Robbins v. DeBuono, 218 F.3d 197 (2^nd Cir. 2000)-Nova H. Robbins sued representatives of the New York State Department of Health and the Monroe County Department of Social Services, alleging that in enforcing the policy of attributing or deeming income of an institutionalized spouse to a community spouse, they violated the anti-alienation provisions of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 407 and of 29 U.S.C. §1056(d)(1). The practice stemmed from New York's "income-first" method of enforcement of the 1988 Spousal Impoverishment Amendments to the Medicaid Act.

The purpose of that statute was "to end [the] pauperization [of the community spouse] by assuring that [he or she] has a sufficient -- but not excessive -- amount of income and resources" when the other spouse must go into a nursing home.  Here, Ms. Robbins' monthly income was far below the amount federal and state law allows the "community spouse" of an institutionalized Medicaid recipient to retain. However, under New York's "income-first approach," her husband's Social Security and pension amounts would be attributed to her, meaning that her resource allowance would not be increased.

This court concluded that this method of determining maintenance needs did violate the Social Security Act's anti-alienation provision, but not those of ERISA, which "sweep far less broadly." Section 407(a) of the SSA states that payments shall not be "subject to execution, levy, attachment, garnishment, or other legal process." In this case, the defendants' actions constituted "legal process," since the DSS had the power to sue recipients for recovery of its Medicaid payments if it determined that one spouse had the assets to pay for the other's care.

ERISA's anti-alienation provision, 29 U.S.C. § 1056(d)(1), the court determined, was not implicated, since the majority view of the Courts of Appeal is that the statutory scheme protects benefits only while the plan administrator holds them and not after they reach the hands of the beneficiary.