Alternate payee fails to notify plan of remarriage

[Kathleen]

Alternate payee fails to inform plan administrator of remarriage, which was to terminate immediately upon her death, her remarriage, or the participant's death. She remarried in 2002. Her new husband died in 2005. She married him in secret,  across the Country as to not raise any flags. We accidentally found out she was married last year. We alerted the pension plans of the modified fraudulent and terminated QDRO. THE JUDGE TERMINATED THE SPOUSAL SUPPORT AS OF 6-5-2002. The plans are telling us good luck with our problem. After all, how would they know if she remarried. She had different lies to different people. She move d 6 times over the past 16 years and never once did she update her marital status. The one plan cut her off on May 1, 2018. The other is still paying her. We get nothing and she is cozy and well off due to her deceased husband's NFL and University PROFESSOR'S pension, along with his SSA. We did find out she changed her SSA over to his. He had a substantial career being he was 82 when they married.

OUR QUESTION

What are our possible remedies? The plans are not claiming liability. The Inspector General is also involved. Do we have her arrested for the abuse of an elder, blind and dementia suffering person? Can the plans recover her over-payment and return it to us? Is there insurance that protects either plan or the payee?

HELP!! THANKS

[david rigby]

Who is "we"?

[QDROphile]

And that is only the beginning of the questions.  If you are asking about plans, plans are only interested in the terms of the QDRO.  What are the terms?  Payment to an alternate payee until remarriage is a very unusual term, and the terms  of the QDRO should specify how the plan is to be notified about remarriage.  No sane plan administrator is going to take responsibility for monitoring status or evaluating veracity.

[ERISAAPPLE]

Let's start with the basics.  Who has the money: the plan, or was it distributed to somebody?  As David Rigby asked, what is your interest or your client's interest, i.e., who are "we"?  It sounds like the Alternate Payee was receiving installments or an annuity, and you think the money should have gone to you (or your client).  Did the QDRO say the payments stop when the AP remarries?  And the big question is does this AP have any money worth going after?  

[Pension Dork]

Great letter.....lots of drama and gossip along with pension terminology! 

If there was a legitimate, court-signed, plan-approved, "qualified" QDRO that specified that the Alternate Payee's payments would end at the time of a life event, and the AP did not notify the plan, then the Plan should pursue the AP to have the overpayments refunded to the Plan.    Generally, if the payments were to end at a specific date, it would have been the responsibility of the Plan Sponsor and/or the administrator to do so.   

(I can't imagine why a Plan would qualify a DRO with one of these life-event specifications, as they would not realistically be able to monitor it.  But as we know, there are many poor QDROs out there..)

Would be helpful to know who "you" are in relation to this dilemma.