[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 142 (Monday, July 27, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Page 37066]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-17873]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY CORPORATION


Submission of Information Collection for OMB Review; Comment 
Request; Qualified Domestic Relations Orders Submitted to PBGC

AGENCY: Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

ACTION: Notice of request for extension of OMB approval.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (``PBGC'') is requesting 
that the Office of Management and Budget (``OMB'') extend approval, 
under the Paperwork Reduction Act, of the collection of information in 
PBGC's booklet Qualified Domestic Relations Orders & PBGC (OMB control 
number 1212-0054; expires August 31, 2009). This notice informs the 
public of PBGC's request and solicits public comment on the collection 
of information.

DATES: Comments should be submitted by August 26, 2009.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to the Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Attention: Desk 
Officer for Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, via electronic mail 
at [email protected] or by fax to 202-395-6974.
    A copy of PBGC's request may be obtained without charge by writing 
to the Disclosure Division of the Office of the General Counsel of PBGC 
at the above address or by visiting that office or calling 202 326 4040 
during normal business hours. (TTY and TDD users may call the Federal 
relay service toll free at 1 800 877 8339 and ask to be connected to 
202 326 4040.) The request is also available at http://www.reginfo.gov. 
The current QDRO booklet is available on PBGC's Web site at http://www.pbgc.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jo Amato Burns, Attorney, Legislative 
and Regulatory Department, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 1200 K 
Street, NW., Washington, DC 20005-4026, 202-326-4024. (TTY and TDD 
users may call the Federal relay service toll-free at 1-800-877-8339 
and ask to be connected to 202-326-4024.)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: PBGC is requesting that OMB extend its 
approval of the guidance and model language and forms contained in the 
PBGC booklet, Qualified Domestic Relations Orders & PBGC.
    A defined benefit pension plan that does not have enough money to 
pay benefits may be terminated if the employer responsible for the plan 
faces severe financial difficulty, such as bankruptcy, and is unable to 
maintain the plan. In such an event, PBGC becomes trustee of the plan 
and pays benefits, subject to legal limits, to plan participants and 
beneficiaries.
    The benefits of a pension plan participant generally may not be 
assigned or alienated. However, Title I of ERISA provides an exception 
for domestic relations orders that relate to child support, alimony 
payments, or the marital property rights of an alternate payee (a 
spouse, former spouse, child, or other dependent of a plan 
participant). The exception applies only if the domestic relations 
order meets specific legal requirements that make it a qualified 
domestic relations order, or ``QDRO.''
    ERISA provides that pension plans are required to comply with only 
those domestic relations orders which are QDROs, and that the decision 
as to whether a domestic relations order is a QDRO is made by the plan 
administrator. When PBGC is trustee of a plan, it reviews submitted 
domestic relations orders to determine whether the order is qualified 
before paying benefits to an alternate payee. The requirements for 
submitting a QDRO are established by statute.
    To simplify the process, PBGC has included model QDROs and 
accompanying guidance in a booklet, Qualified Domestic Relations Orders 
& PBGC.--The models and guidance assist parties by making it easier to 
comply with ERISA's QDRO requirements when drafting orders for plans 
trusteed by PBGC. The booklet does not create any additional 
requirements.
    PBGC is not making any substantive revisions to the current QDRO 
booklet. One definition has been conformed to a change under the 
Pension Protection Act of 2006 and several references have been 
updated.
    The collection of information has been approved through August 31, 
2009, by OMB under control number 1212-0054. PBGC is requesting that 
OMB extend approval of the collection of information for three years. 
An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to 
respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently 
valid OMB control number.
    PBGC estimates that it will receive 895 domestic relations orders 
annually and that the average annual burden of this collection of 
information is 2105 hours and $495,060.

    Issued in Washington, DC, this 21 day of July, 2009.
John H. Hanley,
Director, Legislative and Regulatory Department, Pension Benefit 
Guaranty Corporation.
[FR Doc. E9-17873 Filed 7-24-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7709-01-P