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Since Jack is not an attorney and has wasted everybody's time with 24 posts and a refusal to take any suggestions offered to him, the odds are pretty high that the QDRO will not be accepted.

It would be helpful if you could just tell us what happened. The plan document generally trumps the SPD and administrative forms. Sometimes things are statutory which would trump everything.

This sentence: "Plan document " DOES GRANT the Named Fiduciary seemingly all encompassing powers to make determinations of fact, determine who the "rightful" beneficiary is ,etc. etc." does not suggest that a named fiduciary could "ignore/disregard/override written conditions on THEIR OWN forms and in their own SPD". The sentence does suggest that the plan document authorizes some fiduciary to create an administrative structure -- including forms -- that is not inconsistent with express plan terms. ALL plan terms have to be considered in evaluating the amount of discretion given to the fiduciary to administer the plan and whether or not some proposed action or administrative policy is within the scope of authority and not inconsistent with plan terms (reasonably interpreted).

The plan is required to communicate the disposition of the domestic relations order* to the plan participant and the alternate payee, and their respective lawyers of record (if identified to the plan). The plan is under a fiduciary duty not to communicate otherwise. You can request whatever you want, but the plans actions and restrictions are pretty well determined by law. *Such as whether or not the order is qualified — whether or not it is a QDRO — and any particular interpretation by the plan of what is awarded to the alternate payee.

As you noted, an IRS Notice CP-406 is from the IRS. You should find this link very helpful in sorting out steps to take in response to the letter: https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/irs-filing-notices-for-forms-5500-5500-sf-5500-ez-or-5558 particularly in the section titled Understanding your CP403 or CP406 delinquency notice in subtopic Is there any way to reduce late-filer penalties? Basically, the advice is to file under DFVCP. The DFVCP process is very user-friendly. Only 2022 form is late if the 2023 form was filed on 10/15, so amend the 2022 form and check the DFVCP box. Note that filing an amended form replaces the prior filing in the EFASTs system which should make it unlikely that the DOL will initiate an assessment. You will need to do this before using the DFVCP penalty calculator since it will ask among other things for the EIN, plan number and date the form was filed. The DOL uses this information to cross check the form filing to the form filings listed in the calculator and will expect the 2022 form to have the DFVCP box checked. Both agencies really want us to use these delinquent filer programs and they commonly respond well to a plan taking proactive steps to correct an issue. Good luck!