My ex-husband died 4 years ago. He had a TBI for 12 years. I got a letter from the fire department he worked for telling me contact his previous employer because the pension company saw his obituary and they wanted to contact family for his pension. We were married while he worked for this previous employer and then moved to Florida. He never contacted them again. We were divorced and no QDRO was completed.
I read some ERISA regulations that stated that the wife is beneficiary unless signs a notarized paper go give it someone else. Documents, such as, who is beneficiary must be kept indefinitely by company while other documents only kept 7 years. They say they have no documents, of course.
I was told 3 different stories from the previous employer:
1. Wife gets pension, if divorced and no QDRO filled out then ex-wife gets pension.
2. Will go through his estate and give to his daughters.
3. I appealed the decision and now they say that no one gets his pension.
This sounds a little fishy.
How can they just keep his pension funds??
Supreme Court Case Egelhoff vs Egelhoff decision sided with ex-wife to receive pension money since it came under ERISA and she was his wife at the time he worked for company and no QDRO or changes made to beneficiary.
So, my question is - how can my ex-husband's previous employer and the pension company legally not disperse his pension? The company searched me out because I did not know him being entitled to this pension.
Thanks for any information someone might have to help me.
LisaPension information for ex-wife and Supreme Court Ruling.docx
