QDRO, not yet done

[Sheree Crochet]

I’ve been divorced about a year and a half now and the judge denied me to getting half of ex’s 401K.  He stated we needed a QDRO.  Not knowing what that meant we contacted the court house and said we each had to sign papers.  Once that was done my lawyer got her lawyer license revoked..  so we never got around to bring it back to the judge.  What do I do in this situation??

[QDROphile]

Engage a lawyer who understands how to get a division of retirement benefits in a divorce proceeding.  Obtaining some portion of a spouse's retirement benefits has two steps.  First, the property division in the divorce must include an award of the retirement benefits.  That is a matter of dividing the property and is a matter of state law.  Then, the award must be stated in a domestic relations order (the "DRO"), typically (but not necessarily) a separate document from the divorce/property settlement document, in a manner that satisfies the requirements of federal law.  The DRO is submitted to the retirement plan for evaluation by the plan relating to the requirements.

Many lawyers who handle divorces are not capable of dealing with the retirement benefits, especially pension plan benefits.  A competent lawyer who is incapable of handling the retirement benefits will either engage someone  (another lawyer, an actuary, or other professional) to assist with the retirement benefits or will refer the client to the appropriate professional to handle the federal law part of the DRO, presumably after not botching the state law first step.

Your former lawyer may have mishandled the first step as well as not taking on the second step (the DRO and submission to the retirement plan).  You need an evaluation of your entire divorce settlement/award to see what needs to be fixed or done next.  With luck, you may need only preparation and prosecution of a DRO based on the award of your former spouse's retirement benefits in the divorce.

In most states, there are lawyers who specialize in the DRO part after the original divorce lawyer obtains the divorce decree/settlement.  Find one.  Bar associations often provide referrals.

[david rigby]

5 hours ago, QDROphile said:

The DRO is submitted to the retirement plan for evaluation by the plan relating to the requirements.

This sentence means (in most cases) that a draft DRO is submitted to the plan to determine if it meets plan requirements and does not request something of the plan that it otherwise would not do.  Only after such review does a DRO become a QDRO.

 QDROphile has provided good advice.