Can a QDRO entered after remarriage defeat the rights of a second spou

[Guest nlepk]

Can a Domestic Relation Order, which is entered by a court after the participant in a profit sharing plan remarries and which assigns some or all of the participant's benefit in the plan to the participant's former wife, qualify as a QDRO under Code Section 414(p)?

[QDROphile]

Yes. That's half the point of a QDRO. You get some disagreement around the edges, such as when the participant remarries and starts joint and survivior annuity payments from a defined benefit plan and then dies before the order concerning the fomer spouse arrives. But that is what makes life interesting.

[Guest Shelton]

He is absolutely right!!!!!!!!!

[Guest Shelton]

QDROphile

I apologize for referring to you as 'he'. I hate it when someone automatically assumes I am male, just because I am intelligent and is knowledgable from a technical perspective- sorry

[Guest nlepk]

Thanks for the prompt response. It got us in the right direction. In our circumstance almost 3 years had expired between the time that we reviewed the draft and the time that it was entered. The participant had terminated employment and had remarried approximately 2 years ago. The plan had joint and survivor requirements and we were reluctant to ok the payout under the terms of the QDRO.

[KJohnson]

I recall a case three to five years ago out of the 4th Circuit called Hopkins v. AT&T. I believe the 4th Circuit ruled that the current spouse becomes "vested" in the J&S benefit upon the participant's retirement and the former spouse cannot, after the participant's retirement, obtain a QDRO that infringes on the current spouse's right to the J&S benefit. I haven't gone back and looked at this, but you might want to pull it just to make sure.

[QDROphile]

The AT&T and Hopkins decision is wrong, but that is what makes life interesting.