The Rainbow Reaches Retirement BenefitsThe Rainbow Reaches Retirement Benefits

There have been many developments this year in the retirement benefits arena. Here’s an overview of some of the significant ones.

Same-Sex Marriages

The broad reach of Obergefell et al. v. Hodges, et al., which held that all states must license same-sex marriages,¹ affected individual retirement accounts and employer-sponsored qualified retirement plans. The U.S. Supreme Court completed the job it began in U.S. v. Windsor,² holding as unconstitutional Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman. 

In the wake of Obergefell, the Treasury issued proposed regulations defining “marriage,” “husband,” “wife” and “husband and wife” on the basis of a marriage, including same-sex ma...