QUALIFIED DOMESTIC RELATIONS ORDERS
The Retirement Order Process:
Thank you for your interest in having us prepare your retirement order(s). A few things you should know before as you begin:
The retirement order process requires multiple steps, and our retainer only covers some of those steps. This serves as a more in depth explanation of the process and what we will do for you and what you need to handle yourself. If you would like us to handle additional steps not covered in your engagement agreement, please let us know.
Jessica Markham, Attorney at Law, Leslie Miller, Attorney at Law and Beatriz Giglioli, Executive Assistant, will be working together on your QDRO to be sure that it is prepared and processed timely and accurately.
Preparation
The preparation of the retirement order requires the following:
We’ll send to you for electronic signature our retainer agreement. We’ll also send to you for electronic payment a trust request for the fee. If you would like to submit payment in another form such as cash or check, please let us know.
Based on your specific situation, we’ll ask for certain information from you, but to give you an idea such information may include: a copy of the document that describes the division (which is typically found in a separation agreement, terms sheet, or the judgment of divorce); a statement from the plan to be divided; the date of marriage; the date of divorce (if it has already occurred); addresses for each party; and in some cases we’ll need the date of birth and social security numbers for each party. Note, we’ll only ask for the dates of birth and social security numbers when we know we need that information, we do not ask for it upfront.
Retirement plans have summary documents, and sometimes even have retirement order packets to help attorneys draft these orders. We’ll reach out to the plan directly after receiving your signed retainer agreement, fee, and information from you to obtain information directly from the Plan and to learn the Plan’s specific process in how they handle the review of these orders.
After we obtain all of the information we can from the Plan, we’ll draft the order and send it to you and your counsel for review. If you wish to schedule a 10 minute phone call with Leslie Miller to discuss any questions you may have, you may do so at this time.
In order for an Order to be official which allows it to be approved by a plan, it must be signed by a judge. However, some Plans have a process to ‘pre-approve’ a retirement order. This means the Plan will review a draft order (meaning before the order has been signed by a judge) and send out a notice whether anything needs to be changed or clarified before the Plan determines that it can approve and implement the Order. Not all plans offer this process, but if they do, we will handle submission of the Order to the plan for pre-approval. If the Plan determines that anything needs to be revised, we’ll make the revisions and re-submit for pre-approval. Once we receive a response that the Order will be approved by the plan once signed by a judge, we’ll send you the final Order and let you know the order is ready to move forward. The amount of time the pre-approval takes is plan specific, but the typical amount of time is 30 days plus the time for the plan to mail back their response letter.
The parties and/or their counsel may need to sign the Order for it to be accepted by the Court. Check your local rules or state requirements. We do not handle obtaining signatures of the parties as part of our standard retainer agreement. If you would like for us to handle this for an additional fee, please let us know.
Each court has its own process for how to file Orders. If you are not represented by counsel, call the clerk of your court to obtain this information. We strongly recommend that all retirement court orders be submitted at the hearing on your Judgment of Divorce and no later, to protect your interests. This is especially imperative in cases where you are securing a survivor benefit for yourself. If you would like for us to handle this for an additional fee, please let us know.
Each court has its own process for how parties to a case can request and obtain certified copies. Call the clerk of your court to obtain this information. Note, this typically comes with a small fee for the copies and certifications. We do not handle obtaining certified copies under our standard retainer agreement. If you would like for us to handle this for an additional fee, please let us know.
When submitting to the Plan, you will need to include a cover letter stating the name, address, date of birth, and social security number for each party. The address is so that the plan can send notices of status to each party, as well as additional forms for each party to fill out. It is important that any forms received are filled out and returned to the plan timely. The date of birth and social security numbers are so that the plan can correctly identify the account the order is dividing, and can ensure the funds are being sent to the correct person. We do not include dates of birth and social security numbers in the orders we prepare because orders, once entered by the Court, are public documents, and we do not want your personally identifying information to become public information. We do not handle submitting the order to the plan under our standard retainer agreement. If you would like for us to handle this for an additional fee, please let us know.
For the plans that do not offer a pre-approval process as outlined in number 5 (and even some plans that do pre-approve orders) an order may be rejected by the plan after it is signed by a judge and submitted to the plan for approval and implementation. A rejection simply means that edits must be made in order for the plan to accept and implement the plan. Many plans are complicated and they frequently update their rules, even while your matter is pending. There is no need to be alarmed. If a rejection occurs, forward the rejection letter to us along with a full copy of what was submitted to the plan, and we will make any revisions necessary to the language of the Order. Once we make the requested revisions, we’ll send the amended order to you (and your counsel). If you previously submitted the order that was rejected, you will have to re-submit the amended order to the Court, obtain certified copies, and then submit the certified copies to the plan with the cover letter again.
Timeline:
It is our goal to draft the order within 2 days of receiving all of the information from you AND from the plan. We will keep you apprised of our status throughout the process so you should always feel that you know the status of your order. If you have questions about where you are in the process, please ask Beatriz for an update qdro@markhamlegal.com.
Terminology:
We may refer to your retirement order as a QDRO (pronounced “Quadro”), even if the title of your document is actually Court Order Acceptable for Processing, Qualifying Court Order, Eligible Domestic Relations Order, or something similar. Please note that we use the term QDRO loosely as a generic term in conversation but certain plans require specific titles, so we do title the documents as required by each plan.
Please contact Beatriz at 240-396-4373 or qdro@markhamlegal.com if you have any questions about the foregoing. Thank you for entrusting us with this work! We look forward to working with you!
