Case Law Development: QDROs and Surviving Spouse Benefits

In an extremely clear and well-written opinion, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals holds that assignment of pension rights through a QDRO does not also assign surviving spouse benefits unless it specifically and clearly says so.  The court comments that: "Without a doubt, the details required in a QDRO present a drafting morass for the lawyer. We recognize the concern expressed by courts and commentators that the failure of domestic relations lawyers to "navigate the treacherous shoals" of ERISA may harm potential beneficiaries. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Wheaton, 42 F.3d 1080 (7th Cir. 1994) (noting that "ideally, every domestic relations lawyer should be conversant with ERISA, but it is unrealistic to expect all of them to be")"  Click here for more.

Comments

[Amy]

As an every day woman who knows nothing about law or the confusing QDRO- I just got entitled to half of my husband's pension! I used one of those online QDRO people, mine was justqdros.com, and he had it sent to my husband's office in a week- so fast and it only cost me 400 dollars- which is a lot, but some of those companies advertise for a lot more.