Basic Information about Qualified Domestic Relations Orders
Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (QDROs) are documents used to allocate retirement accounts when parties get divorced. For people that don't regularly deal with QDROs, they can be quite confusing. Fortunately, the U.S. Department of Labor published an article which answers many of the most common questions in great detail, including:
- What is a Qualified Domestic Relations Order?
- What is a Domestic Relations Order?
- Must a Domestic Relations Order be issued by a state court?
- Who can be an Alternate Payee?
- What information must a domestic relations order contain to qualify as a QDRO under ERISA?
- Are there other requirements that a domestic relations order must meet to be a QDRO?
- May a QDRO be part of the divorce decree or property settlement?
- Must a domestic relations order be issued as part of a divorce proceeding to be a QDRO?
- May a QDRO provide for payment to the guardian of an alternate payee?
- Can a QDRO cover more than one plan?
- Must all QDROs have the same provisions?
- Who determines whether an order is a QDRO?
- Who is the administrator of the plan?
- Will the Department of Labor issue advisory opinions on whether a domestic relations order is a QDRO?
My ex-husband is scheduled to receive 40% of my retirement according to our divorce decree. If he remarries, can he still receive that money?