DRO (titled "QDRO," and which facially meets QDRO req's) was issued by state court in 1996 dividing husband's account in a 401(k) plan (the "Old Plan") equally between husband and ex-wife as of a certain date in 1996, including "any earnings and losses on [the divided] sum from said date to the valuation date preceding distribution." QDRO stated that ex-wife's "sum shall be left in [Old Plan] but transferred to the name of Alternate Payee as soon as practicable after the order is deemed qualified and following receipt of a certified copy of this order by the Plan Administrator." It appears this 1996 QDRO was never submitted to Old Plan. Over the years, Old Plan underwent a number of successions based on company mergers and acquisitions, and in 2022 was being administered by what I'll call "Intermediary Plan." In 2022, plan sponsor of Intermediary Plan sold a portion of its business to a new company, which then created its own 401(k) plan ("New Plan"). Husband's account in Intermediary Plan was transferred from Intermediary Plan to New Plan via a 401(k) to 401(k) trustee to trustee rollover, i.e., a non-taxable distribution.
Now, nearly 30 years after the 1996 QDRO was first issued, husband died and ex-wife submitted the 1996 QDRO to New Plan (husband's entire account in New Plan would otherwise pass to deceased husband's new wife). It appears to New Plan that this was the first time the QDRO has ever been submitted to any plan. New Plan contacted Intermediary Plan about the existence of any QDRO and Intermediary Plan stated that it had no record of any QDRO related to husband at all. None of New Plan's records, including those relating to the 2022 rollover, state anything relating to the existence or possible existence of a QDRO. New Plan doesn't know what to do. Even if the QRDO is valid as to the New Plan (which seems unlikely, especially given the 2022 distribution), New Plan seems unable as a practical matter to account for any amount that might be owed to the ex-wife because New Plan has no idea what the value of the account was on the date it was putatively divided in 1996, and all of the subsequent contributions by husband and/or his employer after the division date (and the growth/loss thereon) would be his alone.
Any input on this unusual situation would be greatly appreciated. It seems to me that 1996 QDRO is inapplicable to New Plan (because New Plan is not legally a successor to Old Plan and/or Intermediary Plan, though I'm not 100% certain of this conclusion), meaning New Plan should distribute the account to new wife. But maybe the best thing for New Plan to do is file an interpleader and let the court sort it out? Or perhaps ask ex wife to go back to state court to try to obtain a QDRO directed to New Plan?
Thanks in advance!
