Someone retires. Takes the monthly pension. Two years go by.
Then something happens. A medical diagnosis. A kid needs help. A roof caves in. Or they just look at the math again and think, wait, maybe I should have taken the cash.
So they call the plan and ask to switch.
The answer is almost always no.
Not "let me check." Not "there's a fee for that." No. The election you made when payments started is generally irrevocable, and the lump sum door closed the day your first check cleared.
That is the rule, and it is worth saying plainly because a lot of people assume there is flexibility that does not exist.
But "almost always" is not "always." There are four real situations where a lump sum becomes available after retirement, and one of them is showing up in more and more mailboxes. Let's go through what is actually possible, what is not, and what to do if an offer lands in front of you.