The Pension Protection Act Blog

“ERISA provides no exception to the plan administrator’s duty to act in accordance with plan documents.”
- Headnote 2, Kennedy v. Plan Administrators for Dupont Savings.
In the game of QDRO beneficiary tug-of-war between an ex-wife and daughter over a deceased participant’s account balance, the U.S. Supreme Court today found in favor of the ex-wife in Kennedy [...]

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“This case requires us to once again navigate the complex statutory scheme set out in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974….”

- Judge Clifton, 9th Circuit Court of Appeals

Yesterday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decided whether or not a participant in a plan with a Qualified Joint and Survivor Annuity (QJSA) may change [...]

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Yesterday, in In re Marriage Cases, No. S147999 (May 15, 2008), the California Supreme Court addressed the issue of whether domestic partnership is the same as marriage. As framed by the Court, the issue they addressed in this decision is:
“Accordingly, the legal issue we must resolve is not whether it would be constitutionally permissible [...]

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Tucked away toward the end of the Pension Protection Act are two sections which made changes to Railroad Retirement. Section 1002 and Section 1003 both became effective on August 17, 2007, one year after the date PPA was enacted. Section 1002 is Entitlement of Divorced Spouses to Railroad Retirement Annuities Independent of Actual [...]

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Fast on the heels of LaRue and MetLife, the U.S. Supreme Court is taking a look at another ERISA case – Kennedy v. Plan Administrators for DuPont Savings and Investment Plan, No. 07-636. The Petitioner, the estate of the participant, is required to file their merit brief today with the Court.
Kennedy is a case [...]

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EBSA issued an interim final rule with a request for comments as required by Section 1001 of PPA. The final rule takes effect April 6, 2007. It adds Labor Reg. 2530.206, which includes examples addressing that a domestic relations order (DRO) will not fail as a qualified domestic relations order solely because it [...]

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