Courts Require Joinder When Filing QDRO But The Plan May Not

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

I have been getting a lot of calls regarding the Joinder and QDRO process and a few times it has come up where I am being advised by the client that the pension plan or 401k plan is not requiring the joinder. So I wanted to clear this issue up.

While the plan may not require the Joinder (and this is rare) it is the Court that requires the Joinder whenever you are dividing a pension and are going to file a QDRO. In fact, if you try to file a QDRO with the court without the Joinder, the Court will reject the QDRO filing and ask that you first file the Joinder.

Listen for more info on the Joinder / QDRO process and / or keep reading below…
I recorded this podcast while on a walk so there is a little background wind noise…

We had a new client call us the other day and say they tried to file their QDRO and it was rejected by the court. The court indicated that the plan needs to be first joined to the dissolution action. See below reject sheet.

QDRO Reject Letter
QDRO Reject Letter

But what does it mean to “Join?”  In the simplest terms it just means you are joining or bringing the QDRO process into the divorce case and essentially adding the plan as a party to the case.   So once the plan in joined to the divorce case, the court will be able to process the QDRO.

I also wrote another article about the actual QDRO process here.

If you have any questions about our service of preparing and handling your Joinder / QDRO please give us a call.

Problems With Listing Pension Wrong On Divorce Judgment : Valencia Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Listing your pension information wrong or listing how the pension is going to be divided wrong during your divorce or on your divorce papers can cause many problems down the road.

There are lot of people out there that try to do their own Valencia divorce. The problem is that you don’t know what you don’t know. What I mean to say is that you don’t know you are doing things wrong until it becomes a problem.

The good news is that it can be fixed. We can fix issues with your pension being listed wrong on your California divorce judgment. It is called a Stipulation & Order and we can prepare and file a Stipulation and Order to correct a previously filed judgment in your divorce case.

Learn more about our Stipulation & Order Services by Clicking Here

In this video we discuss the issues with listing your pension in your judgment and doing it wrong and the problems this can cause down the road.

 

What we recommend, of course, is not to do your own divorce in the first place and to hire a professional company so that your Valencia divorce is done correctly the first time.

We offer a full service and do it yourself divorce process. We figure that there is just that percentage of the population that wants to file their own divorce, usually to save money. Which you can, it just comes at the expense of your time.

So we created a do-it-yourself divorce process as well as our full service divorce.

Divorce661 provides a full service divorce and do-it-yourself service.

Click Here to learn more about our full service divorce

Click here to learn more about our do-it-yourself divorce

And please call us for a free consultation to discuss how we can help you with your divorce anywhere in California.

Pasadena QDRO Preparation | Pension Division Service Pasadena CA

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Pasadena QDRO Preparation | Pension Division Service Pasadena CA

Going through divorce and using the Pasadena Courthouse?  We offer a QDRO preparation service that will help you divide your community property pension at a much lower price than what attorney’s charge to prepare a Qualified Domestic Relations Order.

Watch this short video where we talk more about our Pasadena QDRO Preparation | Pension Division Service Pasadena CA

Pasadena QDRO Preparation | Pension Division Service Pasadena CA

Going through divorce and using the Pasadena Courthouse?  We offer a QDRO preparation service that will help you divide your community property pension at a much lower price than what attorney’s charge to prepare a Qualified Domestic Relations Order.

Watch this short video where we talk more about our Pasadena QDRO Preparation | Pension Division Service Pasadena CA

Chatsworth QDRO Preparation : Divorce Pension Division

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Chatsworth QDRO Preparation : Divorce Pension Division

When you get a divorce and have a pension that is going to be divided, one of the terms you will get to understand is the word QDRO or Qualified Domestic Relations order.  It is the written instrument that allows your 401k, 403b, CalPers, STRS, IRA and just about any type of investment.

If you are going through a divorce in Chatsworth or anywhere in California, We offer an afforable way to divide your pension.k

Watch this quick video where we discuss our Chatsworth QDRO Preparation : Divorce Pension Division

Chatsworth QDRO Preparation : Divorce Pension Division

When you get a divorce and have a pension that is going to be divided, one of the terms you will get to understand is the word QDRO or Qualified Domestic Relations order.  It is the written instrument that allows your 401k, 403b, CalPers, STRS, IRA and just about any type of investment.

If you are going through a divorce in Chatsworth or anywhere in California, We offer an afforable way to divide your pension.k

Watch this quick video where we discuss our Chatsworth QDRO Preparation : Divorce Pension Division

Pension Division For Your Chatsworth Divorce Case

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Pension Division For Your Chatsworth Divorce Case

We are a full service divorce paralegal firm specializing in divorce and serving the city of Chatsworth. Our full service Chatsworth Divorce paralegal service takes care of your entire divorce from start to finish. Our Chatsworth divorce paralegal service is flat-fee based so you don’t have to worry about hourly fees and high costs.

In this video we discuss what Pension Division For Your Chatsworth Divorce Case works.  What a lot of people don’t know is that if you have a pension that is going to be split during the divorce you will need a QDRO or Qualified Domestic Relations Order prepared in order to do that.  No many attorney’s do the QDRO’s so you will need to find a service like ours to help you prepare not only the QDRO “Qualified Domestic Relations Order” but you will most likely have to file and serve the Summons / Joinder as well.

Watch the short video below to learn more about Pension Division For Your Chatsworth Divorce Case.

Pension Division For Your Chatsworth Divorce Case

We are a full service divorce paralegal firm specializing in divorce and serving the city of Chatsworth. Our full service Chatsworth Divorce paralegal service takes care of your entire divorce from start to finish. Our Chatsworth divorce paralegal service is flat-fee based so you don’t have to worry about hourly fees and high costs.

In this video we discuss what Pension Division For Your Chatsworth Divorce Case works.  What a lot of people don’t know is that if you have a pension that is going to be split during the divorce you will need a QDRO or Qualified Domestic Relations Order prepared in order to do that.  No many attorney’s do the QDRO’s so you will need to find a service like ours to help you prepare not only the QDRO “Qualified Domestic Relations Order” but you will most likely have to file and serve the Summons / Joinder as well.

Burbank Divorce | How To Divide Your Pension During Divorce In Burbank

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

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.

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We Help Prepare Pension Division QDRO in California For Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

We Help Prepare Pension Division QDRO in California For Divorce

Today we’re talking about California divorce and specifically QDRO’s it stands for Qualified Domestic Relation Order.

And what this is, is that you may need, if you have a pension or annuity or 401 case, some of these companies require you to divide up this property if says community property and you’re going through divorce and you want to divide up a pension.

Then, some of these pension companies, 401 case or annuities require you to divide it by a legal instrument called QDRO.

If you need assistance with the QDRO, this is a service that we perform and we can do this pretty much anywhere in California because the pension companies we have to deal directly with them.

So I just wanted to get this quick video out there and let you know that we can help you with QDRO’s.

We do them on a case by case basis.  Just give us a call let us know who the QDRO company is and we will be able to give you a call, let you know what the costs would be in doing so in preparation for the QDRO which basically is just contacting the QDRO company.

Finding out how long your marriage is and there is obviously some other things that are involved with that in determining what the percentage of pension the pension firms find suitable based on the length of marriage and some other factors.

And then, we can draft up the appropriate QDRO paperwork for the division of that specific asset.

Give us a call if you have questions about QDRO’s or dividing pensions, we can do that service for you anywhere in California. Please give me a call at 661-281-0266

I Have A Pension | What Is A QDRO Qualified Domestic Relations Order | Los Angeles Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

I Have A Pension | What Is A QDRO Qualified Domestic Relations Order | Los Angeles Divorce

We Now Offer QDRO Service For All Pensions, 401k’s, 403b’s and Retirement Systems 

Today, we are answering the question of what is a QDRO.

QDRO stands for Qualified Domestic Relations Order. And if you’re reading this article, you probably have a pension.

QDRO are the legal instrument which divides up a pension.

(Update To This Blog Post)

We Now Offer QDRO Service For All Pensions, 401k’s, 403b’s and Retirement Systems 

They are essentially an actuary who will go through and determine what percentage of the pension as community property belongs to your spouse or your spouse has an interest in.

If you have a pension and this is going to be divided, it is going to be a necessary to process q Qualified Domestic Relations Order.

And this is how it works essentially, you have the divorce going on on one hand and you have a pension that needs to be divided on the other.

The QDRO is an instrument that will be drafted by our firm and will be included with the judgment. It can either go and be filed along with the judgment at the time it’s filed or it can be indicated in the judgment that it will be divided at a later date.

And then later when that QDRO is completed, it can then be filed with the court even after the judgment has been submitted.

Don’t forget that that QDRO needs to be certified by the court and filed with the pension so they’d know, at the time of distribution, who is getting what.

If you have questions about our QDRO service whether you’re using our affordable divorce process service or not, give us a call because we can still prepare your qualified domestic relations order for you either way.

My name is Tim Blankenship, owner of Divorce661.com. We’re a licensed and bonded legal document preparation firm. We specialize in divorce in all of California.

You can reach me direct at 661-281-0266 or on our website at www.divorce661.com.