Case Law Update: Divorce
In re Estate of Sauers, 32 A.3d 1241 (Pa. 2011), the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that the ERISA preemption provision (29 U.S.C. § 1144(a)) preempts Pennsylvania’s revocation on divorce statute as it applies to the designation of the employee’s spouse whom the employee later divorces as a beneficiary of a life insurance policy covered by ERISA. The court held that the “prior restraint” provision of the Pennsylvania statute shields any obligor from liability for making payments to a former spouse “that would have been proper” absent the revocation on divorce statute.
Special thanks to William P. LaPiana (Rita and Joseph Solomon Professor of Wills, Trusts,and Estates, New York Law School) for bringing this case law update to my attention.