158
Breyer, J., dissenting
The Court also fears that administrators would have to make difficult choice-of-law determinations when parties live in different States. Ante, at 148-149. Whether this problem is or is not "major" in practice, the Washington statute resolves it by expressly setting forth procedures whereby the parties or the courts, not the plan administrator, are responsible for resolving it. See §§ 11.07.010(3)(b)(i)-(ii) (stating that a plan may "without liability, refuse to pay or transfer a nonprobate asset" until "[a]ll beneficiaries and other interested persons claiming an interest have consented in writing to the payment or transfer" or "[t]he payment or transfer is authorized or directed by a court of proper jurisdiction"); § 11.07.010(3)(c) (plan may condition payment on provision of security by recipient to indemnify plan for costs); § 11.07.010(2)(b)(i) (plan may avoid default rule by expressing its intent in the plan documents).
The Court has previously made clear that the fact that state law "impose[s] some burde[n] on the administration of ERISA plans" does not necessarily require pre-emption. De Buono, 520 U. S., at 815; Mackey, supra, at 831 (upholding state garnishment law notwithstanding claim that "benefit plans subjected to garnishment will incur substantial administrative burdens"). Precisely, what is it about this statute's requirement that distinguishes it from the " 'myriad state laws' " that impose some kind of burden on ERISA plans? De Buono, supra, at 815 (quoting Travelers, supra, at 668).
Indeed, if one looks beyond administrative burden, one finds that Washington's statute poses no obstacle, but furthers ERISA's ultimate objective—developing a fair system for protecting employee benefits. Cf. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation v. R. A. Gray & Co., 467 U. S. 717, 720 (1984). The Washington statute transfers an employee's pension assets at death to those individuals whom the worker would likely have wanted to receive them. As many jurisdictions have concluded, divorced workers more often prefer that a child, rather than a divorced spouse, receive
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