Divorce Decree Submitted after Participant's Death is
not a QDRO
July 16, 2008 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - 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.
The court did not agree with the plan administrator
that there was nothing left to assign after the pension
plan participant's death, but did decide that the
decree did not qualify as a QDRO under the defined benefit
plan's terms.
The plan's QDRO procedures provided for the recognition
of orders submitted after a participant's death only if
there was insufficient time to obtain an order beforehand,
and in the present case the divorce was completed two years
prior to the participant's death.
In addition, the court found that the divorce
decree failed nearly every standard laid out in the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) to
qualify as a QDRO. The decree did not identify the
parties' addresses, specify the affected plan, or
indicate what percentage of benefits was to be
paid.
The case is R.A.F. v. Southern Co. Pension Plan,
2008 WL 2397391 (M.D. Ala. 2008).
Rebecca Moore
editors@plansponsor.com