QDROs

[Guidance Overview] Ninth Circuit: State Court Has Jurisdiction to Determine Whether Domestic Relations Order Was Qualified
Excerpt:"EBIA Comment: In a footnote citing a lengthy list of court decisions, the Ninth Circuit observed that every court that has considered the question has concluded that state courts have jurisdiction to decide whether a DRO is qualified."(Employee Benefits Institute of America)

[Guidance Overview] Divorce After Retirement: Retirement Elections Can Be Carved in Stone (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt:"The court's point is that the parties must abide by the terms and procedures of the pension plan. In the Carmona case, IATSE permitted waivers prior to retirement, not after retirement."(Brucker&Morra, APC)

State Judges Can Rule on QDRO Cases
Excerpt:"A federal appellate court has ruled that state courts can decide whether domestic relations orders . . . meet the requirements for being considered qualified domestic relations orders . . . under federal benefits law."(PLANSPONSOR.com)

[Guidance Overview] DOL Issues Final Regulations on the Timing and Order of QDROs (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt:"The regulations provide that a plan administrator cannot disqualify a QDRO solely because it is issued after or revises another domestic relations order or QDRO, or is issued after the plan participant's death, divorce, or annuity starting date."(Buck Consultants)

[Guidance Overview] DOL Final Regulations Clarifying Rights and Obligations on Obtaining Benefits Under Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt:"The regulations clarify that a DRO that otherwise meets the qualification requirements will not fail to be treated as a QDRO solely because the DRO is issued after, or revises, another DRO or QDRO."(Drinker Biddle&Reath LLP)

[Guidance Overview] DOL Final Regulations on Timing and Order of Domestic Relations Orders
Excerpt:"EBIA Comment: These final regulations, like the interim version, don't deviate from the narrow Congressional directive under which they were created. But it is useful to have the DOL clarify that the general principles -- not the specific examples -- are what matter."(Employee Benefits Institute of America)

[Guidance Overview] DOL's Final Regulations Relating to Time and Order of QDROs (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt:"The regulations, which are effective July 30, 2010, are substantially similar to the interim final rule, but several changes were made to the examples, and one additional example was added."(Sutherland Asbill&Brennan LLP)

[Official Guidance] Text of Final DOL Regs on Timing Aspects of Qualified Domestic Relations Orders, Per PPA 2006 (PDF)
7 pages. Excerpt:"[A] domestic relations order otherwise meeting ERISA's requirements to be a QDRO shall not fail to be treated as a QDRO solely because the order is issued after, or revises, another domestic relations order or QDRO . . . [or] . . . because of the time at which it is issued . . . [such as a QDRO that is] issued after the death of the participant . . . [or] . . . after the parties divorce . . . [or] . . . after the participant's annuity starting date."(U.S. Employee Benefits Security Administration)

[Official Guidance] Text of Final Rule Relating to Time and Order of Issuance of Domestic Relations Orders (PDF)
Excerpt:"The rule provides guidance to plan administrators, service providers, participants, and alternate payees on the qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) requirements under ERISA. The rule is being adoptedin response to the specific statutory directive contained in the PPA."(U.S. Employee Benefits Security Administration via The SPARK Institute)

Chart of DOL's 2010 Regulatory Agenda for Employee Benefit Matters (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt:"DOL's agenda and related materials include 20 pending projects related to employee benefits, which are listed below in order of the projected timetable for next steps. (In the ordinary course, dates projected in the agenda may prove ambitious.) New projects highlighted by DOL are shown in bold."(Sutherland)

[Guidance Overview] Final QDRO Regulation Expected Soon from DOL
Excerpt:"The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) plans to publish a final regulation in April clarifying the rights and obligations of parties seeking to obtain benefits under a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO). Specifically, the rule will clarify that a domestic relations order (DRO) otherwise meeting the requirements to be a QDRO shall not fail to be treated as a QDRO solely because the order is issued after, or revises, another DRO or QDRO, or because of the time at which it is issued."(Thompson Publishing Group Inc.)

Battles Over Retirement Assets Increasingly the Most Contentious?and Error-Filled?Part of Divorce
Excerpt:"[A qualified domestic relations order, or a] QDRO, as it's called, helps divide a couple's retirement assets in the wake of a divorce. Such an order, for instance, would permit the custodian of a 401(k) to make payments to the former spouse of an employee. As straightforward as that might sound, a QDRO is about much more than dividing dollars. A retirement plan will need a court order to carry out your wishes, and those wishes had better be spelled out in painstaking detail. What's more, retirement accounts are frequently the largest asset in a divorce proceeding. Given the precarious health of such accounts in the wake of the recession, every penny becomes critical."(The Wall Street Journal)

[Guidance Overview] Who is Entitled to Life Insurance Benefits and Top-Hat Benefits from an ERISA Plan Following Divorce or Marital Separation?
Excerpt:"ERISA plans generally need not follow state-court orders. On the other hand, ERISA plans must follow the designation terms of those DROs that are qualified domestic relations orders ('QDROs'). Questions have been raised about whether life insurance plans and top-hat plans (which are pension plans maintained primarily for the purpose of providing deferred compensation for a select group of management or highly compensated employees) must follow the designation terms of a DRO that'satisfies the QDRO requirements,'but contradicts a designation made pursuant to the plan terms."(Social Science Research Network)

[Guidance Overview] Who is Entitled to Life Insurance Benefits and Top-Hat Benefits from an ERISA Plan Following a Divorce or a Marital Separation?
Excerpt:"ERISA plans generally need not follow state-court orders. On the other hand, ERISA plans must follow the designation terms of those DROs which are qualified domestic relations orders ('QDROs'). Questions have been raised about whether life insurance plans and top-hat plans (which are pension plans maintained primarily for the purpose of providing deferred compensation for a select group of management or highly compensated employees), must follow the designation terms of a DRO that'satisfies the QDRO requirements,'but contradicts a designation made pursuant to the plan terms."(NYSBA Family Law Review Newsletter via Social Science Research Network)

[Guidance Overview] State Courts Have Jurisdiction to Determine Whether a Domestic Relations Order Is Qualified
Excerpt:"EBIA Comment: As noted in our earlier article, we find the court's view -- that state and federal courts have concurrent jurisdiction over challenges to a plan administrator's QDRO determination -- compelling and consistent with the many published cases on this issue. The court acknowledged that the DOL reached a different conclusion in its publication explaining QDROs, but refused to defer to the DOL's interpretation, noting that the publication was not an official regulatory interpretation and that, in any event, the jurisdiction issue was a pure question of law on which no deference to the DOL was necessary."(Employee Benefits Institute of America)

[Guidance Overview] No Mention of Pension in Prenup Doesn't Entitle Wife to Benefits
Excerpt:"A Florida appeals court has found that an ex-spouse was not being deceitful when he failed to list a pension account in a prenuptial agreement."(PLANSPONSOR.com)

[Guidance Overview] State, Federal Courts Share ERISA QDRO Jurisdiction, According to Ruling
Excerpt:"The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled that both state and federal courts have legal jurisdiction to enforce qualified domestic relations orders (QDRO) giving an alternate payee a portion of a participant's plan balance."(PLANSPONSOR.com)

[Official Guidance] Court Rules State and Federal Courts Have Concurrent Jurisdiction to Review Plan Administrator's Determination of Whether a Domestic Relations Order Is'Qualified'for Purposes of ERISA
Excerpt:"The question presented in this case is whether state courts have subject matter jurisdiction under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) to review a plan administrator's determination that a proposed qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) is not'qualified'for purposes of ERISA."(Leagle, Inc.)

[Guidance Overview] Pending Divorce Does Not Require Spousal Consent for SERP Payout, According to Ruling
Excerpt:"Although the SERP was presumably a defined benefit arrangement, the court concluded that ERISA's qualified joint and survivor annuity rules, which require a participant's spouse's consent to the election of a form of benefit other than a QJSA, did not apply. That was because the SERP was a top hat plan, and top hat plans are not subject to ERISA's survivor annuity rules. (The United Way actually denied that a SERP existed and maintained instead that the $2 million was paid pursuant to a separation agreement, but the court assumed for purposes of its ruling that a SERP did exist.)"(Utz, Miller&Eickman, LLC)

QDROs Can Be Particularly Problematic When Plan Assets Contain Employer Securities
Excerpt:"Divorce is messy. Even once the settlement agreement has been reached, signed and filed with the court, our client still faces one remaining hurdle; the dreaded Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO)."(Morningstar)

[Guidance Overview] Plan Administrator Cannot Consider Motivation for Participants'Divorces When Determining Status of QDRO
Excerpt:"EBIA Comment: Plan administrators generally are not required to analyze whether a divorce order is valid under state domestic relations law. However, according to a prior DOL advisory opinion (also addressing allegedly sham divorces by pilots), if there is credible evidence that the order has been procured through fraud, plan administrators should take appropriate steps to resolve the validity of the order. Those steps will depend on the facts and circumstances, and could include relaying the evidence of fraud to the court or agency that issued the order. But if requested guidance from the court or agency is not received within a reasonable time, the plan administrator must proceed with determining the validity of the order (in other words, the plan administrator may not independently determine that the order is not valid under state law). Because these issues can be complex and fact-specific, plan administrators faced with potentially fraudulent QDROs may wish to seek the advice of experienced legal counsel."(Employee Benefits Institute of America)

[Opinion] Divorce and Pensions: Continental Style
Excerpt:"This is one of the great ERISA stories of all time - its like something out of a Boston Legal episode. I am speaking, of course, of the case, detailed here, of the Continental pilots who, concerned that the retirement plan may go belly up long before they retire, divorced their wives, executed QDROs transferring the retirement benefit to their now ex-spouses, after which the ex-wives took out lump sum payments, as the plan allowed. . . . [L]urking in the background, behind the entertaining fact pattern (entertaining, at least, to ERISA lawyers): the fact that we have a retirement system that is so tenuous that employees feel it is necessary to go to lengths such as this to protect themselves. That is the more significant issue that needs addressing, much more so than whether plan terms or QDRO requirements should be able to be manipulated in such a manner."(Stephen Rosenberg of The McCormack Firm, LLC)

Judge Throws Out Continental's Suit Against Divorced Pilots
Excerpt:"​We wrote this summer about Continental Airlines'decision to sue some of its pilots who, the company thought, had undergone bogus divorces in order to get some pension benefits. The pilots were still in love, the airline essentially argued, and therefore shouldn't be getting the early pensions that come with divorce (and what kind of anti-marriage stance is that, Continental?) A federal judge here ruled against the airline today, saying that no one knows what is in another's heart. Or something like that."(Village Voice Media )

[Opinion] Did a Unanimous Supreme Court Misread ERISA, Misread the Court's Precedents, Undermine Basic ERISA Principles, and Encourage Benefits Litigation?
Excerpt:"In Kennedy v. Plan Administrator of the DuPont Savings and Investment Plan (the'Kennedy Decision'), a unanimous Supreme Court appeared to proclaim a'bright-line rule'that plan documents determine benefit distribution rights. However, by misreading ERISA and its own precedents, the Supreme Court needlessly undermined basic ERISA principles with respect to the determination and the protection of ERISA benefit entitlements, the coverage of the prohibition on the alienation of pension benefits (the'Alienation Prohibition') and the rules pertaining to QDROs."(Social Science Research Network)

[Guidance Overview] No COBRA for Former Spouse Who Did Not Provide Timely Notice of Divorce
Excerpt:"EBIA Comment: Other courts have held that a plan with'inquiry notice'of a qualifying event must send a COBRA election notice. A plan has inquiry notice when the covered employee or the qualified beneficiary has given enough information about the occurrence of the qualifying event to allow the plan administrator, upon due inquiry, to reasonably ascertain that a qualifying event has occurred. But as this court concluded, knowledge of a pending divorce is not knowledge of a qualifying event since the actual entry of a divorce decree is the triggering event for the COBRA qualifying event of divorce. The outcome might have been different if the plan had inquiry notice of a final divorce."(Employee Benefits Institute of America)

[Guidance Overview] QDRO Cannot Override ERISA Rules for COBRA and Retirement Benefits
Excerpt:"The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has ruled that the former spouse of an employee cannot get continued health care benefits as dictated by a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) because the plan was not notified of her divorce within the 60-day notice requirement for a qualifying event under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA)."(PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

[Opinion] Comments on Proposed Legislation in Oklahoma Relating to Treatment of Military Retired Pay at Time of Divorce (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt:"Together with the National Women's Law Center, the PRC sent a letter to the Oklahoma state legislature expressing concerns about proposed legislation that would change the way Oklahoma state courts divide military pension benefits."(Peinsion Rights Center)

[Opinion] QDROs, the Drainville Decision, and Albert Feuer
Excerpt:"I don't think anyone has made as sustained a study of the law of QDROs as Albert Feuer. Albert has a new piece he has authored on the Drainville decision, which I discussed here, in which Albert concurs that it is both well reasoned and accurate in treating substantial compliance with the statutory QDRO requirements as sufficient. Albert, however, has long maintained a particular scholarly view on the QDRO requirements, which is that they only apply to pensions under the statutory language, and don't reach other ERISA governed plans or benefits. Albert points out that the Drainville court erred in its analysis for this reason."(Stephen Rosenberg of The McCormack Firm, LLC)

[Guidance Overview] Qualified Domestic Relations Orders Issues
Excerpt:"Pension and retirement benefits earned during a couple's marriage are of great value. It's not uncommon for couple's that have been married for a long-time to build up significant pension or retirement benefits, which can be worth considerable value in their marital assets. When splitting up these assets a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) will be needed to receive all or a portion of qualified plan benefits from an ex-spouse."(Examiner.com)

Continental Says Pilots Got Sham Divorces
Excerpt:"Excerpt:'Continental Airlines is suing nine pilots that it says got sham divorces so their ex-spouses could collect their retirement benefits while they kept flying. The airline said the pilots -- seven men and two women -- got divorces but concealed that from children and friends, then remarried their spouses after getting the money. The company said it paid out $10 million to $11 million in suspicious pension distributions.'"(AP via The New York Times; free registration required)

[Guidance Overview] AT&T Did not Improperly Delay QDRO Payment
Excerpt:"The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri has found that AT&T Inc.'s pension plan administrator did not act improperly by not immediately paying lump-sum benefits to an employee's ex-wife under two domestic relations orders. According to the court opinion, neither the first domestic relations order (DRO) nor an amended DRO entitled Sigrid V. Green to the immediate payment of pension benefits. The court determined Green was entitled to a calculated portion of her ex-husband's pension benefits on the earlier of his retirement date, even if he has not yet retired, or when he elects to start receiving benefits."(PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

Divorce and Retirement: How to Take Control of Retirement Benefits (PDF)
Excerpt:"When you're in the midst of a divorce, you have to juggle so many things. . . . One practical issue that women often overlook is getting a fair share of retirement assets. Retirement funds may be among the biggest assets you have as a couple. It's important to know that these funds are not automatically split in a divorce."(The Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement)

[Guidance Overview] Divorce and Retirement: Take Control of Retirement Benefits (PDF)
20 pages. Excerpt:"Let's start with the fact that retirement benefits are not automatically split during a divorce. Just like other marital assets, a divorce court judge or an agreement between you and your spouse divides the benefits. Find out as much as you can about the benefits earned by you and your husband during the marriage. Then make sure you and your lawyer protect your right to those benefits."(Women?s Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER))

[Guidance Overview] Feuer on the Kennedy Case
Excerpt:"Albert Feuer, who has provided us with valuable analysis of Kennedy v. DuPont as it was pending before the Supreme Court, has now done the same for the Court's final decision. He will have a more extensive discussion of the case in his article,'Will the Supreme Court Reinforce or Undermine Basic ERISA Principles When it Decides a Death Benefit Dispute,'which is to be published soon in the Charleston Law Review. In the meantime, he's prepared a shorter analysis of the case."(Workplace Prof Blog)

[Guidance Overview] QDRO Awarding Pension Benefits to Domestic Partner in'Quasi-Marital Relationship'Upheld on Appeal
Excerpt:"EBIA Comment: The Ninth Circuit looked to state law to define what constitutes'marital property rights'for QDRO purposes. In so doing, the court rejected the plan's claim that'marital property rights'for this couple could not exist because they were not married within the meaning of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). While the court's conclusion in this case -- in the context of opposite-sex partners -- is relatively straightforward (as the court noted:'DOMA's legislative history reflects only Congress's concern for same-sex marriages'), it begs the question of how this case might have been decided if the partners were same-sex partners and the DOMA argument not so easily dismissed."(Employee Benefits Institute of America)

[Guidance Overview] Plan Administrator Properly Followed Plan Documents and Paid Ex-Spouse Despite Divorce Decree Waiver
Excerpt:"EBIA Comment: In relying on the plan document rule, while also addressing the anti-alienation arguments, the Court resolved prior splits among lower courts on both of these issues. This decision brings welcome uniformity to plan administrators who have been faced with uncertainty about whether to honor divorce decree waivers, allowing them now to rely on plan documents to determine beneficiaries. The Court acknowledged that less certain rules would force plan administrators to review'a multitude'of external documents purporting to waive benefits and face increased risk of being drawn into costly litigation."(Employee Benefits Institute of America)

[Guidance Overview] Supreme Court Clarifies That a Former Spouse's Benefits Are Governed by Plan's Express Terms
Excerpt:"To assist plan administrators and employers in utilizing the Kennedy decision to make benefit administration less complicated, employers need to review the terms of their benefit plans to ensure that the benefit distribution rules and beneficiary designation provisions are clear and unambiguous. Also, other important plan-related forms, such as beneficiary designation forms, should be reviewed to insure that they are clear and properly notify participants of the decisions they are undertaking."(McDermott Will&Emery)

[Guidance Overview] Order Awarding Pension Benefits After 30-Year'Quasi-Marriage'Constituted a QDRO
Excerpt:"A court order awarding pension benefits following the dissolution of a 30-year'quasi-marriage'constituted a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) under ERISA. This was the decision of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Owens v. Automotive Machinists Pension Trust (No. 07-35253)."(Wolters Kluwer)

[Guidance Overview] Supreme Court Upholds Distribution to Former Spouse Despite Divorce Decree
Excerpt:"In ruling for the plan administrator, the Court resolved conflicting opinions from the lower courts and stressed the need for plan administrators to be able to rely on the plan's own administrative procedures in determining who is entitled to a deceased participant's benefit, and not to be required to interpret other documents that might contradict the participant's beneficiary designation on file with the plan. The participant in this case, the Court held, had ample opportunity to change his beneficiary designation and had failed to do so."(Seyfarth Shaw LLP)

[Official Guidance] Text of U.S. Supreme Court Decision Denying Death Benefits to Surviving Ex-Spouse (PDF)
22 pages. Excerpt (from the opinion's syllabus):'Under the terms of the plan, if there is no sur-viving spouse or designated beneficiary at the time of death, distribu-tion is made as directed by the estate's executor or administrator. Upon their marriage, William designated Liv Kennedy his SIP bene-ficiary and named no contingent beneficiary. Their subsequent di-vorce decree divested Liv of her interest in the SIP benefits, but Wil-liam did not execute a document removing Liv as the SIP beneficiary.On William's death, petitioner Kari Kennedy, his daughter and theexecutrix of his Estate, asked for the SIP funds to be distributed to the Estate, but the plan administrator relied on William's designa-tion form and paid them to Liv."(U.S. Supreme Court via American Benefits Council)

[Guidance Overview] Supreme Court Sides With DuPont in $400K Pension Plan Case
Excerpt:"The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday that DuPont Co. ( DD) was correct to pay a deceased worker's retirement benefits to his ex-wife even though she had renounced her rights to the pension during divorce proceedings."(Dow Jones via CNNMoney.com)

[Guidance Overview] Supreme Court Rules for Employer in Pension Dispute Over Death Benefit
Excerpt:"The justices, in a unanimous decision Monday, said Kari Kennedy can collect nothing from DuPont because companies are bound by what a worker puts down on forms designating who is to receive retirement and other benefits after his death."(AP via SignOnSanDiego.com)

[Guidance Overview] State Court Lacks Jurisdiction to Determine Whether a DRO Is a QDRO, According to Appeals Court
Excerpt:"EBIA Comment: The DOL's view that only federal courts have jurisdiction to determine whether a DRO is qualified, is found in a set of frequently asked questions (FAQs) addressing various QDRO issues (available at http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq_qdro.html). As we have previously noted, however, we find more compelling the view that an alternate payee's lawsuit challenging a plan administrator's QDRO determination is a claim for plan benefits under ERISA Section 502(a)(1)(B) over which state and federal courts have concurrent jurisdiction, although if filed in state court, the plan should be able to remove the state court action to federal court, regardless of how the claim is pled in the complaint, pursuant to the'complete preemption'doctrine . . . ."(Employee Benefits Institute of America)

State Courts Cannot Determine If Domestic Relations Order Is Qualified Under ERISA
Excerpt:"The Minnesota Court of Appeals has overturned a lower court's decision that a domestic relations order (DRO) was a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO), saying the lower court did not have the jurisdiction to make that determination. According to EBIA, the court cited the Department of Labor's view that federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction to determine whether a DRO is a QDRO."(PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

9th Circuit Finds QDRO Valid for 30-year Quasi-Marriage
Excerpt:"The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has determined that a pension plan must recognize a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) under Washington state law because the payee maintained a'quasi-marital'relationship with the plan participant for more than 30 years. The court agreed with a federal district court in Washington that the Order issued by the Superior Court of King County awarding Norma Owens a 50% interest in Phillip R. Owens, Sr.'s pension benefits constituted a valid QDRO because it relates to'marital property rights'and Norma qualifies as a'dependent'of Phillip, and therefore as an'Alternate Payee.'"(PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

[Guidance Overview] Guest Commentary by Albert Feuer on the Pending Kennedy ERISA Case
Excerpt:"[The Workplace Prof Blog is] privileged to have Albert Feuer, eminent ERISA practitioner, provide this updated analysis on the Kennedy ERISA case before the Supreme Court based on its recent request for further briefing on the issues:'A Curious ERISA Case Before the Supreme Court Becomes More Curious'Kennedy v. DuPont Savings Plan Administrator, No. 07-636 has become even more curious."(Workplace Prof Blog)

Court Affirms Denial of Survivorship Benefits not Provided for in QDRO
Excerpt:"A federal judge has ruled that the lack of language in a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) assigning survivorship benefits to an ex-spouse is a clear indication of the intent not to provide those benefits."(PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

[Opinion] AARP Urges Supreme Court to Require Participants to Follow Plan Terms in Order to Change Beneficiary Designations
Excerpt:"AARP has filed a'friend of the court'brief in support of neither party in the Supreme Court case of Kennedy v. Plan Adm'r for DuPont Sav.&Inv. Plan. AARP argues that employee benefit plan documents establish who may be a beneficiary and, here, the executrix of the estate did not meet any of the plan criteria."(AARP)

[Guidance Overview] New Question Posed in ERISA Case Before Supreme Court
Excerpt:"The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered lawyers to file new briefs by Nov. 10 on a new issue in a pending case testing a divorced spouse's right to the other spouse's pension benefits. The question was posed in Kennedy v. DuPont Savings Plan Administrator (07-636) -- a case heard by the Justices on Oct. 7. The new question tests the application to the case of a part of federal benefit law that requires benefit plan administrators to operate the plan as dictated by plan documents -- an issue that the Court appeared previously to have declined to hear."(SCOTUSblog)

[Guidance Overview] High Court to Hear Arguments on ERISA Beneficiary Designation
Excerpt:"The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Oct. 7 regarding whether a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act trumps a woman's voluntary waiver of her ex-husband's pension benefits, an issue that has divided federal appeals courts and left divorce lawyers unsure how to advise clients."(Texas Lawyer)

[Guidance Overview] Analysis of Oral Argument Transcript in ERISA DuPont Case
Excerpt:"The Supreme Court heard oral argument in the case of Kennedy v. Plan Administrator for DuPont Savings and Investment Plan this afternoon. The case concerns whether a divorcing spouse may waive her rights to spousal pensions benefits without going through the qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) process set out in the exceptions to ERISA's anti-alienation rule. What follows is analysis of that oral argument transcript based on my reading of the oral argument transcript in DuPont . . . ."(Workplace Prof Blog)

[Guidance Overview] Supreme Court to Examine QDROs as the Only Waiver to Retirement Benefits (PDF)
Pages 2-3 of 5 pages. Excerpt:"Next term, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether there is an exception to the general ERISA rule of non-alienation that a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) is necessary to divest a party of a retirement benefit in the divorce context. The exception would permit a plan to treat a spouse's benefit as having been divested as a result of the spouse's execution of a divorce decree waiver."(Miller&Chevalier Chartered)

[Guidance Overview] Posthumous QDROs
Excerpt:"Over the years a series of cases have held, for various reasons, that a domestic relations order (DRO) assigning benefits to an intended alternate payee could not qualify as a QDRO if the order was entered after the participant's death. Many practitioners concluded that this was the law, although more recent cases have held to the contrary. PPA section 1001 is a wake up call: it is not too late to get a QDRO after the participant has died!"(Chang, Ruthenberg&Long PC)

[Guidance Overview] Failure to Meet Technical Requirements and to Timely Submit Divorce Decree Prevent Recognition as QDRO
Excerpt:"Although this case did not involve a 401(k) plan, it raises two issues of significant interest to 401(k) plan sponsors and administrators. First, the case serves as a reminder that even though the DOL has suggested that perfect compliance with the QDRO technicalities is not necessary, those requirements cannot be ignored."(Employee Benefits Institute of America)

Groups Urge Supreme Court to Uphold QDRO Ruling
Excerpt:"In a motion for permission to file a friend of the court brief, the American Benefits Council, The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC), and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) asked the U.S. Supreme Court to affirm a finding by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that a divorce decree was not a waiver of an ex-spouse's right to benefits."(PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

Divorce Decree Submitted after Participant's Death Is not a QDRO
Excerpt:"The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama ruled that a divorce decree did not meet the requirements a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) because of technical failures and untimely submission to the plan administrator."(PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

Court Denies Interest on Benefit Paid 12 Years After Death
Excerpt:"The U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware has denied a request by a deceased pension plan participant's ex-wife for interest on surviving spouse benefits paid to her 12 years after her ex-husband's death."(PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

Court Order Needed to Split Retirement Accounts in Divorce
Excerpt:"Divorcing couples can split retirement accounts and even cash them out penalty-free as part of a settlement, but it has to be executed properly, and this is what many couples fail to do . . . ."(Chicago Tribune)

[Guidance Overview] Retirement and Survivor Annuities for Former Spouses of Federal Employees (PDF)
6 pages. Excerpt:"A former spouse of a federal employee may be entitled to a share of the employee's retirement annuity under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) or the Federal Employees'Retirement System (FERS) if this has been authorized by a state court decree of divorce, annulment, or legal separation. An employee also may voluntarily elect a survivor annuity for a former spouse. A state court can award a former spouse a share of the employee's retirement annuity, a survivor annuity, or both. A court also can award a former spouse of a federal employee a portion of the employee's Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) account balance as part of a divorce settlement."(Congressional Research Service via BenefitsLink.com)

[Opinion] Some Quirks About QDROs
Excerpt:"The First Circuit just got into the act at the end of last week, with a detailed ruling on the collision of QDROs, retirement benefits, divorce proceedings, and jurisdictional issues. To me, the most interesting aspect of the case concerns the court's discussion of the power of the state probate court to resolve this issue, and the court's suggestion that a parallel, but separate, federal action over the enforcement and interpretation of a QDRO is, at a minimum, not an approach the court favors."(Stephen Rosenberg of The McCormack Firm, LLC)