Transfer of IRA assets to ex-spouse

[Guest Chelsi]

My divorce agreement provides for the transfer of 50% of the marital share of my IRA to my ex.

The numbers are as follows:

The total net amount contributed to the IRA is $24,389.32, of which the marital portion is $10,157.87 and the non-marital portion is $14, 231.45.

The Sept. 2009 statement listed the value of the entire account as $31,167.19 (it's invested in stocks),

What is my ex's marital portion? I figured $6,489. Anyone have anyting different?

His lawyer sent me a letter demainding that I fill out the transfer form and authorize the transfer of 50% of the entire account to my ex (my agreement provides that he get 50% of the marital portion of the account) and that I return the form to him within 15 days or he will request court intervention and legal fees of $5,000.

Meanwhile, my ex has not yet paid child support for the month of October, pays the child support consistently late, and has not paid medical support for our son, which has been due since June 2009, has not paid 50% of the cost of certain house repairs required by the divorce agreement, and has not reimbursed me for 1/2 the cost of a QDRO against his pension as required by the divorce agreeement.

I am going to tell his attorney to have my ex pay what he owes before I send him the transfer form. Anyone have any other thoughts?

[mbozek]

My divorce agreement provides for the transfer of 50% of the marital share of my IRA to my ex.

The numbers are as follows:

The total net amount contributed to the IRA is $24,389.32, of which the marital portion is $10,157.87 and the non-marital portion is $14, 231.45.

The Sept. 2009 statement listed the value of the entire account as $31,167.19 (it's invested in stocks),

What is my ex's marital portion? I figured $6,489. Anyone have anyting different?

His lawyer sent me a letter demainding that I fill out the transfer form and authorize the transfer of 50% of the entire account to my ex (my agreement provides that he get 50% of the marital portion of the account) and that I return the form to him within 15 days or he will request court intervention and legal fees of $5,000.

Meanwhile, my ex has not yet paid child support for the month of October, pays the child support consistently late, and has not paid medical support for our son, which has been due since June 2009, has not paid 50% of the cost of certain house repairs required by the divorce agreement, and has not reimbursed me for 1/2 the cost of a QDRO against his pension as required by the divorce agreeement.

I am going to tell his attorney to have my ex pay what he owes before I send him the transfer form. Anyone have any other thoughts?

You should talk to your attorney before you talk to your ex's attorney. You should contact your state child support agency which will collect back child support for you and advance payments to you while you are waiting.

Since you didnt show the math I have no clue how you came up with 6489.

[Guest Chelsi]

You should talk to your attorney before you talk to your ex's attorney. You should contact your state child support agency which will collect back child support for you and advance payments to you while you are waiting.

Since you didnt show the math I have no clue how you came up with 6489.

Thanks for your post.

I actually have an appointment with the child support enforcement bureau tomorrow. Also, my attorneys were not that effective for me, made some mistakes, and ran up big bills, even charged me to talk to a secretary. My attorney delayed dealing with the QDRO's and then wrote numerous letters to my ex's attorney requesting his cooperation in distributing the retirement account, all of which went unanswered. Eventually, I just did all my own QDRO's and am handling my case post divorce. I am an attorney also.

Also, I do not think my ex's attorney knows how dilatory my ex has been with his obligations.

By the way, my ex has maxed out most of his credit cards since the divorce and has even taken peronal loans and loans against his pension. He owes somewhere around $76,000 for the credit cards, and personal and car loans alone.

Now you can figure out why he is my ex!

My math is as follows:

Marital portion of net invested: $10,157.87 (41.64% of total net invested) plus non-marital portion of net invested: $14,231.45 (58.35% of total net invested) equals $24,389.32 (total net invested in IRA).

Account balance as of Sept 30, 2009 equals $31,167.19.

Marital portion of account equals 41.64% of $31,167.19 which equals $12,978.01.

My ex's marital share is 50% of $12,978.01 which equals $6,489.

[mbozek]

If he is only entitled to 50% of the 41% of your IRA which is the maritial amount, then the number looks ok. Also you do not need to submit a QDRO to divide an IRA (Many custodians will not accept a QDRO to divide an IRA). Under IRC 408(d)(6) you can ask the IRA custodian to transfer the amount due your ex under the divorce decree to an IRA established in the name of your ex. The transfer is a tax free rollover and he will be taxed when he withdraws the funds. Usually all you need to submit is the divorce decree and a completed request for distribution. Also your ex must establish an IRA in his own name. But you should make sure that his attorney agrees on the amount that is to be transferred to him.

If you havent already done so make sure that you cancel all credit cards which are joint accounts to prevent the CC company from coming after you for his debts when he defaults.

[Guest Chelsi]

Thank you for responding.

I figure I will fill out the form with my numbers and include copies of the supporting statements and send it to the lawyer. If he doesn't accept it, he will then have to contest it in court. I have the statements to back up my numbers, so what is he going to accomplish?

I had IRA's before the marriage that I deposited in this IRA in my name. I also left a job and took my pension in a check that was transferred into this IRA. Part of the time that I worked at the job was before the marriage so I figured out the marital and non marital portions of the pension check. I even have copies of these checks.

The marital amount consisted of retirement benefits that I had while I was married and deposited into this IRA when I left that job, as well as the marital portion of the other job.

The marital portion of the net amount invested in the IRA worked out to 41%. So I merely applied that percentage to the value as of the last quarterly statement Sept 30, 2009 and took 50% of it to get his marital portion.

In the letter to the lawyer, I am also going to list all the areas of our agreement in which he is in default and request that he take action to remedy his default in those areas.

Currently, I have 2 QDRO's pending before a judge and awaiting the judge's signature. So my QDRO issues with his accounts are not resolved yet. But once I sign the IRA transfer form he gets that asset. Meanwhile my QDRO's against his retirement accounts are still unresolved. This is my second round of QDRO's with this judge. The first time he changed the language and the funds couldn't implement it becuase they didn't have records, so I re-did them with calculations and incuded a letter explaining the calculations.

Yes, thank goodness I cancelled the credit cards that were joint with the ex. I find it really scary how he has run up all this debt. I am at a loss to understand it. Is there any possible explanation for it?

[masteff]

Just confirming the math is correct. (I'll leave the legal stuff to folks like him since he leaves the accounting stuff to folks like me )

[Guest Chelsi]

I want to transfer the IRA to my ex as a dollar amount instead of transferring the marital portion as shares because I could apply some of the dollar amount to my traditional IRA and transfer the whole account to him instead of transferring percentages of shares from the other 2 roth IRA in the account.

Would anyone transfer the marital portion as shares from each account or is my idea better to do the transfer as a dollar amount and apply it mostly toward a taxable traditional IRA which would enable me to keep more of my roth IRA's? Hope I explained this right!