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Hello. We have an employee requesting a hardship withdrawal to prevent eviction/foreclosure of a mortgage on their primary residence. The documentation provided shows a mortgage statement under someone else’s name, however the address matches the participant’s ID and he considers it his primary residence. Not sure how the two are related, but perhaps it’s a relative or partner in which I assume he pays rent to (although there is not lease or rental agreement). My question is: can we approve this? Here is the safe harbor definition: “payments necessary to prevent the eviction of the employee from the employee’s principal residence or foreclosure on the mortgage on that residence.”

My divorce was final 5/2017. I was married 24 years. My former spouse has worked as a police officer for 30 years. The QDRO to divide my former spouse's defined benefit retirement plan was completed about a year later. QDRO was then approved by the Plan Administrator, sent to the court and the actuarial firm that manages the Plan approved the QDRO and sent me the paperwork this past August to begin distribution of my portion. After reviewing the paperwork, I called the attorney who prepared the QDRO to inquire about the valuation date as I had understood it was to be the date of our divorce but instead the valuation date on the official paperwork was written as 7/2019. The attorney then called me back and proceeded to say that she had conferred with the Plan Administrator who then told her that the QDRO was drafted incorrectly as a Separate Interest (with Survivorship) rather than a Shared Interest. Furthermore, I was told that I would not be able to commence benefits until my former spouse retires (he has reached retirement age) and that the Shared Interest will not allow for Survivorship. This is a real turnabout and greatly affects the equitable division of our monetary assets in the Divorce Agreement. I have since retained an attorney and we are 4 months into a very slow process. My question is simply when does a QDRO become "set in stone?" At what point can one be assured that it is approved and settled without the worry that at some point in time there may be redress of it? Also, does anyone here have experience with a situation like this where the Plan Administrator approved a Separate Interest QDRO "by mistake?" I appreciate any feedback and advice. Many thanks.

Can someone please help answer a few questions? Attorney offices keep pawning me off to other attorney offices and I"m getting nowhere. Husband was receiving an injury related retirement pension from the city he worked in. He elected me as the beneficiary after we were married. He had been divorced prior, and It was noted in the divorce decree that his wife was to receive half. She filed a joinder for the Plan Administrator, but a QDRO was never completed. He passed away in December, 2018, but the city denied me his benefits due to their requirement of a 1 year waiting period and he died in month 9. ? Ex wife is now filing a QDRO and will be requesting a judges signature in lieu of my husband's to proceed. I believe the Plan Administrator is cooperating with this. All I need to know is what my role is in this-- do I have any rights to contest that she receive anything or is this solely based on a judges decision? Do I need to submit/appear in court/have legal representation for anything? The Ex mentioned something about me "signing off" on her filing. If that's the case and I have the right as the official beneficiary to block this process, I'd want to offer her a split of the benefits to 'sign off' for approval. The divorce was in CA. Thank you