If the divorce is uncontested, what has to be done to have the QDRO signed by the judge? Is that a separate process that the executor has to initiate or is a court date set for this sort of thing? Thanks.
The best way to go about this is to obtain a sample QDRO from the plan. You may then customize the order to your specific situation, obtain the signatures of both the participant and the alternate payee. You should then set the matter for entry of order, this is a very short hearing in which the order will be presented to the judge for his or her signature. The next step is to obtain a certified true copy from the clerk’s office to send to the plan.
Thanks much, Erin.
You are welcome.
I self filed and obtained a divorce in wake county over a year ago, but filed nothing relating to a financial settlement as my ex and I had not worked that out yet. We since have come to settlement but when I went to the courthouse to try to get my qdro’s filed (one for a fidelity 401K that’s Fidelity’s canned version and one I self drafted for my IRA) the clerk had no idea how to proceed because my divorce had already been finalized with no financial requirements pending. How can I get a judge to sign my qdro’s?
If you made no claim for Equitable Distribution prior to obtaining the divorce, there is nothing you can do. A qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) can only be entered pursuant to the equitable distribution laws. Once a divorce is granted, if no claims for equitable distribution are pending you cannot seek a distribution.
Wow, someone should have had a lawyer. No ED? Yikes.
In the case of a separation agreement stating the requirement for a QDRO, are you supposed to have the QDRO signed by a judge prior to the actual divorce court date or can you get it signed (an entry of order?) the day of the court date. (FWIW, divorce isn’t being contested, supposedly.)
Since it’s a separation agreement and the ED was decided before by the individual parties, would it be in the same class as a pending ED order, and therefore you can get an entry of order after the divorce is finalized?
THanks.
If your separation agreement specifies that a QDRO should be entered you will need to file a motion in the cause for equitable distribution of retirement benefits under the same file number your divorce was entered under. You will need to attach a copy of your separation agreement to the motion as well. You may then submit the QDRO to the judge for his or her signature.
Hi,
I am in the same situation. Already have a separation agreement in place, have just filed a self-todo-divorce in wake county courthouse, court date will most likely be first friday of august. Separation agreement calls for QDRO detailing some amount of dollars to be disbursed. Am planning on following the advice of filing for a ‘motion in the cause for equitable distribution of retirement benefits’.
When i asked about it at the family court, they gave me a ‘blank motion’ form which has 3 areas to fill out -
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The undersigned hereby moves this Court to:
?? -
The undersigned hereby states that the grounds for making this motion include:
<Separation and Property Settlement Agreement between and in Wake County, NC.> -
The undersigned hereby requests the following relief:
<Issuance of a Qualified Domestic Relations Order as per the terms detailed in the Separation and Property Settlement Agreement between and in Wake County, NC.>
I am a little confused as to how to fill this out - Any advice/guidance would be greatly appreciated… Do my sample answers above seem correct ?
Thanks much in advance,
SM
It is hard to say where you are in the process because I haven’t reviewed all the documents you’ve filed, but I can say you have to file a complaint for ED in order for the court to obtain jurisdiction to enter a QDRO.
Thank you for the response. Pls allow me to clarify.
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I have filed submitted a complaint, verification, summons, judgment as detailed in the self-to-do divorce process. This is going to be based on 1 year separation and no contest is expected since all the issues are already sorted out and documented in a filed Separation agreement.
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I have a File No. for the above complaint.
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Here’s the advice in this thread by 'Erin Clarey a few posts above,
If your separation agreement specifies that a QDRO should be entered you will need to file a motion in the cause for equitable distribution of retirement benefits under the same file number your divorce was entered under. You will need to attach a copy of your separation agreement to the motion as well. You may then submit the QDRO to the judge for his or her signature. -
So, I am trying to follow the above and file this motion with the same file nbr as assigned to the divorce complaint. Kindly advice if that is contrary to what you would advice or if you would concur ?
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If the above approach does seem correct, then I suppose my question remains and I’d appreciate an answer about how best to respond to those 3 questions on the ‘motion in the cause for equitable distribution of retirement benefits’.
Thanks much,
SM
Unfortunately, specific procedural questions of this type are beyond the scope of the forum. You may contact our office to assist you with the QDRO, or you may learn more at Rosen Online:
HI.
Can a QDRO be issued and a retirement account split prior to a divorce being finalized?
Thank you!
Dan
It’s not that simple in Alamance County. I posted the following question last week in a separate thread. Any advice?
My ex-wife and I are very frustrated. We made it through our Pro Se divorce without a single hitch, thanks in part to your excellent guidance and reference material. All we need to do now is have the court file the completed QDRO document, but the judge in Alamance County refused to file it without a lawyer. The document was prepared using boiler-plate verbiage provided by the QDRO consultant firm that has been contracted by Hewlett-Packard, my employer. We only had to add one paragraph to specify the terms of the payout. The QDRO firm then reviewed the completed document and determined (and advised us in writing) that it WILL qualify as a valid QDRO and it simply needed to be filed with the court. We appeared in court with the appropriate order paperwork, but the judge wouldn’t cooperate.
WHY do I need to spend several hundred dollars to have an attorney place a cover sheet on the document and walk into court for 5 minutes to request that it be filed? It makes no sense. I should not be required to hire an attorney to get a document filed.
I just read through all the posts in this thread. We have a Separation Agreement that includes instructions for the distribution of 401k assets via QDRO, but for some reason, we didn’t include it with the divorce filing. Based on my understanding of the posts in this thread, now that the divorce has been granted, apparently there is no way to get the QDRO filed. so we will not be able to honor the terms of the Separation Agreement. Am I interpreting this correctly?
Thanks.
I need clarification on one last thing. In a post back on 4/3/2009, Erin stated the following in response to a question:
“If your separation agreement specifies that a QDRO should be entered you will need to file a motion in the cause for equitable distribution of retirement benefits under the same file number your divorce was entered under. You will need to attach a copy of your separation agreement to the motion as well. You may then submit the QDRO to the judge for his or her signature.”
We DO have a separation agreement that specifies that a QDRO be used to distribute a portion of 401k funds. However, this document was not filed with the court along with the divorce complaint. Our divorce was granted in June of this year.
QUESTION: Can we still file a motion in the cause for ED under the same file number and include the separation agreement and QDRO, or is that not possible because the divorce is final? (There is another post from March 24, 2009 that suggests this is the case, so I’m not sure how to interpret these two posts together.) Thank you very much.
Yes, Erin’s post was correct. You can file a motion for entry of the QDRO using the same file number from the divorce filings. You can still submit a copy of the separation agreement even though it wasn’t filed with the absolute divorce.
We went back to court with a motion for ED under the case number for the divorce. Once again, the judge refused to accept this, stating that the divorce had been finalized and the “strings had been tied”, so she could not accept either the motion for ED or the QDRO. She said that although I had been advised that this should be possible, she could/would not act without an attorney present to “quote the appropriate NC statute”. We are being forced by the Alamance county judge to hire a lawyer and spend money we don’t have because she refuses to act without a lawyer present, even though both parties are in court together, have a separation agreement and are in total agreement as to the terms of the agreement.
So much for a Pro Se divorce and avoiding unnecessary legal costs. VERY frustrating.
I am sorry you are having such a hard time, you can always file a grievance with the judicial standards commission if you believe the judge is compromising your right to represent yourself.