Burbank Divorce | How To Divide Your Pension During Divorce In Burbank
If you are going through a divorce in Burbank and you have a pension that needs to be divided, you are going to need a Qualified Domestic Relations Order, otherwise known as a QDRO or DRO.
We do provide a pension division service and if you used our divorce service for your divorce, we most likely handled your pension division as well.
What kinds of pensions require a Qualified Domestic Relations Order of Domestic Relations Order?
It used to be that just city, state and county type pensions required a QDRO, but we are finding that just about any type of plan considered to be a retirement plan will most likely require a QDRO. This applies to most 401k’s, 403b’s,
The best thing to do if you are going to get a divorce or are going through a divorce is to simply call your retirement plan up and let then know your are going through a divorce and ask if they will need a QDRO to divide the plan.
If they say “yes”, then ask for a QDRO Package. They will likely have a package of information to send to you either via mail or email. We will need this QDRO Package to prepare your paperwork. If you have not contacted them, we can make that call of you and get the information we need to prepare the Qualified Domestic Relations Order.
The pension division process looks like this:
First we have to join the plan to the divorce case. This means we have to file a Joinder which will pull your pension or 401k into the divorce case as a third party. This lets the court and the pension company know that there is a divorce case. The effect of the joinder is that is will freeze the pension from withdrawal.
Once we have filed the joinder and served it on the plan, we can work on the QDRO language. Once we have it drafted, we send it to the plan for approval. When approved, they will send back to us to obtain signatures, then it goes back to court to get filed. Once the QDRO is filed it is served on the plan and they will divide the pension as indicated.
We are a full service divorce firm that serves the Burbank area as well as anywhere in California. If you need help with your divorce case or need someone to prepare your Qualified Domestic Relations Order, we can usually do that for about 1/3rd the cost of an attorney.
Related Articles
Do You Need A Divorce Attorney In Burbank?