Litigation

Where a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) distributing pension benefits does not specifically mention pre-retirement death benefits, and the plan member dies before retirement age, the former spouse is not entitled to pre-retirement death benefits. Kazel v. Kazel, No. 163. Court of Appeals of New York, November 18, 2004.

The parties were married for 28 years. They entered into an agreement that provided for the equitable distribution of marital property, including an award to the wife of a portion of the husband's post retirement pension benefits. A QDRO was filed with the court reflecting the parties' agreement. The agreement was silent on the distribution of pre-retirement death benefits. After the parties' divorce, the former husband remarried and then died before reaching retirement age. He never received any payments under the pension plan. After the former husband's death, the former wife sought to modify the QDRO to share in the former husband's pre-retirement death benefits with his current spouse. After the lower courts denied the former wife's claim, the matter was heard by the New York Court of Appeals (the highest court) and was affirmed. New York's highest court, the Court of Appeals, held that pension benefits and pre-retirement death benefits are two separate interests; the mere reference to a pension plan or pension benefits will not entitle the payee spouse to pre-retirement death benefits. Only a specific reference to pre-retirement death benefits will allow a distribution of those benefits to a former spouse.