More than 46 million private wage and salary workers are currently covered by employer-provided retirement plans in the United States. For many of these Americans, retirement savings represent one of their most significant assets.  For this reason, whether and how to divide a participant's interest in a retirement plan are often important considerations in separation, divorce, and other domestic relations proceedings.  While the division of marital property generally is governed by state domestic relations law, any assignments of retirement interests must also comply with Federal law, namely the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the Code). Under ERISA and the Code, retirement interests may be assigned only if the judgment, decree, or order creating or recognizing a spouse's, former spouse's, child's, or other dependent's interest in an individual's retirement benefits constitutes a "qualified domestic relations order" or "QDRO."

As one of the leading divorce mediation services in Jacksonville, Hetsler Mediation & Valuation has prepared QDROs for hundreds of clients, and maintains excellent working relationships with many of the most popular investment services our clients use.

Contact Us for more information about QDRO preparation.