Marcia Oshinaike v. Solomon Adedolapo Oshinaike

Summary

The District of Columbia Court of Appeals reversed a divorce decree ruling that the appellee had not validly waived rights to the appellant’s Foreign Service pension, annuity, and survivor benefits. The court held that an unambiguous waiver of all pension, annuity, and survivor benefits satisfies 22 U.S.C. § 4054(a) without specifically naming a Foreign Service pension. A dissenting opinion would have required an express reference to the Foreign Service pension.

Holdings

1. Section 4054(a) does not require magic words or a specific reference to a Foreign Service pension. An unambiguous waiver of all pension, annuity, and survivor benefits sufficiently and expressly waives the former spouse's rights to the participant's Foreign Service retirement benefits.
2. Informal agency materials, including handbooks and publications, are not entitled to substantial Chevron deference and may receive only persuasive weight proportional to their power to persuade; the materials relied upon here were not entitled to significant weight.

Questions Presented

1. Whether 22 U.S.C. § 4054(a) requires a spousal waiver of rights to a Foreign Service pension to specifically identify the Foreign Service pension.
2. Whether the parties' unambiguous waivers of all rights to pension, annuity, and survivor benefits satisfied 22 U.S.C. § 4054(a).
3. What weight should be given to informal State Department guidance and publications asserting that a waiver must specifically reference a Foreign Service pension.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded