Dahl Aerospace Employees’ Ret. Plan of Aerospace Corp., 122 F. Supp. 3d 453 (E.D. Va. 2015) Facts: A Virginia divorce decree, incorporating a settlement agreement, gave each spouse the option to elect survivor benefits under the retirement plan of the other. This provision was not immediately stated in a DRO…
Carolyn Woodruff, a North Carolina CPA and Family Law Specialist, frequently is faced in sending a divorce client in the right direction after receiving a retirement plan in a divorce settlement. Here are her thoughts on the subject: The recipient may be receiving generally one or more of three…
VanderKam v. VanderKam, 776 F.3d 883 (D.C. Cir. 2015) (a) Facts: Before the parties were divorced, the wife was the death beneficiary of the husband’s retirement plan. The parties were divorced in Texas. Their divorce decree was silent on survivor benefits, but awarded the husband all rights existing because of his employment. After…
Yale-New Haven v. Nicholls, 788 F.3d 79 (2d Cir. 2015) (a) Facts: A husband and wife were divorced in Connecticut in 2008. The divorce decree incorporated a settlement agreement, which provided that the husband would transfer to the wife half of the marital share of his retirement benefits. No QDRO was entered…
I.R.C. § 414(p) and 29 U.S.C. § 1056 Morris v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 751 F. Supp. 2d 955 (E.D. Mich. 2010) (a) Facts: When the husband and the wife were divorced, the state court divorce decree extinguished all rights held by one in any life insurance of the other. …
Molinet v. Comm’r, T.C. Memo. 2014-109, 2014 WL 2573992 (2014) (a) Facts: A husband and wife were married. The wife was from Cuba and was admitted to the United States on a fiancé visa. The husband controlled the marital finances, with minimal input from the wife. She had access to…