{"id":273,"date":"2025-06-27T13:43:04","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T13:43:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pensionjustice4you.net\/wpblog\/?p=273"},"modified":"2025-07-08T22:42:56","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T22:42:56","slug":"designated-pension-beneficiary-denied-deceased-pensioners-pension-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pensionjustice4you.net\/wpblog\/erisa\/designated-pension-beneficiary-denied-deceased-pensioners-pension-heres-why\/","title":{"rendered":"Designated Pension Beneficiary Denied Deceased Pensioner\u2019s Pension; Here\u2019s Why"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Just because you designate someone as your pension beneficiary does not mean they will be legally entitled to receive it after you pass. A recent case illustrates just how complicated things can get. Verizon Emp. Bens. Comm. v Nikolaros, No. 23-cv-1982, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49340 (E.D. N.Y. Mar. 18, 2025). Here\u2019s what happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nick Nikolaros was born on October 13, 1970 and died on June 5, 2020 (at age 49). At the time of his death Nick was employed by Verizon and participated in its pension plan. In January 2001, Nick married Parthena Nikolaros and designated her as the primary beneficiary to the \u201cpre-retirement survivor benefit\u201d payable to a surviving spouse if he died before retiring. Simultaneous with this designation, Nick named his sister Georgia Nikolaros as the contingent beneficiary of his pre-retirement survivor benefit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nick and Parthena divorced on February 14, 2017. Nick never re-married and never made any other beneficiary designations. After Nick\u2019s passing in 2020, Parthena (Nick\u2019s ex-wife), Georgia (Nick\u2019s sister),and Nick\u2019s estate each claimed entitlement to Nick\u2019s pre-retirement survivor benefit. Not wanting to pay the wrong person or party, Verizon filed an \u201cinterpleader\u201d action with a New York federal district court asking it to determine who was entitled to Nick\u2019s pre-retirement survivor benefit. In making that determination, the district court relied on the terms of the plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, the district court observed that, under \u00a77.1 of the plan, a participant\u2019s election of a non-spouse beneficiary made before the participant attained age 35 becomes \u201cnull and void\u201d as of the first day of the plan year the participant attains age 35. Because Nick designated his sister Georgia as a contingent beneficiary before he attained age 35 and never re-designated her between his 35th birthday and his death, the district court held that Georgia was not a beneficiary to Nick\u2019s pre-retirement survivor benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The district court next considered Parthena\u2019s (the ex-wife\u2019s) claim to the pre-retirement survivor benefits. Pursuant to \u00a77.3 of the plan, a participant\u2019s spouse ceases to be eligible to receive a death benefit when the spouse is divorced from the participant UNLESS a court enters a \u201cqualified domestic relations order\u201d (QDRO) to the contrary. Because there was no QDRO, the district court concluded that Parthena, too, was not a beneficiary to Nick\u2019s pre-retirement survivor benefits. Given that Georgia and Parthena were not eligible beneficiaries under the terms of the plan, the district court held that Nick\u2019s pre-retirement survivor benefits were payable solely to Nick\u2019s estate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note: As a practical matter, if Nick\u2019s sister Georgia is an heir to his estate, then she would receive a portion of any pre-retirement survivor benefits paid to his estate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[To read more pension\/retirement posts by pension lawyer Eva Cantarella, go to her Pension Justice 4 You Facebook page<\/a>. To receive automatic notifications of her new Posts there, click the Follow tab near the top of the Facebook Page. Have a pension problem? Contact Ms. Cantarella for a FREE telephone consult at 248-335-5000 or ecantarella@hertzschram.com or pensionhelp4you@gmail.com]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just because you designate someone as your pension beneficiary does not mean they will be legally entitled to receive it after you pass. A recent case illustrates just how complicated things can get. Verizon Emp. Bens. Comm. v Nikolaros, No. 23-cv-1982, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49340 (E.D. N.Y. Mar. 18, 2025). Here\u2019s what happened. Nick Nikolaros was born on October 13, 1970 and died on June 5, 2020 (at age 49). At the time of his death Nick was employed…<\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5,6,8,28,9,11],"tags":[21,27],"class_list":["post-273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-erisa","category-general","category-newsworthy-pension-cases","category-pension","category-pension-attorney","category-pension-beneficiary","category-pension-benefits","tag-pension","tag-pension-benefits"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pensionjustice4you.net\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pensionjustice4you.net\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pensionjustice4you.net\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pensionjustice4you.net\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pensionjustice4you.net\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pensionjustice4you.net\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":276,"href":"https:\/\/pensionjustice4you.net\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273\/revisions\/276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pensionjustice4you.net\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pensionjustice4you.net\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pensionjustice4you.net\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}