QDRO calculated incorrectly

[Beneuser]

My divorce was finalized in 2004; it included a QDRO.  I recently retired (2018) and after several of the payments I received a letter from the Plan Administrator advising me that the calculations were incorrect ($60,000) and they will be deducting a couple hundred dollars out of my monthly payments.  Now I am stuck!  How can this error happen and I suffer the consequences 14 years later.

 

 

[david rigby]

Not enough information.  For example,

• Is this a DB plan?
• Was the QDRO applied against your benefit, or for your benefit?
• Did the PA explain the nature of the incorrect calculation?  (if not, have you asked?)
• Etc.

[fmsinc]

I assume that this was a defined benefit plan, that is, a pension.  If it was a defined contribution plan like a 401(k), your wife would have received a lump sum payout of her share shortly after the divorce and your share would be available to you at retirement in a lump sum unless you chose to take it as an annuity.  [Unless they overpaid your former spouse and that's the problem?]

I will assume it was a defined benefit plan.  That being the case, I don't understand what the date of divorce and the issuance of a QDRO had to do with an error made by the Plan Administrator when you retired in 2018.  If there was an error it would have been made at the time of your retirement and might have been the result of an error in determining your years of service, or your compensation history, or your age, or your life expectancy.  

So you are not providing the facts necessary for us to understand what happened.  More details are necessary including the exact name of the Plan.  

DSG   

[Kristina]

"So you are not providing the facts necessary for us to understand what happened.  More details are necessary including the exact name of the Plan."

I agree that the necessary details are missing.  HOWEVER, the exact name of the plan is not one of them and should not be published under these circumstances on a Discussion forum.

[Luke Bailey]

Beneuser, while I completely agree with david rigby and fmsinc that you have provided insufficient information to give you a complete answer, I can say this: The law generally permits plans to correct overpayments (i.e., payments in the past that were in excess of what a participant or alternate payee was actually entitled to receive), generally in the manner you describe (reduction of future payments). However, if you have any reason to believe that the plan's evaluation of the error is incorrect, or that, e.g., the plan is penalizing you for an overpayment it actually made to the alternate payee, you should definitely look into it. If you think the plan's evaluation of the error may be correct, but your point is that you relied on the error for many years and you should not now be penalized for the plan administrator's error, then you may still have reason to fight the administrator about this, but the law to date has not been shown to be strongly supportive of such reliance claims.

[RatherBeGolfing]

26 minutes ago, Kristina said:

I agree that the necessary details are missing.  HOWEVER, the exact name of the plan is not one of them and should not be published under these circumstances on a Discussion forum.

And would most likely be deleted by a Mod...

[fmsinc]

I ask for the name of the Plan so I can determine if we are dealing with a defined benefit plan or a defined contribution plan or a cash balance plan, or with an ERISA qualified plan or a Federal, State, County or Municipal Plan, or with a church plan or a Railroad Retirement Plan, or even perhaps with an international plan. 

A layman is normally not going to have a clue what sort of plan he is dealing with.   

If he doesn't want to post it on this blog he can find my email and send it to me and I will be happy to give him my thoughts.