{"id":14797,"date":"2022-10-15T12:23:50","date_gmt":"2022-10-15T22:23:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/?p=14797"},"modified":"2022-10-15T12:25:24","modified_gmt":"2022-10-15T22:25:24","slug":"after-the-divorce-retirement-pay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/2022\/10\/15\/after-the-divorce-retirement-pay\/","title":{"rendered":"After The Divorce \u2013 Retirement Pay"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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by Sheryll Bonilla, Esq. <\/em>

<\/strong>It comes as a surprise to many an ex-wife that the divorce decree does not automatically result in her getting her share of her ex-husband\u2019s retirement pay.

To get her share, a wife has to have a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) signed by the court, after the draft of the order is first approved by the retirement plan administrator.

I usually recommend to divorce clients that the QDRO is signed at the same time as the decree, and here\u2019s why. Couples at that point want to get the divorce over with and are willing to sign all the documents needed to make that divorce happen.

There\u2019s also clarifications that the Plan Administrator might need, and the couple\u2019s lawyers can get those clarifications done while the divorce negotiations are still in process. Signing the QDRO is part of tying up all loose ends for the marital split.

Remember, if your soon-to-be ex-husband is the kind who will give you a hard time, imagine how difficult it will be when you\u2019re trying to chase down money and he has no incentive to cooperate, like it would be if he was signing the decree at the same time.

What usually happens, though, is that couples think it\u2019s automatic so they don\u2019t do anything until it\u2019s time to collect and no money comes. Then the ex-wife finds out that the ex-husband is collecting but she\u2019s not getting her share.

Try asking an ex-husband to hand over the ex-wife\u2019s share of the money he\u2019s getting and you can see the conflict start when he says no. If he\u2019s been collecting for a while, that \u201cno\u201d is going to be even a bigger \u201cno\u201d and the wife will be even more frustrated at the amount of money she\u2019s losing.

Let it go too long, and that can be tens of thousands of dollars.\u00a0 At that point, not only does the ex-wife have the cost of getting the QDRO prepared, she also has to incur the cost of going back to court to enforce the decree to make the husband pay to her the share she was supposed to get and he won\u2019t give to her \u2013 that just makes her legal fees higher and needlessly so.

To make the situation worse, some Plan Administrators might require the ex-husband\u2019s new wife (or subsequent ex-wife) to sign off on the QDRO. What a hassle, right?

So \u2013 if you\u2019re going through a divorce, get the QDRO prepared so that all remaining tasks are completed to implement the decree provisions.

Why isn\u2019t this automatic with the decree you ask? Because a divorce decree only concerns the husband and wife. The retirement plan is not part of the divorce, so the Plan Administrator has no legal obligation to do what the decree says. The QDRO is the order that requires the Plan Administrator divide the retirement pay per the decree.

If the husband has more than one retirement plan, then each one has to have its own QDRO. For example, many federal employees and military service members have both a retirement benefit and an TSP.

You\u2019ll need a separate order for each.\u00a0 Construction workers may have belonged to different unions \u2013 each needs a separate order. Some union members have both a pension and an annuity \u2013 each needs a separate order.

Some people work for different employers throughout their lives, like working for the government after retiring from the military and then also working for a private company \u2013 each retirement plan needs a separate order.

These orders all have to be signed by the court.

That\u2019s too much hassle you say. How would you feel if you find out your ex-husband retired in his forties shortly after the divorce \u2013 twenty years earlier than you expected \u2013 and has been collecting for twenty years without giving you your share? Couldn\u2019t you have used those tens of thousands of dollars?

If you go to court to get enforcement, isn\u2019t he going to tell the court he already spent your half of the money and can\u2019t afford to pay it to you? You bet he will.\u00a0 You could lose your share on that alone. So, get the QDRO as soon after the divorce as possible to avoid significant losses in retirement pay that you can use for your own living expenses.

In Hawaii decrees, retirement pay is usually divided by the Linson formula. An ex-wife gets one-half of her husband\u2019s monthly pay, based on the time he spent working for that employer and the overlap of that job with the marriage.

Since many wives see their standard of living fall dramatically without their husband\u2019s income, getting that half share of a husband\u2019s retirement benefits often goes a long way in helping pay for living expenses.

One wife said her half of her ex-husband\u2019s retirement pay would be only about $300 a month. That still helps, I told her \u2013 $300 might pay her utilities bills each month, and that frees up the money for other needs like car insurance or prescriptions or other bills.

Some private companies allow a wife to start receiving her share right away \u2013 and if your children are still young, that extra bit can help a lot with costs, even if it just takes care of the electric and phone bills. For the federal government the wife can\u2019t get her share until the husband starts getting his share. Some plans allow the wife to name a beneficiary in case the wife dies before collecting, and some plans don\u2019t.

Enforcement is not always easy and that\u2019s why it\u2019s better to have the QDROs ready for signing around the same time the decree is being signed. Sometimes enforcement can be a knockdown, drag out, expensive fight just like the divorce. It also happens that the husbands die before the QDRO can be done, so he can\u2019t sign the order.

Cut your losses and minimize the hassle by getting the QDROs ready to be signed along with the decree. The sooner you get your share of your husband\u2019s retirement benefits, the easier it is on you financially.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not to be constructed as offering legal advice. Please consult an attorney for your individual situation. The author is not responsible for a reader\u2019s reliance on the information contained here.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Sheryll Bonilla, Esq. It comes as a surprise to many an ex-wife that 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