872
Breyer, J., dissenting
Assume at the time of Dorothy's death Dorothy and Isaac owned the following community property:
Pension assets $ 60,000
Stock investments 140,000
Total $200,000
Louisiana law might then provide that Dorothy and Isaac each owned $100,000 worth of community assets. Louisiana law might also provide (or permit a probate court to decide) that the share belonging to Dorothy's estate consisted of $100,000 worth of stock, leaving Isaac with $40,000 in stock and $60,000 in pension assets. If that is so, why should ERISA care? And if Louisiana law should simply postpone the division of the Dorothy-Isaac community's property until after Isaac's death because of his lifetime usufruct, why should ERISA care any more? Moreover, if Isaac bequeathed the entire $140,000 worth of stock to a charity, I assume that the probate court would block most of the bequest on the ground that $100,000 worth of stock was not Isaac's to give away. I assume it would do the same if he tried to give Sandra the entire $140,000. And I do not see why ERISA would care about the stock (which, after all, belonged to Dorothy) in either case.
I cannot understand why Congress would want to preempt Louisiana law if (or insofar as) that law provides for an accounting and collection from other property—i. e., property other than the annuity that § 1055 requires the Bell-South plans to pay to Sandra. The survivor annuity provision assures Sandra that she will receive an annuity for the rest of her life. Louisiana law (on my assumption) would not take from her either that annuity or any other asset that belongs to her. The most one could say is that Sandra will not receive certain other assets—assets that belonged to the Dorothy-Isaac community and that Isaac had no right to give to anyone in the first place.
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