PCIP Success Stories

The stories featured on this page showcase individuals who have been helped by the staff of Pension Counseling and Information Projects. These stories highlight common problems that millions of Americans face, ranging from the very simple to the very complex. The expertise of counseling project staff has enabled the people featured in these stories to obtain the pensions that they have rightfully earned. The featured stories were collected in recognition of Older Americans Month.

For privacy reasons, many of the names and identifying information about the individuals featured in these stories have been changed.

Stories

• No divorce means widow is entitled to husband’s pension
• Restarting a pension becomes a family matter
• An unusual victory for the Mid-Atlantic Pension Counseling Project
• South Central Pension Rights Project saves a retiree from a $120,000 recoupment
• A $500 pension after 15 years of hard work? Not so fast. Western States Pension Assistance Project recovers pension for retiree.
• Pension Rights Center Fellow helps widow receive pension
• South Central Pension Rights Project verifies client’s earnings record to retrieve pension
• Mid-America Pension Rights Project locates "lost" pensions for 70 people
• Western States Pension Assistance Project wins survivor's benefit for widow
• Upper Midwest Pension Rights Project finds "lost" pension plan
• New England Pension Assistance Project locates pension for widow
• Upper Midwest Pension Rights Project helps widow avoid recoupment for overpayment
• Mid-America Pension Rights Project works with Department of Labor to overturn wrongful benefit denial
• South Central Pension Rights Project helps widow claim survivor benefit from Monsanto
• From Zero to Two Pensions - With Help from the New England Pension Assistance Project
  

   

About the Pension Counseling and Information Program

The regional counseling projects are funded by the U.S. Administration on Aging to provide free legal counseling to individuals who have questions about their pension, 401(k), and other retirement plans. To date, the pension counseling projects have recovered more than $200 million in retirement plan benefits for their clients.

The expertise of the staff and attorneys of the pension counseling projects enables them to assist their clients by:

• Helping them challenge denials and correct miscalculations of retirement benefits through their plan’s administrative processes;
• Tracking down their retirement benefits from past employers, and obtaining plan documents;
• Answering questions about the impact of complex laws and plan provisions on their benefits; and
• Providing them referrals to lawyers, actuaries and other pension professionals as appropriate.