Prenuptial Agreement Ineffective as Against ERISA
A prenuptial agreement
alone does not meet ERISA requirements.
The Sixth Circuit recently considered a case called
Greenebaum Doll & McDonald PLLC v. Sandler
in which a man's children from a prior marriage sued
their father's widow to enforce a prenuptial agreement
in which the widow waived any claim to her husband's
retirement benefits.
The Sixth Circuit held that a United States District
Court properly dismissed the suit because the
prenuptial agreement did not meet ERISA's requirements.
Although in the prenuptial agreement the widow had
agreed that she waived and released any claim to her
husband's retirement benefits, the husband's employer's
retirement plan designated the surviving spouse as the
beneficiary of any retirement benefits unless the
participant formally changed that designation. the
husband did not change the designation, so upon the
husband's death, his widow received all the retirement
benefits despite the provisions of the prenuptial
agreement.
Child Support Collection by QDRO
When is a DRO a QDRO?
