QDRO Preparation & Pension Valuation
As a Certified QDRO Specialist, I am uniquely qualified to prepare the legal document necessary for dividing an Employer-sponsored retirement accounts, like a 401(k) or for dividing a state, federal or military pension. Sometimes, instead of dividing a pension, the parties may agree to offset the pension with another asset based the Pension Valuation. Whatever your needs, I’ve got you covered from beginning to end.
One of the biggest areas for mistakes in a divorce is the handling of the division of retirement assets. This is especially true if you or your spouse has a private, state or federal pension. Pensions and the legal document needed to divide them, the Domestic Relations Order (DRO), are highly technical and many attorneys lack the proper knowledge or foundation in terms of education, to prepare QDROs and DROs.
Imagine thinking that you are to receive 50% of your spouse’s 401(k) or 50% of your spouse’s retirement pension benefit, only to find out that because of the way the separation agreement and the DRO was written, you ended up receiving much less. How can this happen? Poor language, failing to include certain language, not addressing pre- as well as post-retirement survivor benefits or not understanding what benefit is to be divided, can have a devastating impact on both parties. Unfortunately, you may not know any of this until you make your claim several years later. By then, there may not be anything you can do to correct it.
When I am brought on to prepare these documents, I make sure that everyone understands what is being divided based on the language in the separation agreement. If that language is incorrect and does not reflect the spirit of the agreement, I will help the attorneys draft the proper language so there is no confusion later on. I make sure all that all the benefits that are available to the Participant prior to retirement and after retirement are addressed in the QDRO/DRO, so there is no mistake upon division and that each spouse receives what they negotiated for during the divorce.
Click here to download my QDRO Process Flow Chart.
