Doctrine of federal preemption precluded state courts’ review of ex-husband’s use of derivative Social Security benefits owed to his four children, and thus trial court had no jurisdiction to find ex-husband in contempt of court for misappropriating the benefits or to convert the amount of the benefits into a civil judgment in favor of ex‑wife, where ex-husband was lawful representative payee of the benefits under federal regulation.
Laura W. Morgan is the owner and operator at Family Law Consulting in Charlottesville, Virginia. Laura is available for consultation, brief writing and research on family law issues throughout the country. She can be reached through her website: www.
