QDRO

Question: Is a QDRO needed if my spouse waives rights to my 401k benefits? Do I need a QDRO ( Qualified Domestic Realtions Order ) if my Spouse has agreed to waive all rights to my 401K after our Divorce is final? We have been married and I have had the 401k for 10 years in New York State.

Answer: yes http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq_qdro.ht…

Question: What is the judge trying to tell me re: my qdro when he says the following? Paragraph 5 must be corrected. "How is the Court to know that this is all marital? i.e. no dates of inclusion are used in the formula." He said that the QDRO needs to be corrected to match your final Divorce Decree.

Answer: (Duration of marriage divided by duration of retirement account) divided by two = marital fraction of account. Find a CLE that reviews this stuff and gives you examples.

Question: Is a QDRO Distribution subject to a Federal/state Treasury Offset? I am receiving monies from a qdro settlement in a divorce. Is that money subject to be withheld to me because of a federal/state tax offset on my refunds at the end of the year. I know I have to pay a 20% tax.

Answer: One has nothing to do with the other. They will withhold money towards your taxes. Either it's enough to cover your tax bill (leaving a refund) or it's not (then you owe). You won't know until you file. If there is a refund, THEN the offset rules kick in. Chances are, you will owe money.

Question: When can I start getting my QDRO benefits? My ex husband is a federal employee, I am a school teacher. We each have QDROs to receive 50 % of the other's retirement. His earliest retirement date for full benefits is Nov. 2008. I am planning on retiring in 2010. I have read that with federal retirement plans you have to wait until they actually retire to draw benefits. So what if he decides to work until he is 65 in 2116 and he is allowed to draw his half of my pension in 2010. Am I going to have to live on one-fourth of my pension until he decides to retire? This hardly seems fair.... What about heath benefits?

Answer: How good was your attorney? I've seen all kinds of QDROs written all kinds of ways. In the best ones the QDRO is written to say that the Alternate Payee (the ex-spouse) can retire as early as the earliest retirement date under the plan and receives the actuarial equivalent of the benefit payable to the participant at that time (whether or not the participant actually retires). In this case, you'd be able to receive the benefit as long as your ex is eligible, whether or not he retires himself. In the worst ones, the QDRO talks about how to split up the benefit and then says it's "payable in accordance with the terms of the plan" or such unclear language. In this case you at the mercy of the plan administrator. If the QDRO did not mention healthcare benefits, you are not entitled to them, subject, of course, to the mercy of the plan administrator. (I have seen language in retiree medical plans that ties eligibility for retiree medical to eligibility for retirement; if this applies you could get lucky) Warning: I assume you have seen an estimate of the retirement benefit you are getting from your ex-spouse. Typically these wind up being very small because you get 50% of his benefit multiplied by the time he was married to you and covered by the plan to the entire time he was covered by the plan. If his benefit is $1,000 per month at 65 and he was married to you for ten years and he worked for 20 years, you'd get $1,000 x 10/20 * 50% or $250/month. Since you are younger, you can expect another 10% or so less to adjust for the difference in life expectancy between you and him. Also early retirement at 55 is typically subject to a 50% early retirement reduction. $112.50/month. These are all educated guesses but you can see the order of magnitude.

Question: What is a QDRO and how do I file it? Can anyone explain what a QDRO is? I was told to file one after my divorce, something to do with the portion of my X's pension that I was awarded. The pension was awarded to me in my divorce. I suppose I need to hire another lawyer to file this QDRO? What exactly will happen when I file this?

Answer: It stands for qualified domestic relations orders, and by following the Department of Labor link below, you'll find answers to all your questions.

Question: I received a QDRO in my divorce as a settlement. Why am I being charged the early withdrawal penalty? Is there any exception that I can take for the tax penalty? Professional advice needed please. I guess I should've had him withdraw the money so he could pay the taxes. That would also explain why that is how I received my settlement, which is all I got. He got everything else.

Answer: ""You"" recieved the QDRO, that is why "you" are being charged the penalty. Exception..........not really. Good luck.

Question: do both parties have to file thru court for a qdro? How long should it take? any help appreciated.? I have been awarded a settlement thru court in the form of a qdro. I want to move it into my own account, as well as take some cash to pay off bills. I don't even know how long this should take as I've never done this before. Any knowledge would be deeply appreciated.

Answer: It depends on what type of account your spouse has their retirement through. If it is a defined benefit pension plan you are S.O.L. because you can only get a monthly benefit at their earliest eligible retirement age. Many other plans (like defined contribution) are the same way, but will let you take the money after 3 years. In any event, it will probably take 18 months AT LEAST, since this is how long the plan has to go back and forth with your attorney as to how the QDRO is worded, etc.

Question: After a lump sum distribution from a QDRO settlement, should I take money from it to pay for kids education? I want to be able to clear some debt as well.

Answer: Definitely NO. The proceeds from the QDRO is supposed to support you the rest of your life. If you spend it now, you'll have nothing later. There are many sources to help fund a college education, but the QDRO money is your share of the retirement plan and may be your only source to fund your retirement. My suggestion would be to roll the QDRO proceeds to an IRA account and leave it alone, or beter yet, add to it each year. But don't tap it for anything until you are ready to retire.

Question: What should I do about QDRO If I don't receive any yet? All the legal papers where signed and sent to Fidelity in December but I didn't received any answer or money yet. Who should I ask about it, or what should I do?

Answer: You need to contact the QDRO Authority office.

Question: I received money from a QDRO/divorce. I used $20,000 of this for downpayment on primary residence. Tax credit? I paid taxes on the entire amount and then paid the $20,000 downpayment on my new residence/primary residence. If there is a credit or something for this, what form/s would I use and where could I find more information on this? Thanks!

Answer: In USA, you don't get a tax credit for putting money down on a house - only for mortgage interest and real estate taxes once you begin making mortgage payments and you'll get a 1098 form showing how much you can claim each year

Question: Does anyone know what happens once Qdro is done and spouse deceases.? Going thru a divorce. There getting ready to do the Qdro for the pension plan. Once that's completed what happens if the spouse getting the pension deceases before retirement age? Does that pension plan then get paid out to beneficiary? Or does it go back to surviving spouse that you were divorced from?

Answer: When QDRO is done money is transfered to ex-spouse retirement account and if she dies the money is awarded to her beneficiary.

Question: Who decides who gets what in a QDRO? Our divorce was granted. However, there is a QDRO on my pension that spouses attorney initiated. The judge decided no spousal support for either party. Each pay for their own attorney and legal fees. My question is: Who decides how my pension is divided? What must I do? I cannot afford an attorney. Am I out of luck?

Answer: That should have been decided in the divorce along with the rest of the division of property

Question: Does anyone know how long it will take for me to get my money from a QDRO? Our divorce has been final for almost 2 years. A judge just signed the QDRO. How long will it take for them to allow me access to my money?

Answer: ask your lawyer

Question: My husband's ex wife never got a QDRO for the retirement ? Can we keep her half of the retirement since she hasn't received the money in over a year? What can happen if we took that half out? She owes lawyers a lot of money, she tried to bring it up in court one time and the judge didn't even touch on the subject.

Answer: Better to put in in an account until she dies and leave it for the children. Chances are that's all they will get from her.

Question: questions about the tax on my qdro....can you help? i am expecting the check from my ex's 401k within about 2 weeks. when will this money be taxed? and how much tax will i pay? do i need to put some aside to pay taxes with next year? i am not planning on rolling the money into my current 401k plan.

Answer: This from IRS publication 575... Qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) You may be able to roll over tax free all or part of a distribution from a qualified retirement plan that you receive under (QDRO). If you receive the distribution as an employee's spouse or former spouse (not as a nonspousal beneficiary), the rollover rules apply to you as if you were the employee. As I read this, you should be able to receive the funds and put them into your p existing plan and not incur any tax liability. Still, I would suggest consulting your tax professional. good luck

Question: what does 'QDRO' refer to during a divorce & referring to life insurance? what does QDRO' refer to when going thru a divorce and pretaining to a spouces life insurance?

Answer: qualified domestic relations order

Question: where do i find a free QDRO form? in order to be able to pull out my retirement pension without my ex having the right to half of my retirement i have to file a legal form called qaulification domestic relations order. do you know where i can down load one for free?

Answer: Type QDRO forms into your search bar at the top of the answers page and you will have all of your answers, hope this helps i just pulled it up and their is a wealth of info.~

Question: QDRO help for the state of Texas? I am getting divorced and need to file a QDRO form to get my part of my ex's pension. How can I go about doing this, I live in Texas. Our divorce lawyer can't file this type of paperwork, I need to keep the cost down and I am clueless as to what I need to do. Thank you for your help.

Answer: A QDRO (Qualified Domestic Relations Order) is an order from a court which meets the guidelines under both federal and state law concerning the division of pension benefits during a divorce proceeding. These are often incredibly complex documents, as the requirements for these documents vary considerably. Some attorneys specialize in doing just these types of documents. Your attorney in Texas should be able to refer you to a Texas licensed attorney who can draft the QDRO for you if he/she is not competent to draft it him/herself. If your attorney there can't or won't refer you, contact the Texas State Bar Association and ask for a referral.

Question: how do I apply for QDRO benefits? I have a QDRO order from my divorce, we were married before he had the job we were married 19,yrs he had job 15yrs, he is now 55 and on disability, when can I apply for these benefits, and any idea what kind of money it will be, he worked as a coal miner?

Answer: You will have to file the QDRO with whichever company or organization is providing him money or disability. It looks like it might be the coal mine company and social security. You will have to contact both to serve the QDRO and begin receiving payments. Hope this helps!

Question: Does a QDRO reach the other spouses 401(k) plan? I know that a QDRO can reach a pension plan, but a 401(k) seems to be a little different.

Answer: 401k is pension plan...whether and how to divide a participant's interest in a pension plan are often important considerations in separation, divorce, and other domestic relations proceedings. While the division of marital property generally is governed by state domestic relations law, any assignments of pension interests must also comply with Federal law, namely the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the Code). Under ERISA and the Code, pension interests may be assigned only if the judgment, decree, or order creating or recognizing a spouse's, former spouse's, child's, or other dependent's interest in an individual's pension benefits constitutes a "qualified domestic relations order" or "QDRO."