## Facts

- Janet DeLynn Dickerson and James Allen Dickerson divorced in Tennessee state court in 1990.
- The divorce decree awarded Janet an $8,000 judgment “to be paid out of” James’s pension benefits in the Southern Electrical Retirement Fund (SERF), an ERISA-governed plan.
- The decree attempted to operate as a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) by assigning Janet an interest as an alternate payee.
- Under SERF, benefits were not payable until at least the plan’s earliest normal retirement age (55); James was more than 20 years from eligibility.
- Janet sought immediate payment of $8,000 from SERF; SERF refused, asserting the order required a distribution not permitted by the plan and not authorized by ERISA absent a valid QDRO.
- Janet pursued enforcement in state court and obtained orders aimed at adding SERF and compelling compliance; SERF and James removed the dispute to federal court under ERISA.
- On cross-motions for summary judgment, a magistrate judge recommended judgment for SERF; the district judge reviewed de novo and adopted that recommendation.

## Issues

1. Whether the divorce decree constituted a QDRO under ERISA § 206(d)(3) requiring SERF to pay Janet $8,000 immediately.
2. Whether a domestic relations order can qualify as a QDRO if it compels a plan to provide a form and timing of payment not otherwise available under the plan’s terms.

## Decision

- The court denied Janet’s motion for summary judgment and granted SERF’s motion for summary judgment.
- The court held the divorce decree was not a valid QDRO because it required SERF to make an immediate distribution and provide a benefit not otherwise permitted under the plan.
- The court declined to compel SERF to pay Janet before James reached the plan’s earliest retirement eligibility.
- The court expressly disagreed with a contrary state appellate approach that would have allowed similar immediate distributions.

## Legal Principles

- ERISA generally bars assignment or alienation of pension benefits; the QDRO provision is a limited statutory exception.
- A domestic relations order is not “qualified” if it requires a plan to provide a type or form of benefit, or an option, not otherwise provided under the plan.
- A QDRO may allocate retirement benefits between spouses, but it cannot be used to force early lump-sum payments that the participant could not receive under the plan at that time.
- Federal ERISA requirements control whether a domestic relations order binds an ERISA plan, even when the order is entered by a state domestic relations court.

## Conclusion

The court held that an order directing an ERISA pension plan to pay an alternate payee an immediate lump sum—when the plan does not permit payment until retirement age—fails ERISA’s QDRO requirements and cannot be enforced against the plan.


Dickerson v. Dickerson, 803 F. Supp. 127 (E.D. Tenn. 1992)