Opinion ID: 2732037
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Spouse Equity Amendment Act

Text: Noting that “[c]ourt orders purporting to award a survivor annuity to a former spouse are currently unenforceable[,]” the Council of the District of Columbia adopted the Spouse Equity Amendment Act of 1988 in order “to conform the District‟s remaining retirement systems as much as possible with the changes made in” the federal Civil Service Retirement System that, “among other things, . . . permit[] a court to award survivor annuities to former spouses[.]” D.C. Council, Report on Bill 7-389, District of Columbia Spouse Equity Amendment Act of 1988, at 1 (October 27, 1988) (emphasis in original). Under this law, however, a former spouse is not entitled to a survivor annuity unless a “qualifying court order” (sometimes referred to as a “QDRO”) “by its terms awards to a former spouse . . . a survivor annuity.” D.C. Code § 1-529.02 (c) (2001). 6 Modeled after a federal statute enacted in 1978, the Spouse Equity Amendment Act of 1988 requires the Mayor to “comply with any qualifying court order that is issued prior to the employee‟s retirement.” D.C. Code § 1-529.03 (b) (2001). The Mayor is also required to “comply with any qualifying court order that is issued after the employee‟s retirement only to the extent it is consistent with any election previously executed at the time of retirement by the employee regarding that former spouse.” D.C. Code § 1-529.03 (c) (2001). Neither the original federal statute nor the Spouse Equity Amendment Act of 1988 explicitly addressed whether court orders issued after the death of an employee who has not yet retired are enforceable. Noting this lack of clarity, Congress amended federal pension law in 1986. A summary of the amendment identified the statutory “inconsistency” under which “a court order could be changed following the death of an employee who has not yet retired[,]” but could not be “amended after the employee‟s retirement[.]” 131 Cong. Rec. S18098 (daily ed. Dec. 19, 1985) (section-by-section summary of Senate committee amendment to H.R. 3384). For this reason, Congress amended the statute in order to “bar[] changes in court orders after an employee‟s death as well as after retirement.” Id.; see 5 U.S.C. § 8341 (h)(4) (2009) (the election “shall 7 not be effective . . . if such modification is made after the retirement or death of the employee”) (emphasis added). Likewise, “[a] court order awarding a former spouse [a] survivor annuity” may not be processed under federal regulations “if it is issued after the date of retirement or death of the employee and modifies or replaces the first order dividing the marital property of the employee or retiree and the former spouse.” 5 C.F.R. § 838.806 (a) (2009). No similar statutes or regulations focusing on the death of the employee have been adopted by the Mayor or Council of the District of Columbia.