Boggs v. Boggs

520 U.S. 833 (1997)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Isaac (H) worked for South Central Bell from 1949 until his retirement in 1985. Isaac married Dorothy, his first wife and had three sons. Dorothy died in 1979. Isaac then married Sandra, and they remained married until H's death in 1989. Upon retirement, H got a lump sum distribution of $151,628.94 from Bell, which he rolled over into an IRA. H made no withdrawals from that account, and it was worth $180,778.05 when he died. H also got 96 shares of AT&T stock and got a monthly retirement pay of $1,777.67 from Bell South's Retirement Program. A dispute erupted between Sandra and the children from the first marriage. The son's claimed a portion of the benefits from their mother's will as Dorothy bequeathed 1/3 of her estate to H and a lifetime usufruct in the remaining 2/3rds. The sons then got the ownership of the 2/3rds subject to H's usufruct. Sandra contested the validity of Dorothy's 1980 testamentary transfer based on H's will, which gave Sandra certain property including the family home and a lifetime usufruct in the remainder of his estate with the naked ownership interest being held by the sons. Sandra argued that the son's competing claim based on the purported transfer of her community property interest in undistributed pension plan benefits is preempted by ERISA. The sons filed suit and Sandra filed a complaint in U.S. District Court seeking a declaratory judgment that ERISA preempts Louisiana community property law. The lower court ruled for the sons and found that Dorothy had a valid community property interest in the plan and her giving that to her sons was not an assignment or an alienation and as such did not violate 29 U.S.C. §1056(d)(1); H did not transfer anything as the property belonged under community property law to Dorothy. The Fifth Circuit affirmed.