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Neither the Code nor the regulations define the term
"distributee" as used in section 402(a)(1). The Employee
Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), Pub. L. 93-406,
88 Stat. 829, and its antialienation provisions, along with
pertinent case law, supply significant insight into the correct
interpretation of the term "distributee". ERISA was enacted to
establish "a comprehensive federal scheme for the protection of
pension plan participants and their beneficiaries."
American Tel. & Tel. Co. v. Merry, 592 F.2d 118, 120 (2d Cir.
1979). It was intended to ensure that American workers "may look
forward with anticipation to a retirement with financial security
and dignity, and without fear that this period of life will be
lacking in the necessities to sustain them as human beings within
our society." S. Rept. 93-127, at 13 (1974), 1974-3 C.B. (Supp.)
1, 13. Promoting this goal, the Congress enacted protective
legislation including the antialienation rule. ERISA section
1021(a), 88 Stat. 104, added section 401(a)(13), which requires
tax-qualified plans to provide "that benefits provided under the
plan may not be assigned or alienated." This prohibition
generally precludes the plan from recognizing the rights of
creditors with respect to a participant's interest under the
plan.
In the years following the enactment of ERISA, litigation
raised the issues of whether the antialienation provisions
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