QDRO

A QDRO is a "Qualified Domestic Relations Order," and it is a term that you will become familiar with during your divorce if there are retirement benefits to be divided.

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The QDRO is the vehicle that will require the employer to make payments to the non-employee spouse as a result of the divorce.

The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com Emily W. McBurney 2011

497 F. 3d 426, 427-28 (5th Cir. 2007), the Supremes will decide if a spouse may waive his or her interest in the other spouse's pension without a Qualified Domestic Relations Order ( "QDRO").

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In some cases, a judge approves a QDRO but it doesn't meet a retirement plan's qualifications, so the plan administrator must send the couple back to court to fix it.

The 'Splitting' Headaches of Late-Life Divorce Kelly Greene 2011

People negotiating divorce settlements should consider working with an attorney who has extensive QDRO experience, or who hires a specialist—and be wary of attorneys who play down how tricky QDROs are, Mr. Landers says.

The 'Splitting' Headaches of Late-Life Divorce Kelly Greene 2011

It also is important to distinguish between the two types of plans: "Qualified" plans, including 401ks and traditional pensions, fall under federal law and can be divided using a QDRO.

The 'Splitting' Headaches of Late-Life Divorce Kelly Greene 2011

To divide such accounts, you generally have to get a court-issued "qualified domestic relations order," or QDRO, which spells out what each partner gets.

The 'Splitting' Headaches of Late-Life Divorce Kelly Greene 2011

Be sure the QDRO addresses the specific retirement plan in question, because each plan has its own rules, says Wendy Foster , senior vice president of Fidelity Investments' defined-benefit unit.

The 'Splitting' Headaches of Late-Life Divorce Kelly Greene 2011

But "nonqualified" plans that are typically awarded to executives—along with stock options, restricted stock and deferred compensation—aren't subject to the same rules and may not be able to be divided using a QDRO.

The 'Splitting' Headaches of Late-Life Divorce Kelly Greene 2011

You need to make sure those benefits are addressed separately in a settlement, says Emily Widmann McBurney , a lawyer with Davis, Matthews & Quigley in Atlanta who specializes in QDRO law.

The 'Splitting' Headaches of Late-Life Divorce Kelly Greene 2011