When you got married, it's common that you may think that you and your spouse would retire together in Florida after many years together. Unfortunately, however, things do not always work out and divorce rates across the United States back this up. What many individuals do not realize is that retirement benefits can be some of the biggest assets associated with the dissolution of a marriage. Understanding your rights and what you might be entitled to in this situation can be critically important particularly if you are getting divorced closer to your own retirement age.
One of the biggest questions that individuals in this situation have is about the share of money to which you might be entitled in the spouse's retirement plans. Other questions that emerge from this are how you will collect such funds because there may be several years left before the plan actually becomes active as far as withdrawing benefits. Whether or not you are entitled to a portion of your former partner's retirement plan has to do with several different factors. First of all, you need to determine whether or not you live in a community property state or one that follows the laws of equitable distribution. In community property states such as Idaho, Louisiana, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Wisconsin and Washington, all require that property acquired during the course of the marriage is split in half.
This includes any money that has been saved or earned in a retirement account. If you do live in a community property state, you are entitled to half of the money that has been accumulated in the retirement plan during the marriage. This does not mean that you are also entitled to half of everything the other individual ever earned outside of the marriage. In states where equitable distribution is the letter of the law, judges determine what is a fair distribution of assets. To do this they evaluate several different factors such as special contributions, the length of the marriage, ability to earn funds in the future, and many others.
You can never be sure that half of the money that is saved in a retirement account will ultimately be yours but you could make arguements that you are entitled to this. In the event that you are awarded a portion of retirement funds attached to your spouse, this will be done in what is known as a qualified domestic relations order. You need to have not just the divorce decree outlining your rights to receive these funds but also an active and approved qualified domestic relations order. This allows a former spouse or other individual to collect funds from someone else's retirement account.
These orders have to be approved by both the plan administrator of any active retirement plans as well as the judge on the case. These orders are typically used in order to pay out portions that are due as spousal or child support or even divisions associated with community property. One of the biggest benefits to this is that you do not always have to wait until your spouse retires in order to receive your funds. If this situation applies to you, you need to work with a qualified domestic relations order specialist in addition to your family law attorney. Having a qualified domestic relations order specialist minimizes the chances that you will make mistakes in the process of putting together the QDRO. If you make mistakes in your QDRO it could turn out to haunt you down the road, particularly if your spouse passes away before he or she begins accessing retirement benefits and you have not stipulated that you have any survivor rights in the documents themselves. You need to be knowledgeable about your situation and determine the most appropriate thing to include in your qualified domestic relations order so that it is approved by the judge and any plan administrators. Having a QDRO professional review these documents and verify what the plan administrators need upfront can be extremely valuable during this time.
Source : articlesbase.com
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