Family law can involve many acronyms, ranging from those related to domestic violence (DVPO) to child support (CCPA.) Even if your divorce involves no children and no violence, there is an acronym that may be important to you: QDRO. QDRO stands for “qualified domestic relations order,” and is a court mechanism by which someone who is not the holder of a pension or retirement account may receive some or all of those funds. When one or both spouses in a divorce have substantial pension/retirement assets, a QDRO can play an integral role in ensuring that the divorce’s property division is fair. For information about how a QDRO might factor into your divorce case, get reliable answers by speaking to an experienced Maryland divorce lawyer.
A QDRO can come into existence in multiple ways. In one instance, the spouses are unable to agree and the judge decides that a non-account-holding spouse is entitled to some or all of the account’s proceeds. The other occurs when the spouses do agree… and their settlement agreement calls for the non-account-holding spouse to get a portion (or all) of an account.
A recent divorce case from Montgomery County is an example of the latter scenario. The spouses worked out a marital settlement agreement (MSA) in which the husband agreed to provide the wife with a fraction of his Federal Employee Retirement System Pension and Thrift Savings Plan. In addition, he agreed to ensure that the required court orders (directing the distribution) were issued.