QDRO - How to apply plan limitations

[CuseFan]

DBP with limit on lump sums (PVAB < $50k)

In a separate interest QDRO, would this apply individually to the participant's and AP's respective portions or to the pre-split benefit in total? Checking if the plan's QDRO provisions have any exceptions to that LS limit, but looking for opinions in case there are no exceptions.

I can see both sides - AP is treated as a separate participant with separate benefit, so apply separately, but the flip side is if total PVAB is >$50k, say $80k for example and participant can take a $45k LS and AP a $35k LS, then the plan will have been forced to pay a LS total on the one (albeit split) benefit in excess of the plan's $50k limit.

[QDROphile]

An AP is not a separate participant. For ERISA purposes, the AP is a beneficiary. Even a “separate interest” is part of a single benefit. I am not addressing your question directly.

[CuseFan]

Thanks, and that certainly leads to one interpretation over the other.

[QDROphile]

To take it one step further, the plan cannot be required to pay benefits in a form other than, or an amount excess of, what the plan is designed to pay as a regular benefit. That allows the plan to interpret in a manner that allows consistency in administration, and making sure that, however it interprets its terms, it does not have to pay a lump sum amount, in the aggregate, greater than the plan was designed to pay if there were no QDRO. If the DRO asserts otherwise, it is not qualified. 

[CuseFan]

Agreed. Once we got to "not treated as a separate participant" that all fell in line.