[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 165 (Friday, August 24, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51582-51583]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-20891]


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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.

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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, 2012). This notice informs the 
public of PBGC's request and solicits public comment on the collection 
of information.

DATES: Comments should be submitted by September 24, 2012.

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 
www.reginfo.gov. PBGC's current QDRO booklet is available on PBGC's Web 
site at 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 making the following changes to the QDRO booklet:

     For a participant who is already in pay status, PBGC 
will not suspend benefits upon receipt of a draft domestic relations 
order or any pleading intended to add PBGC as a party to a domestic 
relations action, including a request for joinder. PBGC will suspend 
benefits only upon receipt of an original signed domestic relations 
order or a certified or authenticated copy.
     For a participant who is not in pay status, but whose 
application is pending, PBGC will place a hold on putting the 
participant in pay status's application for benefits upon receipt of 
a draft order or any pleading intended to add PBGC as a party to a 
domestic relations action, including a request for joinder.
     If a separate interest order is silent as to what 
happens if an alternate payee dies before commencing benefits, PBGC 
will treat the separate interest as reverting to the participant, 
not being forfeited to PBGC.

PBGC is also making other simplifying and clarifying changes to the 
QDRO booklet.

    The collection of information has been approved through August 31, 
2012, by OMB under control number 1212-0054. PBGC is requesting that 
OMB extend approval of the collection of information for three years. 
An agency

[[Page 51583]]

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 1,361 domestic relations orders 
annually and that the average annual burden of this collection of 
information is 4,138 hours and $870,400.

    Issued in Washington, DC, this 21st day of August 2012.
Catherine B. Klion,
Manager, Regulatory and Policy Division, Legislative and Regulatory 
Department.
[FR Doc. 2012-20891 Filed 8-23-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7709-01-P