Defense of Regulatory Audits

Trest performs preemptive audits of plan documentation, operation and administration to enable plan sponsors to correct non-compliance prior to a regulatory examination, which allows the avoidance of costly fees and penalties.

Our employee benefits lawyers and consultants are experienced in counseling Federal, State and local levels of government on the operation and administration of public sector retirement and health and welfare plans.

In corporate transactions, Trest regularly conducts due diligence on the employee benefits arrangements maintained by buyers and sellers to ensure the absence of hidden liabilities and operational failures that jeopardize regulatory compliance and tax status, and negotiates pre-closing and post-closing benefits integration.

Our professionals assist the client in defining their goals and objectives in offering defined contribution, defined benefit and executive retirement benefits and strategically recommends designs based upon the client’s intentions. Our professionals assist the client in defining their goals and objectives.

We bring a broad knowledge of best practices to our benefits communications strategy, and ensure that the complexity, tone and presentation is appropriate for the audience. Our team is uniquely qualified to serve as an organization’s resource in preparing these documents.

Our talented employee benefits lawyers have decades of experience advising plan fiduciaries on their fiduciary duties and on the avoidance of fiduciary status. We also provide guidance on prohibited transactions, including self-dealing and party-in-interest transactions.

Trest works directly with the plan sponsor and the service providers to obtain the information necessary to prepare the Form 5500 and all of the applicable schedules, as Forms 5500 are the most important informational returns filed on behalf of employee benefits plans with the content easily subjecting the employee benefit arrangement to costly regulatory examination.

We regularly negotiate investment management and advisory agreements on behalf of retirement plans, as well as instruments governing alternative investments, including subscription agreements to private placement memorandums.