How To Process A QDRO |Preparing The QDRO Is Only 1/2 The Battle

I received a call the other day from a guy who said he needed help with his QDRO. He said that he had paid someone to prepare it. But once the QDRO was prepared, he was mailed the QDRO with a list of instructions of what needed to be done.

You see, having the QDRO written up is just half the issue when handling QDRO’s and once it is prepared it has to go through several channels before it is finalized. I want to bring this up because when people call about our QDRO Service, which is a full service process, I tell them that it can take several months to finalize.

We do not just prepare the QDRO and then turn it over to you with instructions, although doing so would certainly be easier, but like with our full service divorce, getting the paperwork through the courts is challenging and we don’t want to leave that up to out clients.

Here is the various channels a QDRO will go down when being processed.

QDRO Process:

1. Obtain Model QDRO Language from the Plan – Every pension or 401k has specific language that needs to be included in the QDRO.
2. Draft Joinders and File with the Court (Read Here About Joinders)
3. Serve filed Joinders and Draft QDRO to Plan for approval (This can take several months)
4. Once QDRO Approved, Obtain signatures from clients.
5. File QDRO with Court. (This can take several weeks)
6. Once filed with Court, obtain certified copy of QDRO.
7. Serve Certified copy of QDRO on plan.

So you can see, drafting the QDRO is just one small part of the overall process.  While the QDRO and Joinder can be “prepared” relatively quickly, it is the approval and court process that adds much time to the overall process.

So while you can find companies out there who will “prepare” your QDRO for a few hundred dollars, our Full-Serve QDRO service takes you all the way to being prepared, filed, and submitted to the plan.

Please give me a call for more information about our QDRO service.