Prince George's County Police Pension Plan v. Burke

CHASANOW, Judge.

In this opinion we will decide two consolidated cases that raise identical issues: 1) whether a trial judge may order, as part of a marital property award, the transfer of a partial interest in a government pension plan to the former spouse of the participant employee and 2) whether the court may order, when payable, the direct disbursement of a fractional share of benefits to the participant’s former spouse. The payment to the spouse would be in satisfaction of a marital *701property award that divides the pension based on the length of the marriage and the pension benefits…