Elizabeth McDannell v. United States Office of Personnel Management

REAVLEY, Circuit Judge:

This case turns on legislation and regulations which authorize the Office of Personnel Management to make direct payment of retirement benefits to the former spouses of civil service retirees. The district court held that plaintiff Elizabeth McDannell was entitled to direct monthly payments from the federal government, and that the regulation denying her such payments is inconsistent with congressional purpose and invalid. We reverse.

I

Elizabeth McDannell obtained a divorce from William McDannell, a retired federal employee of the Army Corps of Engineers, in Texas state…