My wife is the Respondent - "Alternate Payee" and she's trying to receive a court ordered payment on her x-husbands pension plan. She did all that was required of her by the Benefits Administrator, including filing the QDRO.

She received a letter from the Union Pension Plan which stated:

We have received an endorsed filed copy of the Stipulation and Order which directs the RFCW Joint Pension Plan to pay a portion of G. W's retirement benefits directly to you.
However, Fund procedures require an application be completed before benefits can be paid directly to any recipient. Once Mr. W. is eligible for retirement we will contact you.

Her x-husband, Mr. W. is eligible, he just hasn't applied for his retirement yet.

My wife had them mail her their Summary Plan Description, and I could find nothing in their Pension Plan that states the Alternate Payee cannot receive the benefit until the Payee does.

If my wife's husbands chooses never to apply for his retirement, although they would force him to at 70, then my wife is excluded from receiving her share of the pension before he does? That make absolutely no sense to me.

What is your professional opinion on this matter?

It sounds like a loophole that has been developed. So long as they have the money they can play with it. You need a qualified person like a forensic accountant to look over the plan to see if it has to be joint in its benefit. It may be because as of some plans the longer you wait the more your eligible to receive so in waiting it may work as a benefit. Also some plans allow for a " buy out " which is a 1 time payment from the plan. That may or may not be available to you also.

Unless the plan provides for a cash out, its not uncommon for a defined benefit plan to pay out ONLY at retirement. Especially a union plan.

So the plan is probably within their rights to withhold paying on the QDRO until he files for retirement or dies. But they do have the QDRO on file, so as soon as they are ready to do a payout she will get her share.