How to go after the Pension of a Deceased Obligor where funds have been assigned to a beneficiary?

Obligor has a Pension but he passed away. Pension has a beneficiary. Obligor left owing Child Support Arrears of 110k. He had no other Assets. The Attorney Generals Special Collection Unit has closed my case an won’t tell me why.. a Money Judgement was given to me by the Courts in 2007. I’ve reach out to : Family Law Attorneys, Estate Attorney, Congressman , Texas House of Rep never replied. Under the Family Code Chapter 157.3271- LEVY ON FINANCIAL INSTITUTION ACCOUNT OF DECEASED OBLIGOR. Why am I having so much trouble trying to find the help I need. I wouldn’t think it would be so complicated but what do I know.. I’m not an Attorney. Any help would be appreciated. 

I would like to ADD… I am reaching out here on this platform bcuz.. all the officials that I have reached out to , had NO knowledge on how to go after the Pension of a Deceased Obligor and the one who does AG’s office , won’t talk to me and shut my case. A Lien was filed with the County Clerks in 2012 but released by AG in 2019. The Law changed last year that makes Liens indefinite until debt is paid. 

The usual way to reach a private pension benefit to collect or secure child support is through a domestic relations order that is recognized and determined to be a qualified domestic relations order by the pension plan when the participant is alive. It is best done at the time of divorce or establishment of the child support. Also, agencies that are responsible for overseeing child support (e.g. those that provide or administer government support for children) should be familiar with the approach, but the law is very specialized and complicated, and is often not understood or properly employed by the officials.  Complexity and difficulty increase markedly when the participant dies before such an order is established. It may be too late, especially if the death beneficiary is a subsequent spouse of the participant. A description of any possible path is beyond this forum. Unfortunately, you need to find someone who is expert in these matters, including Texas domestic relations law, to assess.

I am skeptical that liens can be effective, which may be why no one is pursuing them. But I am not able to comment competently about such matters.

... and you will need to provide (to an attorney) the precise name of the employer that sponsored the pension plan.  Note that the rules for domestic relations orders may be different for a plan sponsored by a govt agency as compared to the rules that affect a private plan sponsor.

Perhaps there is some help available at a nearby law school that sponsors a "Legal Aid Day"? 

Or browse the website of the Texas Bar: https://www.texasbar.com/

See my responses in all bold type. 

"Obligor has a Pension Is it a defined contribution plan or a defined benefit plan?  Normally the word "pension" means a defined benefit plan and such plans will have survivor annuity beneficiary of a future stream of income. But if it's a defined contribution plan it will have a "beneficiary" of a lump sum payment. If you don't know what sort of plan you are dealing with you need to get back us with the exact name of the plan. but he passed away. Pension has a beneficiary. Obligor left owing Child Support Arrears of 110k. He had no other Assets. The Attorney Generals Special Collection Unit Since you are dealing with the Attorney General it is most likely a State plan of some sort.  There are lots of reasons you might not be able to recover your child support judgment.  It may be that you did not obtain a Domestic Relations Order prior to the obligor's death and the Plan was required to pay the benefit to the named beneficiary in the absence of a preexisting DRO.  In many state, county and municipal plans that involve police, firefighters or correction officers benefits can only be payed to a spouse and not a former spouse.  Timing is important. You mention a "lien" but I don't know what that is in Texas.  In most states when a judgment is entered by a court it become a lien against the debtor's real estate in the county where the judgment was entered.  has closed my case an won’t tell me why.. a Money Judgement was given to me by the Courts in 2007. I’ve reach out to : Family Law Attorneys, Estate Attorney, Congressman , Texas House of Rep never replied. Under the Family Code Chapter 157.3271- LEVY ON FINANCIAL INSTITUTION ACCOUNT OF DECEASED OBLIGOR. The section of the Code can be found at https://codes.findlaw.com/tx/family-code/fam-sect-157-3271/  It is filled witn time limits that must be followed.  Did you follow them.  It may very well be that your ability to collect the judgment expired in certain number of years after the judgment was entered. In Texas the statute of limitation for the collection of child support seems to be 10 years after the child reaches age 18.  Why am I having so much trouble trying to find the help I need. I wouldn’t think it would be so complicated but what do I know.. I’m not an Attorney. Any help would be appreciated. 

You used the word "assigned" to the beneficiary. What does that mean.  "Paid out" to the beneficiary?  How was the beneficiary related to the decedent?  There is a possibility that if you are the rightful recipient of the plan benefits you file a "post distribution" suit against the beneficiary. But  the answers to all of these questions depend on whether the beneficiary received a lump sum or is receiving a payout in the future.  

But this is something that requires the services of a knowledgeable family lawyer in the County where all of this transpired.  

BTW:  If you expect that the Attorney General's office is there to serve and protect the citizens of the state, that's only true when it comes to filing suit against criminals.  They mostly don't exist to help somebody like you (or me in Maryland) in navigating the complexities of State law.  I had a case recently where they were 4 MD state plans in which the opposing party might have participated - he was uncooperative to the extreme.  The AG would not tell me which one - privacy they said - even though they had certified copy of the Judgment of Divorce and the DRO.  I was forced to submit 4 DROs that were identical except for the name of the Plan. They rejected 3 and accepted the 4th one.  Hard to believe.  

Good luck.  

DSG

Your question touches on state law questions and potentially federal law (if it is a plan covered by ERISA) enough that you really need to talk to a couple of attorneys, one for the state law issues and one for the ERISA issues (if an ERISA-covered plan is involved). Your questions are sufficiently dependent on the facts of your situation and will involve some detailed research to a degree, because I doubt even the most seasoned attorneys in these practice areas will have ready answers to your questions. Even then, I suspect the answers will be less clear than you would like.

I say the following not as legal advice, but just as suggestions to orient you:

First, you should find out if your judgment still valid and enforceable. You said your judgment for child support was dated 2007. It's now 2025, so 18 years later. Many states require you take some step to renew a judgment after a certain period of time (I've seen 10 years and 15 years, but there may be others), and if you don't take this procedural step periodically, the judgment expires and becomes unenforceable. I would check first with an attorney whether your judgment is still enforceable before you put time or money into pursuing an unenforceable judgment.

Next, very generally speaking, assuming we are talking about an ERISA-covered plan, ERISA governs participants' interests in plan benefits, and state law governs money only after it comes out of the plan. 

If the benefit has not been distributed...

ERISA does not allow creditors to attach/seize/assign/levy/garnish/etc. a participant's or beneficiary's plan benefits, except in a few narrow exceptions. This is ERISA section 206(d), called the anti-alienation provision. If the money (or interests in money) that a former spouse is trying to claim are in a plan, the only mechanism to reach any of the benefit was through a QDRO (qualified domestic relations order). If a court has not already entered an order assigning a portion of the deceased participant's benefit to the surviving spouse before the participant died, I doubt that a plan administrator would qualify the order so it is a QDRO. If the court entered an order assigning a portion of the plan benefit before the deceased participant's death, then there are still lots of questions an attorney who specializes in family law and QDROs in particular, and the plan administrator, will have to tease through to understand the status of the order (whether the plan can qualify the order posthumously so it is a QDRO), but the surviving spouse has a better chance at receiving the assigned portion of the benefit in that case.

I did not get the sense that you had a QDRO. If you didn't, why? Did the participant begin participating in the plan only after the marriage? If the participant began participating in the plan during the marriage, then there are other questions you should be asking.

After the benefit has been distributed...

After the money is out of the plan--whether it is the participant's or beneficiary's--state law governs. This is a tricky area of state law where it can seem that creditors have rights, then another part of the law makes it seem like they don't. Community property claims (since Texas is a community property state) are a good example--it sounds like spouses have an equal and undivided right in all marital property, yet third parties who receive community property from one spouse often take it free of the other spouse's claims. Non-testamentary transfers are equally confusing. A good probate, family law or collections attorney can help you navigate this.

You did not say whether the beneficiary had taken a distribution of their benefit. The answer to this question will determine whether you are dealing primarily with federal law (ERISA) or state law.

I do not know with any certainty, but I have serous doubts that a former spouse is able to attach a judgment (including one for unpaid child support), if that old judgment is even still enforceable, to a beneficiary's distribution from an ERISA-covered plan, when the beneficiary is not the debtor, even if the participant designated the beneficiary. There are too many places where the deceased participant/spouse did not have a right to the actual assets in question (in the plan, a participant has an interest in the benefit but not ownership of assets (plan assets are held in trust); those assets could not be attached or assigned while in the plan (ERISA); the participant's interest likely extinguished at death (uncertain area--probably not much case law, but the plan terms and ERISA govern); after death, the interest is the beneficiary's, not the participant's; the beneficiary's receipt of the benefit is a non-testamentary transfer).

It is possible that child support is one of those exceptional areas where the Texas legislature has decided to extend the long arm of the law further than usual. Only a family law attorney and/or probate attorney (because of the dead participant) will be able to tell you. The question is too fact-intensive and requires too much research in a nuanced and complex area that straddles state family and property law for anyone to answer it productively or very conclusively here.

Even if you have a claim, you should expect it to be expensive to pursue it. If the benefit is still in the plan, and you demand it pay the benefit to you, I would not be surprised if the plan files an interpleader, which would then force you and the beneficiary to litigate your respective claims in federal court (which may limit your choice of counsel), and force you to pay the plan's cost of filing the interpleader. If it is outside of the plan, a beneficiary is unlikely to hand it over, so again, you will be looking at litigation. Even if you have a valid claim.

Separately, I'm inferring that you contacted the attorney general because that is the state agency that enforces child support in the state of Texas. If my inference is correct, then my guess--again, not legal advice and not from knowledge, but just a guess--is that they closed the case because the debtor spouse died and, in the state agency's view, that death extinguished the deceased spouse's sole remaining asset (the right to a benefit from the plan). If there is no debtor and no assets to collect, there's nobody and nothing for them to pursue, so no need to keep the case open. Case closed. State agencies are not usually in the habit of making creative arguments to pursue child support for you. They will leave that to you and your family law attorney.

I hope that helps. Again--none of this is legal advice, it is just background to give you an idea of the complexity and extent of the legal issues involved in your question. You really need to consult an attorney to advise you about your specific situation.