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Ninth Circuit, to which this case is appealable, considered
whether the Commissioner may levy upon ERISA-regulated pension
benefits to satisfy a husband’s tax debt against the claim that
the wife has a vested interest in half of those benefits pursuant
to California community property laws. Id. at 657. The Court of
Appeals noted:
We have held before that, by granting creditors
recourse against the whole community estate on debts of
only one spouse, California law “implicitly”
establishes that spouse’s “interest” in the whole of
the community property, at least to a degree sufficient
for the IRS to impose tax liens under the Internal
Revenue Code. * * * [Id. at 658.]
Mrs. McIntyre argued that ERISA preempts California community
property law and that ERISA’s antialienation provision prevented
the IRS from levying on the benefits from any ERISA-governed
pension plan.2 Id. at 659, 660. The court stated: “This
argument relies on an over-exuberant interpretation of ERISA’s
anti-alienation provision” and rejected the premise that ERISA’s
antialienation provision would preclude operation of California
community property law to the extent that it would permit
2 The court also rejected Mrs. McIntyre’s argument that
California community property law gave her a vested interest in
half of her husband’s pension benefits and the IRS could not
therefore levy on this half of the pension benefits. McIntyre v.
United States, 222 F.3d 655, 658-659 (9th Cir. 2000). The court
relied on Cal. Fam. Code sec. 910(a) and the reasoning in Babb v.
Schmidt, 496 F.2d 957 (9th Cir. 1974), and held that creditors
have recourse over the whole of the community property. Id. The
issue before us, regarding the preemption of community property
laws by sec. 6015(a) and (g), and the application of sec. 6015,
however, were not at issue in McIntyre.
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