid any legal fees at all to roll over a 401k from a former employer to an IRA. If, however, you did something out of the ordinary or by the terms of your 401k for some reason it would have been proper to charge you those fees at the time of the roll-over, there is no reason you would not owe the money just because they transferred more than you were entitled to receive and now want it back. You don't get free money just because of a mistake of that kind.

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Answered on 6/05/12, 3:32 pm


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