Brown v. Continental Airlines, Inc.

DENNIS, Circuit Judge:

This appeal involves the question of whether ERISA allows a retirement plan administrator to seek restitution of benefits that were paid to a plan participant’s ex-spouse pursuant to a domestic relations order such as a divorce decree, if the administrator subsequently determines that the domestic relations order is based on a “sham” divorce. We agree with the district court’s holding that the subsection of ERISA at issue here, 29 U.S.C. § 1056(d)(3)(D)®, does not authorize an administrator to consider or investigate the subjective intentions or good faith underlying a…