It’s a plan administrator’s nightmare: John is married to Melissa, and designates her as beneficiary of his qualified joint and survivor annuity (QJSA). John and Melissa then get divorced, and the divorce decree says that John is awarded “as his sole and separate property” all rights “related to any . . . pension plan . . . existing by reason of [his] past, present, or future employment.” John marries Gaylyn. John then goes to court, and based on that language in the divorce decree, gets a purported qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) substituting Gaylyn for Melissa as the beneficiary under the QJSA. Who is now the beneficiary: Melissa or Gaylyn?

And the winner is…