Family law can involve many acronyms, ranging from those related to domestic violence (DVPO) to child support (CCPA.) Even if your divorce involves no children and no violence, there is an acronym that may be important to you: QDRO. QDRO stands for “qualified domestic relations order,” and is a court mechanism by which someone who is not the holder of a pension or retirement account may receive some or all of those funds. When one or both spouses in a divorce have substantial pension/retirement assets, a QDRO can play an integral role in ensuring that the divorce’s property division is fair. For information about how a QDRO might factor into your divorce case, get reliable answers by speaking to an experienced Maryland divorce lawyer.
A QDRO can come into existence in multiple ways. In one instance, the spouses are unable to agree and the judge decides that a non-account-holding spouse is entitled to some or all of the account’s proceeds. The other occurs when the spouses do agree… and their settlement agreement calls for the non-account-holding spouse to get a portion (or all) of an account.
A recent divorce case from Montgomery County is an example of the latter scenario. The spouses worked out a marital settlement agreement (MSA) in which the husband agreed to provide the wife with a fraction of his Federal Employee Retirement System Pension and Thrift Savings Plan. In addition, he agreed to ensure that the required court orders (directing the distribution) were issued.
More than a year after the judgment of divorce, the parties returned to court. The wife alleged that the husband still had not signed the orders needed for her to get her portion of the pension and the savings plan. During the hearing, the husband said that “he was reluctant to sign the QDROs” because he still disputed the MSA and did not want to acknowledge its validity.
Seeking clarification, the judge asked the husband if he was “consenting to the entry of the retirement benefit orders.” After being sworn in, he said yes. He also stated that he agreed to the terms of the orders. The husband subsequently stated in open court that he did not object to the QDROs, but that his lack of an objection “did not constitute an admission… that the MSA was valid.”
Later, though, the husband argued that “the QDROs could not be enforced because the MSA included a provision that stated that the MSA could not be modified.” He also contended “that the QDROs violated the MSA and judgment of absolute divorce.”
The trial court and the appeals court rejected all of these arguments. The problem with the husband’s strategy was a matter of timing. If he was displeased with the percentage of the accounts that the wife was scheduled to receive, the time to contest that was during the negotiation of the MSA, not at a point after he had already signed the MSA agreeing to the QDROs and also stated in open court that he did not object to the orders and consented to their terms.
With QDROs, like any other element of property distribution in a divorce, you need a clear and thorough understanding of your rights and obligations. Doing that often means having an in-depth understanding of divorce law. That is where having skilled counsel is crucial. The knowledgeable Maryland family law attorneys at Anthony A. Fatemi, LLC are here to ensure the decisions you make are based on a full and clear understanding of all the terms of your divorce, including both what you stand to receive and what you are promising to your spouse. Contact us today at 301-519-2801 or via our online form to set up your consultation.