184 Misc. 2d 928 - Edmonds v. Edmonds’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 district · 9 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 13 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “ERISA (29 USC § et seq.) was enacted in 1974. Effective January 1, 1985 the Retirement Equity Act of 1984[REA] added to the statute the requirement that all qualified pension plans provide automatic benefits to surviving spouses in the form of a survivor’s annuity ( Pub.L. No. 98-397, 98 U.S.Stat. 1429 [1984]). Pursuant to REA, retirement income and deferred compensation plans must provide survivor benefits in the form of joint and survivor annuities to the spouses of participants ( 29 USC § 1055 [a][2]). These mandated benefits provide income to the surviving spouse in the event of the death of the participant, regardless of whether the death occurs before or after retirement. In addition to mandating the survivor benefits, REA provides that such benefits cannot be waived by the participant or spouse unless, inter alia, the waiver is written, signed by the participant and his or her spouse before a plan representative or a notary, and designates a beneficiary who cannot be changed without spousal consent ( 29 USC § 1055 [c][l], [2]). Apart from the survivor benefit of REA, ERISA does not mandate that other benefits be provided to a participant’s spouse. In fact, ERISA expressly prohibits alienation of benefits by the plan participant, except by a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) issued by a state court in a matrimonial action under the State’s domestic relations law ( 29 USC § 1056 [d]). ERISA creates no substantive rights in the case of divorce, but only accommodat”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 2003 Pa. Super. 202 - Sabad v. Fessenden

2. ““[w]hile we recognize that a waiver of spousal death benefits in a prenuptial agreement is not effective when the spouse later dies while the parties are still married, ERISA does not, in our view, preempt or preclude the recognition, implementation or enforcement of an otherwise valid prenuptial agreement with regard to, as here, a dissolution of marriage proceeding.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 141 N.C. App. 236 - Stewart v. Stewart

3. “An antenuptial agreement is valid and enforceable if it is in writing, subscribed by the parties, and acknowledged or proven in a manner required to record a deed. A duly executed agreement is provided the same presumption of legality as any other contract.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 2003 Pa. Super. 202 - Sabad v. Fessenden