QDRO-Statute of Limitations?

[Guest soxfan]

Hi All

I was curious to know if there is a statute of limitations to contact court ordered attorney for a QDRO?

The separation agreement is worded:

.......................The division of the Husband's pension shall be done by way of a QDRO. All costs associated with the preparation and filing of the QDRO to be shared equally between the parties. The parties shall engage the services of Attorney xxxxxxx xxxxxxx to complete the QDRO and to carry the terms of this paragraph. Attorney xxxxxxxx's fees and costs shall be split equally between the parties. .........

OK divorce 1/27/10

State: Connecticut

Said husband asked said ex-wife at least 8 times if she was ready to follow that paragraph-in other words contact (maybe), pay one half the expenses (definitely). She never really answered and to this day shows no interest in contacting the attorney, paying 1/2, and getting it done.

Said husband tried for at least 3 months-he feels that he has done his due diligence and therefore does not plan on bringing up the subject again. Oh the ex wants that money, but appears too lazy to make any arrangements.

My question after all this is-is there a statute of limitations for contacting and payment to the attorney?

I understand the admin. or attorney in this case has to act in timely mannor, but what about one of the 2 parties involve in separation agreement?

Sorry for the lenght, but thanks in advance.

[GMK]

The husband should be advised that this will never just go away. It may hang over him for years and years, unless it says otherwise in the separation agreement.

One concern with letting it go indefinitely is how the ex's benefit is determined. Is it 50% of the balance on the date the divorce is final, or maybe 50% of the balance on the day the ex gets her half, or something else. If the separation agreement does not specify a date for determining that balance, then the QDRO will specify it, and the result could be that she receives 50% of the benefits the husband received after the marriage was over. Unless the date is already set in writing, the husband may want to contact Attorney x soon and get the ball rolling. Just saying.

And tell the husband to hang on to his account statements for reference when the DRO is finally prepared.

[masteff]

Other problem is the sep agreement names the specific atty to do the work. Eventually they'll run into risk of retirement, moving out of state, disbarment or death of said atty.

Anecdotally, at a former employer, we'd have QDROs come in multiple years after the divorce, especially from Louisiana (can't remember what exactly was different about divorces in La. that made tardy QDROs from there so prevalent). So I can say decades is not impossible. The common factor was the EE finally approaching early retirement age and the AP wanting to get in ahead of that.

[mbozek]

Hi All

I was curious to know if there is a statute of limitations to contact court ordered attorney for a QDRO?

The separation agreement is worded:

.......................The division of the Husband's pension shall be done by way of a QDRO. All costs associated with the preparation and filing of the QDRO to be shared equally between the parties. The parties shall engage the services of Attorney xxxxxxx xxxxxxx to complete the QDRO and to carry the terms of this paragraph. Attorney xxxxxxxx's fees and costs shall be split equally between the parties. .........

OK divorce 1/27/10

State: Connecticut

Said husband asked said ex-wife at least 8 times if she was ready to follow that paragraph-in other words contact (maybe), pay one half the expenses (definitely). She never really answered and to this day shows no interest in contacting the attorney, paying 1/2, and getting it done.

Said husband tried for at least 3 months-he feels that he has done his due diligence and therefore does not plan on bringing up the subject again. Oh the ex wants that money, but appears too lazy to make any arrangements.

My question after all this is-is there a statute of limitations for contacting and payment to the attorney?

I understand the admin. or attorney in this case has to act in timely mannor, but what about one of the 2 parties involve in separation agreement?

Sorry for the length, but thanks in advance.

Reluctance of the AP to cooperate in getting a DRO is not unusual especially when the benefits will not be available for many years such as in a DB plan when benefits are not available until the participant's earliest retirement date. The usual reason is that the AP does not want to spend the money for a QDRO if there is no immediate economic benefit. APs will become interested in filing a DRO after participant retires or has remarried. I have reviewed DROs filed 15 years or more after divorce (one was filed after the AP found out that the employee had died for which benefits could not be paid to the AP since employee was unmarried.)

I dont know what more H can do other than to send a letter to AP requesting that she participate in obtaining the DRO so he has a record. If the AP ignores the request she will be out of luck for survivor's benefits after the employee remarries and may also be out of luck for a share of the employee's benefits if he retires before she submits a DRO. Of course, the AP could always ask a state court to order the employee to pay her the benefit amounts she is entitled to under the divorce from his personal assets.

In some states there is a statute of limitations on enforcing a court order.

[Guest Sieve]

If this is a DC plan, the AP should be interested in getting a QDRO in process and to the Administrator so that assets are segregated. If there is no proposed QDRO in the hands of the Administrator, then the participant can remove assets (assuming the plan gives the ability to do so through hardship distributions, in-serivce distributions, etc.)., and the AP (as mbozek suggest) may then only be able to get at other assets (through enforcement proceedings) rather than the retirement plan assets.

[GMK]

soxfan - For your reference, here's one that wasn't filed for 19 years:

http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?s...c=47139&hl=

As you can read, it's a good idea to keep those account records.