Immigration Life Event

[Johearain]

I have an employee who's wife left him and moved back to Mexico and, of course, now he wants to remove her from his benefits. They are not legally divorced yet. We are in Texas and there is no legal separation in this state. But, he says they're going to be legally separated in Mexico prior to being divorced (in Mexico).

My question is whether or not a life event currently exists. I know one will exist once he's divorced or legally separated but he's wanting to drop her now. Changes in lawful immigration status can be a life event to enroll in coverage under the new ACA rules, but I can't find anything on the opposite situation.

Does anyone know if a spouse moving out of the country could possibly be considered a life event to allow him to drop her from his plans? I've never run into this particular scenario before and not really sure how to proceed...

[Peter Gulia]

Concerning a proposed change under a cafeteria plan (which does not necessarily follow through to other matters), the plan's administrator might ask for its lawyer's or other tax practitioner's advice about whether the participant's claim sufficiently describes "[a] change in the place of residence of the [participant's] spouse" within the meaning of 26 C.F.R. 1.125-4©(2)(v).