Coulon v. Coulon

A qualified domestic relations order (hereinafter QDRO) entered pursuant to a stipulation of settlement “can convey only those rights to which the parties stipulated as a basis for the judgment” (McCoy v Feinman, 99 NY2d 295 , 304 [2002]). Thus, a court cannot issue a QDRO more expansive or “encompassing rights not provided in the underlying stipulation” (id.; see Von Buren v Von Buren, 252 AD2d 950 , 950-951 [1998]; De Gaust v De Gaust, 237 AD2d 862 , 863 [1997]).

Here, the parties’ 1992 stipulation of settlement, which was incorporated but not merged in their judgment of divorce, provides for the plaintiff to receive a share of the defendant’s pension in accordance with Majauskas v Majauskas ( 61 NY2d 481 [1984]). However, “pension benefits and death benefits are two distinct matters” (Kazel v Kazel, 3 NY3d 331 , 334 [2004]), and a stipulation which is silent as to death benefits cannot be read to include an intent to include such benefits (id. at 335; see McCoy v Feinman, 99 NY2d at 303 ). Since the parties’ stipula-