Mack ex rel. Palace Jewelry & Loan Co. v. Kuckenmeister ex rel. Estate of Mack

Darren Mack murdered his wife, Charla Mack, and shot the state court judge overseeing their divorce proceedings before a final written divorce decree could be filed. Believing Darren Mack and Charla Mack had agreed to the terms of their divorce before Charla Mack’s murder, the Estate of Charla Mack filed a motion in state court for the divorce decree to be memorialized in an order dated nunc pro tune to a time before her death. The Nevada district court entered a domestic relations order (“order” or “DRO”) over Darren Mack’s objection. Among other things, the DRO decreed that a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (“QDRO”) should issue. Darren Mack appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court, which affirmed the judgment.

These appeals require us to determine whether state courts have subject matter jurisdiction to decide that a state court issued domestic relations order is a QDRO as defined by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), 88 Stat. 832 , as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq. We conclude that they do and thus that the Nevada Supreme Court’s QDRO determination in Mack v. Estate of Mack, — Nev.-, 206 P.3d 98 (2009), is entitled to full faith and…