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Posted

If the Wrong Date of Marriage is filed under the Court when the Parties Divorced and you are now working on a QDRO, should you use the actual dates of marriage (includes common law) or use the incorrect dates of marriage that the court has?

Posted

QDROs are not required to have the date of marriage on them. So I would not use either. 

The plan administrator doesn't care how long the marriage lasted. They care about how clear the order is in describing the amount of benefit to be awarded to the alternate payee. 

I'm a stranger on the internet. Nothing I write is tax or legal advice. 

I'd like a witty saying here, but I don't have any. When in doubt, what does the plan document say?

Posted

Unsolicited commentary - so take with a grain of salt

It sounds like you are not a lawyer, you are a paralegal who is drafting QDROs on your own? The questions you have been asking make it clear there is a ton you probably don't know, about family law, retirement plans, etc. A lot (most? all?) of these questions are ones your supervising attorney should be answering, or they should provide you training resources ( webinars, reference books, etc) that you can use to increase your knowledge. 

I'm a stranger on the internet. Nothing I write is tax or legal advice. 

I'd like a witty saying here, but I don't have any. When in doubt, what does the plan document say?

Posted
1 hour ago, justanotheradmin said:

QDROs are not required to have the date of marriage on them. So I would not use either. 

The plan administrator doesn't care how long the marriage lasted. They care about how clear the order is in describing the amount of benefit to be awarded to the alternate payee. 

This is a Pension Benefit QDRO and the Participant has yet to retire. Should I include the total months of marriage so that the Plan Administrator will know how to calculate it?
 

Posted

it needs to include enough information that the plan can calculate the benefit. if it gives a formula, then the data for that formula needs to be clear. I don't think the plan administrator cares if 72 months is mentioned about the reason WHY.  doesn't matter if 72 months that the marriage lasted or 72 months that spouse A had rainbow hair, or 72 months that spouse B was in grad school etc. whatever the parties decided and is the property agreement is what needs to be clear in the QDRO. 

If the dates of what those 72 months were is relevant, then including the specific start date and end date, those can be included as well. 

I'm a stranger on the internet. Nothing I write is tax or legal advice. 

I'd like a witty saying here, but I don't have any. When in doubt, what does the plan document say?

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