Checklist · Superannuation
Plan instrument and booklet comparison
A side-by-side review of an ERISA plan instrument and its summary plan description. The booklet has to track the instrument. This list does not calculate a benefit.
- Kind
- Checklist. Steps or checks to work through and tick off.
- Where it applies
- United States
- AI use
- Yellow You and the tool draft together, with you directing. You check every statement you rely on.
- Law stated as at
- 22 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 22 October 2026 against the 3 authorities it cites, for United States.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use when a lawyer has both the plan instrument and a booklet and needs a comparison table. Do not use it to amend either document or to answer a participant's claim.
Used for these tasks
- Compare a member booklet or product disclosure to the deed
- Compare a self-managed retirement-fund deed to a current-law checklist
Each task page says how far AI may help with the task and what the lawyer must review.
How AI may be used
Yellow: the lawyer fills every row from the two documents and decides whether the booklet is accurate.
AI may
- Set up a comparison table with blank rows for eligibility, amendment, payments, and claims.
- Remind the reviewer of the accuracy standard in 29 U.S.C. § 1022(a).
- Flag a booklet statement that the instrument does not support.
AI must not
- Do not amend the plan or furnish a new booklet.
- Do not calculate a benefit, a vesting percentage, or a contribution.
- Do not decide a claim for benefits.
- Do not state a furnishing deadline.
The lawyer checks
- Use the instrument as the source of rights. Use the booklet as the summary.
- Apply the section 1022(a) standard of accuracy and of being understood by the average plan participant.
- Send any mismatch back to the plan's amendment procedure in section 1102(b)(3).
- Do not treat an Australian fund rule as the comparison standard.
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Read the full text
The full text is available after you log in. It is free. When you log in you can:
- read the whole precedent, with its drafting notes beside it;
- copy it, or download it as a Word file or Markdown;
- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
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All precedents for Superannuation · Tasks and AI use in this area