A Kansas court issues a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) three years after the decedent's divorce and two years after his death, concluding that issuing the QDRO does not impermissibly modify the divorce decree but rather only serves to carry out its terms. Lee v. Lee (Kan. Distr. Ct., No. 07CV5539, June 3, 2010).
Feeling compelled to do so in order to qualify for Medicaid nursing home benefits, in July 2007 Thomas Lee and his wife, Jean, divorced by emergency divorce decree. The decree specified that after Mr. Lee died, Mrs. Lee would receive survivor benefits from any pension(s) in which Mr. Lee was enrolled. After Mr. Lee's death in early 2008, his John Deere pension plan began paying Mrs. Lee survivor benefits pursuant to a beneficiary election form executed by Mr. Lee. In February 2010, however, John Deere terminated the payments, asserting that a QDRO was required to reinstitute the benefits.
Unopposed, Mrs. Lee submitted a proposed QDRO to the district court for approval. However, because the proposed QDRO was not executed by both parties' counsels and Mr. Lee had died in the interim period, the court felt inclined to question its own subject matter jurisdiction. The court pointed to two distinct dilemmas posed by issuing the QDRO: first, whether doing so would amount to an impermissible attempt to modify or add to the divorce decree outside of the time allowed; and second, whether the decedent's death prohibited the issuance of the QDRO.
The District Court of Kansas issues the QDRO, concluding that the court has the inherent authority to do so in order to effectuate the terms of the court's divorce decree, as issuing the QDRO does not modify the substance of the decree. As a caution to parties and attorneys who might otherwise delay the filing of a QDRO to a date after the divorce, the court opines "that much of the angst associated with this motion could have been avoided, rather than testing fate and the particular disqualifying requirements of individual pension plans."
For the full text of this decision, go to: https://attorney.elderlawanswers.com/full-text-of-opinion-in-lee-v-lee--kan-distr-ct-no-07cv5539-june-3-2010-8422
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