Is QDRO still in effect if ex-spouse took a buyout in 2013 from husband's Ford GRP

According to the National Employee Services Center (NESC) and the MyFordBenefits website husband's former spouse is listed as 100% Beneficiary and NESC stated as of last communication 8/11/2023 "current spouse is not entitled to any benefit"  I have had numerous interactions with NESC to determine beneficiary of the General Retirement Plan (GRP). My husband has dementia---I have POA approved by Ford---and have acted on his behalf.

Background:

Husband took an Early Retirement effective:   January 1, 2003  "Total monthly pension benefit $4306.19" 

At age 62 +1 month (2010) Pension Benefit After Temporary Benefit Ends was $3,146.04

Husband and former spouse were divorced:   May 11, 2006

Husband and current spouse were married:    July 24, 2010 

In 2013 Ford Motor Company offered a lump sum payment to salaried retirees. Both my husband and his former spouse were offered separate election kits and election kit for husband stated four options:

Option 1:  Lump Sum Payment Option

Option 2:  Single Life Monthly Pension Benefit Payment (only available to single retirees)

Option 3:  65% Joint & Survivor Monthly Pension Benefit Payment (only available to retirees married at least 12 months)

Option 4:  75% Joint & Survivor Monthly Pension Benefit Payment (only available to retirees married at least 12 months)

The Benefit Election Kit stated:  "Our records indicated that you have a Qualified Domestic Relations order (QDRO) on file with the Company as of March 2013. The pension amounts shown in this Election Kit reflect a corresponding reduction for a pension benefit payable to an alternate payee under the terms of the QDRO."  His former spouse has a QDRO to receive survivor benefits when the "participant" (husband) dies.

Husband took Option 3.  Your Monthly Benefit Effective December 1, 2013----Total Monthly Benefit $2,857.28; Benefit to Spouse After Your Death $1,857.23.  My birthdate appears on page 14 of the Election Kit paperwork.

On or about 2018-2019 Ford Motor Company transitioned from Fidelity Service Center for Ford Motor Company to Alight Solutions. The MyFordBenefits website states that "If you submitted beneficiary choices on paper before April 1, 2019, your choices are on file but won't appear on this site unless you enter them again."  There are documents in our files that indicate my husband was in contact with NESC to make sure that I was designated as a beneficiary of the GRP.

My questions:   If the former spouse did indeed take the lump sum payment, would she have had to sign some sort of form to recind the provisions in the QDRO?  In other words, if she did elect to take the lump sum, has she exhausted her right to survivor benefits...in other words, what is the status of the QDRO? Does an amended QDRO need to be filed?

NESC seems unable to help in finding verification of beneficiary. Do I need to hire a QDRO attorney who can contact Ford Motor Company to verify that I am the beneficiary of the 65% Joint & Survivor Monthly Pension Benefit which my husband submitted with the Election Kit in 2013.

Thank you for any assistance regarding these questions.

To to make sense of this, one must know the terms of the QDRO. One can infer some things by your statement that both the participant and the alternate payee were offered elections, but inference is not a good basis for understanding, and certainly not assurance.

 You could ask the current administrator now to state your husband's benefit. If you get the same answer: "Total Monthly Benefit $2,857.28; Benefit to Spouse After Your Death $1,857.23" and you are identified as the spouse, that should be it unless there is some mention of the effect of a QDRO on the benefit. If there is no mention of the QDRO, that would be consistent with the inference described in the preceding paragraph, that the former spouse's benefit under the QDRO is a separate interest that was dealt with separately at the the time of the benefit election and has no connection with your husband now.

You cannot rely on anything in this message.

Thank you for your reply.

A Pension Income Verification Statement, Ford Motor Company General Retirement Plan dated October 11, 2023, states "Payable to You $2,857.28 per month" and " Pension Payment Option 65% Surviving Spouse Annuity"....there is no mention of identification of spouse.

I am of the opinion that with the change in plan administrators (Fidelity to Alight) in 2019 there was an error made. I believe a QDRO was seen and with survivor benefits in my husband's account, the thinking was a mistake had been made by Fidelity and without the history of the account (elections made in 2013 regarding the lump sum payment), Alight "corrected" that mistake by making the ex-spouse the beneficiary.  

I have spoken with NESC four times and they just refer to a "QDRO on the account".  I forwarded several documents indicating my husband's beneficiary designation confirmations showing my name as "beneficiary spouse" 65% Automatic Joint & Survivor.  The same result was voiced, essentially "QDRO on the account".  NESC has indicated that they are unable to confirm that the ex-spouse received a lump sum payment without permission from the ex-spouse. 

My question now is who to contact?

Thank you again for your response.

You need to deal with the Plan Administrator. You need to get a copy of the QDRO. You may have to initiate a claim for benefits to get the Plan Administrator to clarify the benefits for the participant and currently designated spouse beneficiary and to get the relevant documents (such as the QDRO). With respect to a claim for benefits, request a copy of the plan's claims procedures. Though it would be a shame, you may need professional assistance to push this through if the Plan Administrator is not forthcoming with the information you would like so you can understand the benefit and the effect of the QDRO.

I do have a copy of the QDRO from the court with jurisdiction.  

Contact with the Plan Administrator is through NESC and I will call again asking for clarification.  However, I have asked that same question four times now and no one seems to even attempt looking at my husband's account with respect to his election in 2013 to receive a reduced pension benefit to provide the 65% Surviving Spouse Annuity for me, his current spouse.

Thank you again.

You state that "His former spouse has a QDRO to receive survivor benefits when the "participant" (husband) dies."

I hate to be the bearer of potentially bad news but you may have a problem if that is what the QDRO states.  If a participant and his or her spouse become divorced before the participant's annuity starting date, the divorced spouse loses all right to the federally required survivor benefit protections. If the divorced participant remarries, the participant's new spouse may acquire a right to the required survivor benefits. A QDRO, however, can change that result, especially where the annuity starting date has already occurred.  If a QDRO requires that a former spouse be treated as the participant's surviving spouse for all or any part of the survivor benefits payable after the death of the participant, any subsequent spouse of the participant cannot be treated as the participant's surviving spouse.  E.g., if a QDRO awards all of the survivor benefit rights to a former spouse, and the participant remarries, the participant's new spouse will not receive any survivor benefit upon the participant's death. If such a QDRO requires that a defined benefit plan subject to the QJSA and QPSA requirements, treat a former spouse of a participant as the participant's surviving spouse, the plan must pay the participant's benefit in the form of a QJSA or QPSA unless the former spouse who was named as surviving spouse in the QDRO consents to the participant's election of a different form of payment. 

Note that the election for the lump sum was provided with regard to the stream of payments the participant was receiving (so the form of payment and the annuity starting date was locked in). Before the divorce, the participant was to get the annuity with a survivor benefit.  Immediately prior to the divorce, the ex-spouse was entitled to that survivor benefit.  It was already locked in based on his election for that form of benefit.  So, let's say under the QDRO she got 50% of the benefit, which meant she got 50% of the current stream of benefits being paid to them plus the survivor's benefit (payable at the participant's death) on her assigned portion of the benefit.  She made a lump sum election based on her assigned portion of the benefit; that election did not affect the participant's retained portion of the benefit.  Based on the language you quoted, the ex-spouse also retained the survivor benefit under the participant's retained portion of the benefit (also payable at the participant's death), and upon his death, she is to be treated as the surviving spouse.  (She likely argued that all of those benefits were earned during their marriage.)  By virtue of the wording of the QDRO, he was not permitted to make a new beneficiary designation with regard to that benefit (i.e., by court order she was the beneficiary).  He could have made a beneficiary designation on any other benefits he may have accrued after the divorce, but not on any benefit covered by the QDRO.

Just my two cents based on the limited facts.  

That said, you may want to consider making a formal claim for the benefits.  Under ERISA, all Plans must respond to a claim for benefits by making a decision on the claim and providing a letter that includes: the reasons for the denial (which should point to documents, sections of the Plan, provisions of the QDRO, etc. supporting their reasoning), a summary of appeal rights, and timelines to make the appeal (it does not appear that the Plan has done that from your facts).  There is a statutory deadline by which to make a claim following the date of death (depends on which state you are in) but many plans shorten the deadline to like a year.  If a claim is not made by that deadline, it is possible a court may determine that the claim is lost (by virtue of not "exhausting all administrative remedies").  It might get the administrator's attention more if you had an attorney file the claim (but you don't have to under ERISA).  Though you don't have to have an attorney, your next steps really should include getting the advice of your own personal counsel who fully understands ERISA and QDROs.  (The posters above have said it but I want to reiterate -- do not rely on this post or anything else on this message board when making your decisions).

Good luck.