TOP 3 QDRO MISTAKES & HOW TO AVOID THEM

TOP 3 QDRO MISTAKES & HOW TO AVOID THEM

QDRO MISTAKE 1: WRONG METHOD OF DIVISION FOR RETIREMENT PLAN TYPE

The language in the settlement agreement and QDRO should be applicable to the type of retirement benefits being divided.  There are two main types of retirement plans, namely 1) Defined Contribution Plans and 2) Defined Benefit Plans.  401(k), 403(b), and 457 deferred compensation plans are all types of “Defined Contribution Plans.”  The benefits under defined contribution plans are based upon actual monetary contributions to the plan, and the investment performance of said contributions.  Whereas, the benefits under defined benefit plans, commonly known as “traditional” pension plans, are paid as a monthly annuity based on a formula tied to the plan participant’s years of service credit, final salary, and age at retirement.  Defined Benefit plan benefits are not solely based on monetary contributions.

The language dividing defined contribution plans should (and conversely, the language dividing defined benefit plans should not):

  • Refer to the plan participant’s total account balance
  • Express the former spouse’s (alternate payee’s) interest as either a dollar amount or percentage of the account, as of a particular valuation date (usually the parties’ date of separation)
  • Address whether the alternate payee’s share should or should not be adjusted for interest or investment earnings
  • Provide for a new account to be created in the Alternate Payee’s name
  • Provide the option of an immediate distribution or rollover of Alternate Payee’s share

The language dividing defined contribution plans should not (and conversely, the language dividing defined benefit plans should):

  • Reference the Time Rule Formula or coverture formula
  • Reference the participant’s “accrued benefit”
  • Provide for a “monthly” benefit
  • Reference COLAs or early retirement subsidies
  • Address survivor benefits
  • Delay the alternate payee’s benefit commencement until the participant is eligible for retirement or actually retires

QDRO MISTAKE 2: QDRO PREPARATION TIMING

Ideally, the QDRO should be prepared as soon as the parties have reached a basic settlement regarding the division of the retirement asset.  This will allow the QDRO to be filed concurrently with the Judgment of Dissolution, or even be incorporated into the Judgment.  Otherwise, the QDRO should be prepared as soon to the time of divorce as possible.  If a QDRO is not filed and any of the following events happen, the alternate payee may entirely lose his/her benefits:

  • Participant terminates employment and takes a full plan distribution under a defined contribution plan
  • Participant retires and begins commencement of benefits without notifying the alternate payee
  • Participant dies without a QDRO in place securing survivor benefits for the alternate payee
  • Participant takes a loan out which significantly reduces the account balance available for division pursuant to a QDRO

For more consequences related to QDRO timing, click here.

Another problem that is becoming more and more common when parties wait to draft the QDRO is that plans sometimes undergo a change in plan administrator.  When a new plan administrator takes over, they will usually not perform any calculations regarding benefits accrued prior to their plan administration date.  For example, if the parties’ date of separation was in 2005, but the plan administrator changed in 2007, the plan administrator will reject a QDRO with a valuation date in 2005 because they do not have records prior to 2007.  This can present significant problems if the parties do not have their own plan statements for the time period from the date of marriage to date of separation; and will increase the expense involved in the QDRO as the parties may need to retain an actuary or accountant to perform a calculation to determine the community property interest in the benefits.

QDRO MISTAKE 3: BLINDLY TRUSTING THE MODEL QDRO

Some parties, or family law attorneys, will draft a QDRO by taking the plan’s “model” or “sample” QDRO and inserting the parties’ names with little or no other revisions.  This should never be done unless the parties and/or attorneys clearly understand every single provision within the model QDRO, and are aware of the possible alternate provisions, based on the plan’s terms and the California law regarding marital property rights.

Most model QDROs are drafted to favor the plan participant; they are not drafted to divide the benefits as equally as possible.  Model orders can heavily favor the participant with regard to issues like investment earnings and losses, and survivor benefits. Further, the model QDRO may have been drafted in a different state than where the divorce took place, which can have a huge effect on the division of benefits.  For example, in California, the community property interest stops accruing on the parties’ date of separation; however, other states utilize other dates, such as the date of divorce filing, or the date of the entry of Judgment of Dissolution, both which may be years after the parties’ date of separation.  Utilizing a model QDRO from another jurisdiction could have the effect of awarding the alternate payee far more benefits than he/she would legally be entitled to in California.  Further, many individuals who draft their own QDROs are not able to format the QDRO correctly to be accepted by the court that handled their divorce.  In California, QDROs must be signed by both parties and the judge; however, many model QDROs only leave space for the judge’s signature.

DO YOU NEED HELP WITH A QDRO?

If you have questions about the division of retirement benefits due to your California divorce or legal separation, or if you would like to get started on your Qualified Domestic Relations Order today, please call QDRO Helper at (619) 786-QDRO / (619) 786-7376.  You can also request a new client package by sending an email to info@qdrohelper.com or by visiting the Get Started page.  We proudly assist clients throughout the United States as long as the divorce or legal separation took place in California.

DISCLAIMER: ADVERTISEMENT. Any legal information on this blog has been prepared by QDRO Helper for informational purposes only and is not legal advice and does not constitute a guarantee, warranty, or prediction regarding the outcome of your legal matter. The information provided is intended to comply with Rule 1-400 of the California Rules of Professional Conduct. Any links in this website are included only to help you locate other internet resources that may be of interest to you; QDRO Helper is not associated with any such links. The transmission and receipt of information contained on this website via the Internet or e-mail or in any other manner does not constitute or create an attorney-client relationship, and you should not act on the information contained herein without obtaining legal counsel. QDRO Helper has a strict policy of entering into attorney-client relationships with its clients only though the execution of a written fee agreement acknowledged by QDRO Helper. As such, you should not send QDRO Helper any confidential information in response to this web page until such a relationship is established and expressly acknowledged by QDRO Helper.

SDCERS & Divorce: DROs for the San Diego City Employees’ Retirement System

SDCERS & Divorce: DROs for the San Diego City Employees’ Retirement System

SDCERS OVERVIEW

Employees of the City of San Diego, San Diego Unified Port District, and San Diego County Regional Airport Authority participate in SDCERS, and are “members” of the retirement system.  SDCERS is a defined benefit plan which provides for a monthly benefit upon retirement.  If employment is terminated, a member may withdraw his/her contributions; however, funds contributed by the employer cannot be withdrawn by the member.  If a member contributes to SDCERS while married, then his/her spouse will have a community property interest in the retirement benefits.

FIRST STEPS: GETTING MEMBER INFORMATION & SENDING NOTICE OF ADVERSE INTEREST

All contents of a SDCERS member’s file are confidential.  However, the member, former spouse, and their attorneys can obtain information about the member’s benefits in order to determine the community property interests in a member’s account.  SDCERS will provide the member’s service credit and accumulated contributions, date of membership, refundable value, and statements of account as of the date of marriage and the date of separation.  If the member is already retired, the options selected at retirement, the named beneficiary, and the amount of the monthly allowance and any death benefit payable will be provided.  The member or his/her attorney can simply send a written request for this information to SDCERS.  The non-member spouse or his/her attorney will need to submit either (i) an authorization to release account information that is signed and dated by the member, or (ii) a subpoena for business records.

One of the first steps when dividing SDCERS benefits is to ensure that the retirement plan is aware of the pending divorce.  This can be accomplished by sending SDCERS a written “Notice of Adverse Interest.”  This will place a hold on the member’s account; but SDCERS will not pay the former spouse any share of benefits until SDCERS is joined (see below) and receives a Domestic Relations Order (DRO) instructing the Plan to pay benefits to the former spouse.  If the member is already retired, a Notice of Adverse Interest will ensure that SDCERS withholds the former spouse’s estimated share until the Plan receives the Joinder and DRO.  Further, SDCERS will withhold a portion of any return of contributions to the member.

SDCERS JOINDER REQUIREMENT

Like many other public employer plans, SDCERS must be joined to the marital dissolution proceedings before a DRO can be implemented.  “Joinder” is the legal process that names a third-party claimant to a court case; in this case, to legal separation or divorce proceedings.  Your family law attorney may have already prepared and filed a joinder for SDCERS.  However, if you need a Joinder for your SDCERS benefits, QDRO Helper can assist you with the joinder for an additional fee.

SDCERS DOMESTIC RELATIONS ORDERS (DROs) & THE TIME RULE FORMULA / BROWN FORMULA

SDCERS requires both a Joinder and a DRO before benefits can be paid to a non-member spouse due to dissolution of marriage.  The DRO is a court order that will instruct the plan how the retirement benefits should be divided.  The most common method of dividing a community property interest in SDCERS is by using a formula knows as the “Time Rule Formula” or “Brown Formula”.  Using this formula, the former spouse’s share of benefits is determined taking 50% of a fraction where the numerator is the service credit earned by the member during the marriage and the denominator is the member’s total years of service credit.

TIMING & GILLMORE ELECTION

SDCERS will only start paying benefits to a former spouse once the member retires and commences receiving monthly retirement benefit payments.  However, under California law, the former spouse may demand his/her share once the member is eligible to retire, by making what is known as a “Gillmore election”- named after the court case Marriage of Gillmore, 29 Cal.3d 418 (1981).  The member will be responsible for paying the former spouse directly until the member retires; then SDCERS will begin making payments directly to the former spouse.

DROP ACCOUNT

Some SDCERS members participate in the Deferred Retirement Option Program (“DROP”).  Usually, when a member enters DROP, he/she also agrees to retire within 5 years.  DROP allows a member to keep the retirement benefit earned as of the date of entry into DROP while also earning additional benefits which can be paid in a lump sum or as additional retirement income.

When calculating the member’s benefits, the Plan treats the member as if he/she had retired on the DROP entry date and credits the member’s monthly pension to his/her DROP account.  Additional member and employer contributions, as well as COLA increases and any annual supplements are added to the DROP account.  DROP should be addressed in all DROs for both active members and members who are already part of DROP.  The parties should also be aware that SDCERS cannot pay the former spouse any DROP account benefits until the member actually retires and exits DROP.

DISABILITY BENEFITS

Disability benefits should also be addressed in the parties’ DRO.  Once common way to address this issue is to state that if a member receives a disability retirement before being eligible for service retirement, then the former spouse will only be able to receive his/her community interest share once the member reaches the required service retirement age.  However, it is possible to state that the former spouse will receive a community property share of any disability retirement benefits.

SURVIVOR BENEFITS

Survivor benefits should also be discussed and negotiated by the parties prior to having a DRO drafted.  Members can designate beneficiaries to receive survivor continuance benefits; however, a member can only name one beneficiary for a survivor benefit.  Once a beneficiary is designated, the designation cannot be changed.  If a divorce takes place after retirement (or entry into DROP), the retirement option or beneficiary named at time of retirement cannot be changed.

At retirement, a member may select either the “maximum benefit” or one of four separate settlement options (aptly named Optional Settlement 1, 2, 3 and 4).  Detailed information about the various options can be obtained from SDCERS.  If the parties legally separate or divorce prior to the member’s retirement or entry into DROP the member can still provide a survivor benefit to the former spouse by elections one of the settlement options.  If the member does not elect to provide for survivor benefits when an option is selected, then SDCERS will stop payments to the former spouse upon the member’s death.

DEATH OF FORMER SPOUSE

Once the DRO is in place, the former spouse can name a beneficiary to receive his/her share of the benefits.  The former spouse’s share of benefits can instead revert to the member if the DRO specifically states that is the parties’ intent.  This is another issue that should be part of the divorce or legal separation negotiations.

SDCERS DEATH BENEFITS

SDCERS provides various death benefits, including benefits for death when the member was eligible to retire, industrial death benefits, active member death benefits, DROP death benefits, and death benefits after retirement.  Information about these death benefits can be obtained from SDCERS; however, it is important to note that even if the member has named a beneficiary other than the former spouse, the former spouse may have a community property interest in the death benefits.  The DRO should clearly state whether the former spouse will be entitled to any death benefits, and if so, then to what extent.  Often, parties will provide death benefits to the former spouse up to a pro-rate share based on the same “time rule” or “Brown formula” discussed above.

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS ABOUT SDCERS & DIVORCE?

If you have additional questions or if you would like to get started on a DRO for your SDCERS benefits, please call 619-786-7376 to speak with an attorney at QDRO Helper.  You can also get started by visiting our forms page, or by emailing info@qdrohelper.com.

DISCLAIMER: Any legal information on this blog has been prepared by QDRO Helper for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. The material posted on this website is not intended to create, and receipt of it does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship. Note that sending an e-mail to QDRO Helper does not create an attorney-client relationship, and none will be formed unless there is an express agreement between the firm and the individual.