Court Opinion

ID: 9717281
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:01:06.615017+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:52.265985
License: Public Domain

*384ZAPPALA, Justice,
dissenting.
In order to be considered as a qualified domestic relation order under Section 1056(3)(B)(i) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001-1461 (1982), as amended by the Retirement Equity Act of 1984, 29 U.S.C. § 1056(d) (1982 and Supp. Ill (1985)), a primary requisite is that the order give a spouse a specific interest in the subject pension proceeds. Because the majority fails to recognize this requirement, I must dissent.
Section 1056(3)(B)(i) states as follows:
(i) The term “qualified domestic relations order” means a domestic relations order—
(I) which creates or recognizes the existence of an alternate payee’s right to or assigns to an alternate payee the right to, receive all or a portion of the benefits payable with respect to a participant under a plan, ... (Emphasis added)
Thus, before a spouse is entitled to receive any share of pension proceeds, that amount must be spelled out in the support order. For example, a court may order a spouse to pay $100 a month in alimony and 50% of that spouse’s pension. The specific designation regarding the pension enables the order to be recognized as a “qualified domestic relations order” as that term is defined under the Act.
In the appeal sub judice, the Appellant is attempting to enforce a support agreement which provided for the payment of $250 per week for life. The Appellant appears to have leaped over the first hurdle by having her support agreement incorporated into a court order. See Majority Slip Opinion at 2, fn. 1. This does not alleviate the Appellant’s second hurdle, however, which is to obtain a specific order assigning an interest in the pension plan. While the Appellant does have, at least arguably, a domestic relation order, the order of February 5, 1980, is not a “qualified domestic relations order.” Therefore, there is no authority under the Act to attach the Appellee’s pension.