Professor Prince’s latest essay published by George Washington Business & Finance Law Review

CARLISLE, Pa.—“Financial Empowerment via 401(k) Plan Domestic Abuse Victim Distributions,” written by Professor Samantha Prince, has been published by the George Washington Business & Finance Law Review.

She notes one of President Joe Biden’s gifts to humanity is exhibited in a retirement act called the SECURE 2.0 Act. This Act permits a new type of penalty-free pre-retirement distribution for domestic abuse victims. Such distributions can significantly assist individuals with escaping their abusers.

Economic independence is a key factor in freeing oneself from a cycle of abuse and staying away from an abuser. Giving domestic abuse victims financial empowerment so that they can both escape their abuser and be positioned to stay free is crucial. For SECURE 2.0 to have an impact, there needs to be a concerted effort from employers.

This essay suggests that employers should not only amend their 401(k) plans to allow for domestic abuse victim distributions but also do more by eliminating vesting schedules and changing their contribution structures. Further, they should be more transparent about these features of their 401(k) plan so that employees and jobseekers are reminded or better informed.

Lastly, employers can provide financial literacy education to help their employees understand how to navigate taking distributions, investing, and managing their retirement savings. The urgency for employer-provided financial and investment education is heightened due to the ramifications of Trump’s detrimental policies, e.g., tariffs. Gaining such financial and investment knowledge will assist victims in becoming financially secure and lessen the possibility of a return to their abuser.

This essay complements Prince’s other work on 401(k) plans, including “Megacompany Employee Churn Meets 401(k) Vesting Schedules: A Sabotage on Workers’ Retirement Wealth,” published by Yale Law & Policy Review; “The Effects of 401(k) Vesting Schedules—in Numbers [co-authored],” published by The Yale Law Journal Forum; “Benefits Transparency,” published by Marquette Law Review (where she called for more transparency through mandatory disclosure of 401(k) plan details); “Benefits Washing,” published by the Georgetown Law Journal Online; “Vesting Villainy,” which is forthcoming with University of Pennsylvania Journal of Business Law; and “Nest Eggs and Lifelines: The Overlooked Strain of Economic Volatility on 401(k) Participants,” which is forthcoming with Arizona State University Corporate & Business Law Journal.

Professor Samantha Prince is an associate professor of law. She has a Master of Laws in Taxation from Georgetown University Law Center and was a partner in a regional law firm where she handled transactional matters that ranged from an initial public offering to regular representation of a publicly traded company. A significant part of her practice was in employee benefits, including retirement plan design and operation. Her expertise from practice has fueled her research, enabling her to become an expert on 401(k) vesting schedules, employee benefits transparency, and gig work. In practice, most of her clients were small- to medium-sized businesses and entrepreneurs, including start-ups. Professor Prince brought her practice knowledge to the Law School and established the Penn State Dickinson Law entrepreneurship program. She is an advisor for the Entrepreneurship Law Certificate that is available to students and is the founder and moderator of the Inside Entrepreneurship Law blog.