Tmeme

Months and years have passed and we finally have a qdro that we don’t agree with. SURVIVORSHIP We were expecting for the plan administrators to fix our concerns. Instead the plan administrators sent a final letter to our qdro Attorney saying qualified unless we have any changes that need to be made. The issue is : Participant divorced (2012), remarried(2014), updated beneficiary(2016) commenced (2017) and then the qdro (2020). Federal law allows for spouse at commencement to solely receive survivor benefits if participant dies before retirement age. ? For death benefits after retirement age “Employee and spouse pension” was selected (based on ages of participant and current spouse). The QDRO is prepared giving the AP her “shared percentage” of survivor benefits/death benefits? (which should have been hers had she completed the qdro as court ordered in 2012) . Rightfully/Morally ? Legally ? Please help direct us on our next step. Plan summary rules should’ve made this impossible. (you can’t change beneficiary designation but can you share survivor benefits ?) The AP did not follow through with getting a qdro in a timely matter. Life has moved on. Now what should the outcome be ??

Thank you again. We will make contact with Mr Gulia. We need to finish the qdro and get this behind us. We are also looking to retain an ERISA attorney to represent us in federal court against the plan.

I guess this is one more example of how vague and misstated this whole divorce was. Is the confusion of the intended plan enough to be argued in court ? As well as no survivorship being addresses ? It was written equal parts which would make better sense if it was referring to a contribution plan not a pension plan.

I sent an attachment in an email to you. With contact info.

You make clear exact references. But there was NO qdro ever started/completed at the time of the divorce in 2011. The language in the JAD is vague. It was included that the ex wife was responsible to complete a qdro and to hire a qdro attorney if needed. She never did. The plan started paying only 50% of retirement to my husband. After 18 months passed , he inquired about the segregated portion but was denied any rights to the other 50% as it was intended for the AP if and when a qdro was received. The plan notified the APs divorce attorney to ask if they planned to complete a qdro. Her divorce attorney attempted to write a qdro himself . After getting this information my husband consulted with a qdro attorney that suggested he should complete the qdro process, as the ex wife and her attorney were negligent (7 years) in completing the qdro. And for the fact that a divorce attorney has no business attempting to write a qdro. My husband has a family law attorney as well as a qdro attorney retained to complete this process. The plan is active in trying to complete this as well , as there has been many bad decisions made on their part. We now have a draft , that includes language that’s conflicting. That gives AP her shared percentage of spouse benefits after participants death. How can we proceed forward and accept this “proposed qdro” when it’s so misconstrued. When my husband questions his qdro attorney about his concerns, he was told he shouldn’t be so greedy. The plan is opening the door for continued issues in this case. Do we stop before signing and head to court ?

I am frustrated at the fact that the QDRO is prequalified by the plan to be considered qualified once signed by a Judge. The JAD made no mention of survivorship benefits , however I suppose that because 7 years has passed since the divorce , the qdro attorney assumes that survivorship “should be” included. The spouse pension section reads similar to this: If alternate payee survives participant , the alternate payee shall be entitled to the alternate payees shared interest in the spouse pension. Payment of the spouse pension will end with the last payment before the current spouses death. How is this ok ?? I feel betrayed by the plan as well as the Qdro attorney. Am I misinterpreting this ? Why would a qualified qdro attorney write this , and why would plan admin be ok with it? I’m I missing something?

You’ve been most helpful. Thank you. The Plan is Teamsters.

Thanks for your response. There has never been a QDRO prepared or approved by the ERISA qualified plan. The DRO awarded the AP a Percentage interest in the the participants retirement annuity. DRO never addressed survivor annuity but the QDRO attorney is drafting an attempt to include a shared portion of the survivor benefits. I asked if “its legal “ to split survivor annuity benefits. There has NEVER been a QDRO. I am the current spouse.

Participant divorced in 2011. DRO wasn’t qualified, but a hold was placed on retirement account. Participant remarries is 2014 (updating his beneficiary to current spouse ) , and becomes disabled as of Jan 2017, and opted to receive reduced disability retirement. Commencing December 2018. Participant elected optional spouse pension, and began receiving 50% of benefits. Erisa law allowed for plan to withhold for 18 months while waiting for a QDRO. (Beginning Jan 1, 2017). The plan continues to withhold 50%. (December 2019 ). Having already commenced, and finding AP and her Attorney negligent in completely a qdro (as written in DRO) husband hires QDRO attorney to complete QDRO It’s now being written as “Shared” QDRO. In our state disability retirement is not a marital assets so her shared payment will begin after participant turns 65. If participant dies before 65, survivor benefits are to go to current spouse. ( as there was no QDRO at commencement ) If participant dies after 65 ...is it legal for AP to share the spouse pension with the current spouse? And continue to receive her percentage of the “spouse benefit” for her lifetime or until the current spouse passes ?