SYCS

Dear fmsinc, thank you for your reply. you are correct it’s difficult to get an accurate/definitive response on the board. However I am very grateful for the responses and the engagement this community is providing and as I sift through I learn from each post. To clarify, I’m the participant and not the ex spouse who is trying to get part of the defined benefit/pension plan. I am the owner/participant of both of the 2 plans (401k and pension plan). In addition when I use the acronym “DRO” I know it means Domestic Relations Order” a document that is court approved which covers the division of assetS not just an asset . reading through these posts I am seeing a answers that indicates since there is no mention of the pension specifically there is a good argument that it wasn’t part of the division of assets and therefore doesn’t need to be divided. what do you think? thanks

Hi thank you for the replies. The concern I have is that the original DRO doesn’t explicitly mention the pension. The understanding at the time of divorce property division was that I keep my retirement. However the language of the DRO isnt comprehensive. is it correct to conclude that absent of a qdro post divorce the DRO is sufficient? Thank you

I had started for this employer in summer of 1998. I was separated from my Ex in in jan 2003 and the Divorce was finalized in summer of 2006. the DRO only mentioned my401k and not “all retirement plans” ( my attorneys mistake. He has since passed away ) which was 100% awarded to me in the property division DRO. No QDRO ever filed. I retired in 2020 and I think Fidelity is asking for QDRO ( not sure b/c they are very non responsive and no transparency about the process). What if I ask my ex for an affidavit that he understood the terms of DRO to include all retirement? If my Ex agrees to do this will this be enough for the plan admin/ fidelity? Or it must be a court approved document? A few related questions: Do I get the QDRO? Or fidelity will provide? Do I use theirs or get an attorney to draft one? Does the QDRO has a place for AP / Ex Sp to sign off without getting a % of pension? dies the Qdro outlines the $$ of pension for both participant and AP? Does Fidelity calculate that in their QDRO? Thank you for taking the time to reply