Rightfully Yours (Self-Counsel Legal Series) : Child Support, Alimony and Your Ex's Pension Book

	Preface	x
1	Did Your Divorce Decree Grant You a Portion of Your Ex-Husband's Future Pension? (It Should Have!)	1
1.	Don't Forget the Pension	2
2.	It's Your Property Right	3
3.	It's Not Alimony	4
4.	How Much Is the Retirement Benefit Worth?	5
4.1	Defined contribution plans	5
4.2	Defined benefit pension plans	7
5.	The Use of Offsetting Assets	9
6.	A QDRO Is a Must	9
2	What Is a QDRO? (And Why Do You Need One?)	10
1.	Horror Story	11
2.	Horror Story No. 2	12
3.	Horror Story No. 3	13
4.	Congress Created QDRO Laws in 1984	13
5.	The Requirements of a QDRO	15
6.	Pension Plan Administrators Can Throw Out Your QDRO If They Don't Like It	17
3	What Types of QDROS Are Available?	19
1.	Two Types of QDROS for Defined Benefit Pension Plans	19
2.	Survivorship Benefits under Defined Benefit Pension Plans	20
3.	Former Spouses Can Get Survivor Protection	20
4.	The Separate Interest QDRO	21
5.	The Shared Payment QDRO	22
6.	QDROS for Defined Contribution Plans	22
4	Do You Need to Get an Attorney to Draft a QDRO? (What If You Can't Afford One?)	23
1.	Contact Your Original Divorce Attorney	23
2.	Contact a New Family Law Attorney	24
3.	Try to Draft a QDRO Yourself Using a Sample QDRO from this Book	24
3.1	Step-by-step instructions for completing a sample QDRO yourself	26
4.	Getting the Judge's Signature	28
5	How Do You Deal with the Plan Administrator?	30
1.	Plan Administrators and You	31
2.	Remaining Nonadversarial with the Plan Administrator	31
3.	Problems in Discovery	34
4.	Your Rights under the Federal Pension Law Called ERISA	35
5.	Administrative Fees for Processing QDROS	36
6.	Constructive Notice of a QDRO	37
7.	The Company's Own Model QDRO Language	38
8.	The Administrator's Approval and Signature	39
6	Could Your Ex-Husband Have More than One Pension?	40
1.	Nonqualified Retirement Plans Not Subject to QDROS	41
2.	Types of Defined Contribution Plans	41
3.	Types of Defined Benefit Pension Plans	42
4.	Coverage under Two Defined Benefit Pension Plans	43
5.	A Separate QDRO for Each Plan	44
6.	Don't Forget about Your Ex-Husband's Previous Employment	45
7	How Much of the Pension Are You Entitled to Receive?	46
1.	Determining the Marital Portion of a Defined Contribution Plan	47
2.	Premarital Account Balances	47
3.	QDRO Tips for Determining Your Share of a Defined Contribution Plan	47
3.1	Interest and investment earnings	48
3.2	Sneaky plan loans by participants	48
3.3	Contributions made after divorce that were for periods before divorce	48
4.	Determining the Marital Portion of a Defined Benefit Pension Plan	49
5.	Coverture: The Recommended Approach for QDROS under Defined Benefit Pension Plans	51
5.1	The mechanics of the coverture approach	53
5.2	Model coverture language	55
5.3	If your divorce decree did not include a coverture formula	56
8	When Can You Start Receiving Your Share of the Pension? (Do You Have to Wait Until Your Ex Retires?)	57
1.	The Early Retirement Subsidy	58
1.1	How does the early retirement subsidy affect an alternate payee under a QDRO?	59
1.2	What if a shared payment QDRO is used?	60
1.3	When can you receive benefits under a defined contribution plan?	60
2.	Direct Distribution or Rollover to an Individual Retirement Account	61
3.	Establishing Separate Accounts	61
9	Are You Entitled to Receive Your Share of the Pension for Your Entire Lifetime? (If So, How Can You Secure a Lifetime Pension?)	63
1.	Use of a Separate Interest QDRO	64
2.	Use of a Shared Payment QDRO	65
3.	Contact the Plan Administrator If Uncertain	65
4.	What about a Defined Contribution Plan?	66
10	Is It Too Late to Draft a QDRO Now? (Your Divorce Occured Years Ago)	67
1.	The Importance of Drafting a 401(k) Plan QDRO before Your Ex-Husband Terminates His Employment	68
2.	What If the Plan Makes a Distribution to Your Ex-Husband While the QDRO Process Is Pending?	69
3.	Is There an 18-Month Maximum Segregation Period for Pending QDROS?	70
4.	Check for a Possible Rollover to an Individual Retirement Account	71
5.	What If the Original Divorce Decree Was Silent on the Pension Issue?	71
6.	The Buildup of Child Support or Alimony Arrearage after Divorce	72
11	What about Past-Due Child Support and Alimony (Can You Use a QDRO for This?)	74
1.	Does This Sound Familiar?	74
2.	QDROS for Child Support and Alimony	75
3.	Using Multiple QDROS	76
4.	A Tax Tip for Child Support QDROS	76
5.	Getting Past-Due Child Support Payments or Alimony from a Defined Contribution Plan	78
6.	Getting Past-Due Child Support Payments or Alimony from a Defined Benefit Pension Plan	79
12	Your Ex-Husband Has Already Retired (Is It Too Late to Draft a QDRO?)	86
1.	You Must Use a Shared Payment QDRO If Your Ex-Husband Is Retired	86
2.	A Possible "Catch-22" Situation That Will Destroy Any Chance You Have to Receive a Lifetime Pension	87
3.	No Retroactive Pension Payments Are Allowed If Your Ex-Husband Is Already Retired	88
4.	There May Be a Way to Recoup Lost Pension Payments	89
13	Your Ex-Husband Has Died (Is It Too Late to Draft a QDRO?)	90
1.	Get the QDRO Done before Your Ex-Husband Dies	91
2.	Your Ex-Husband Died before the QDRO Was Done: What Do You Do Now?	91
14	You Are Going Through a Divorce (What Should You Know about the QDRO Process?)	94
1.	Complete Discovery of All Plans of Coverage	94
2.	The Separation Agreement: Making Sure Your Attorney Doesn't Shortchange Your QDRO Rights	95
2.1	Calculation of assigned benefit: Coverture recommended	96
2.2	Survivorship protection	96
2.3	Postretirement cost of living adjustments	97
2.4	Early retirement subsidy	97
2.5	Anti-circumvention language	98
3.	Incorporate the QDRO by Reference into Your Decree	100
4.	Don't Forget the Boilerplate	101
5.	The Follow-Through with the Plan Administrator	101
15	Your Attorney Never Drafted a QDRO for You (Is This Considered Malpractice? What Are Your Options Now?)	102
1.	Failure to Draft a QDRO	103
2.	Be Proactive	104
3.	Consider a Malpractice Suit a Last Resort	105
16	What If Your Ex-Husband Is Covered under the Federal Civil Service Retirement System?	106
1.	Dividing the Employee Annuity	107
1.1	What are the employee eligibility requirements?	107
1.2	What are the maximum allowable payments to the former spouse?	108
1.3	Are there any application requirements for the former spouse?	108
1.4	When do payments to a former spouse terminate?	109
2.	The Refund of Employee Contributions	109
2.1	What amounts are subject to a court order acceptable for processing?	109
2.2	Will the payment of a refund of employee contributions terminate any future rights to a portion of the employee annuity or a survivor annuity?	110
2.3	Can a COAP prevent a separated employee from receiving a refund of employee contributions, in order to secure a former spouse's future right to a portion of an employee annuity or a former spouse survivor annuity?	110
3.	Former Spouse Survivor Annuities	110
3.1	What are the maximum survivor benefits payable under the Civil Service Retirement System?	110
3.2	Are there eligibility requirements for the former spouse?	111
3.3	Do you have a future right to a former spouse survivor annuity?	111
3.4	How does the employee or former spouse pay for the cost of providing a former spouse survivor annuity under a COAP?	111
3.5	Once a court order acceptable for processing has been prepared, where should it be sent?	112
3.6	Can court orders bar the payment of employee annuities?	112
3.7	What kind of formulas can be used in a COAP to identify the former spouse's share of the employee annuity?	113
17	What If Your Ex-Husband Is Covered under a Military Retirement Plan?	117
1.	The 10/10 Rule for Property Divisions	118
2.	Maximum Payments to a Former Spouse	118
3.	The Military Uses Only the Shared Payment Approach	119
4.	The Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act of 1940	120
5.	Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) Coverage for a Former Spouse	121
6.	Deemed Election of Former Spouse Coverage	122
7.	Termination of SBP Surviving Spouse Coverage on the Remarriage of a Former Spouse before Age 55	123
8.	Anti-Circumvention Language	123
9.	Model Military Court Orders to Divide Retired Pay	125
18	What If Your Ex-Husband Is Covered under the Railroad Retirement Board Pension Plan?	140
1.	A Tier I Annuity Is Not Divisible by a Court Order	140
2.	A Tier II Annuity Is Divisible by a Court Order	141
3.	Vested Dual Benefit Payments and Supplemental Annuities	142
4.	Survivor Rights to Tier II Annuities	143
5.	Other Railroad Retirement Board Pension Plan Coverage	144
6.	Model Court-Ordered Language to Divide the "Divisible Portion" of Railroad Retirement Benefits	144
19	Is There Model QDRO Language That You Can Use?	149
	Glossary of QDRO and Pension Terminology	175
	Samples
1	To obtain past-due child support (From a defined benefit pension plan)
2	To obtain past-due child support (From a defined contribution plan such as a 401(K))
3	Model court order acceptable for processing (COAP) under the Civil Service Retirement System
4	Military qualifying court order (For active members)
5	Military qualifying court order (For reservists)
6	Military qualifying court order (If currently retired)
7	Model qualifing court order to divide railroad retirement benefits
8	Separate interest QDRO for defined benefit pension plans (For active plan participants)
9	Shared payment QDRO for defined benefit pension plans (For active plan participants)
10	Participant already retired in a defined benefit pension plan (Utilizing fixed-dollar award and providing entire survivor annuity to alternate payee based on election at retirement)
11	Defined contribution plans (For use when simply assigning 50 percent of total account balance)
12	Defined contribution plans (For use when assigning a fixed-dollar amount)
13	Defined contribution plans (For use when participant keeps premarital acount balance)