Court rules in battle of eighth, ninth wives over pension benefits

By Cy Ryan

Thursday, May 6, 2010 | 3:37 p.m.

CARSON CITY – The death of Lupe Carmona in Las Vegas in 1999 sparked a long court battle between his eighth and ninth wives over benefits from his two pensions. A court this week ruled which wife is entitled to benefits from his pension.

Carmona married his eighth wife, Janis, in 1988 and he retired in 1992, collecting benefits from the Hilton Hotel Corporation Retirement Plan and the Alliance of Theatrical and State Employees Pension Trust.

Janis Carmona was named the beneficiary if Lupe Carmona died before her.

The couple was divorced in 1997 and Lupe Carmona tried to remove Janis as the beneficiary. Also in 1997, Lupe married his ninth and final wife, Jude. He died in 1999.

The wives have been battling in Nevada’s state courts and the federal system over who gets the pension rights.

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in an amended 35-page decision filed this week, says the federal law is a “complex statutory scheme” in dealing with survivor rights. But it held that the eighth wife was entitled to the benefits because she was married to Lupe when he retired and started collecting his pensions.

The court said that the woman who was the wife at the time of retirement by her husband was the rightful beneficiary and the pensions “may not be reassigned to a subsequent spouse.”